Rumple was a tenderhearted, gentle little boy who craved the love of his father, so something tells me Rumple once had the love of a mother or perhaps a grandparent. He knows what a loving parent is supposed to be like, and his father was not that. Rumple turned out to be loving, despite the inadequacies of a negligent father. Having the love of one good parent is enough to overcome the indifference of another parent. So, either Rumple was raised by his mother for his first years of life or perhaps by a kindhearted grandmother until she passed away, leaving Rumple in the care of his father. Yet, Malcolm was a town drunk and gambler who saw fatherhood as a burden. Malcolm only slugged Rumple around because he had to until he tried to abandoned his son at the spinsters’ hovel.
I agree that Rumple was most likely raised by someone else before Malcolm did Rumple along probably thinking that a cute little boy would earn him more coin to spend on drink. I just don’t think it’s Rumple’s mother.