To ask why your/my/our/the baby is usually referred to as just ‘baby’?

[DitaVonCreamTeas]

‘You will feel baby’s first kicks...’
‘Make sure baby’s head is supported...’
‘Don’t wean baby until...’

I don’t know why this gets on my tits as much as it does (apart from the distinct whiff of twee), but oh, it gets on my tits. ‘Your’ or ‘the’ would be fine, surely?

Does it make anyone else gag or is it just me?

[Amandine29]

It's not just you.

[Berryglitter]

You're not alone.

[Bigfingers]

it's weird and annoying, totally agree.

[Wheels79]

It annoys me but it annoys me even even more when women are referred to as "mum" as in "and how is mum feeling?" Instead of "how are you feeling?"

[CustardOmlet]

Makes me feel violent when they're referred to as baby. I can hear Miranda Hart from Call the Midwife saying baby and that's the worse!

[LaundryLegoLunch]

I hate hate this. I'm glad I've finished having babies so I'm never subjected to this again

[DameFanny]

But what's the alternative? "It"?

[Birdsgottafly]

I haven't heard it after birth, only during pregnancy.

But then my role has been in CP and the mother isn't always going to retain residency or PR.

Even just in general health care, it's a minefield, sometimes.

I think Mum, sounds less formal then "the Mum", you see so many different people/personalities/situations, it's difficult not to upset someone by a careless use of a word, or sentence.

[FortyDoorsToNowhere]

Many of my friends have had babies and I loose track of the names.

So I ask how's the baby as I don't want to get the name wrong.

[IneedAwittierNickname]

I don't know.

In some ways 'the baby' makes it sound like an object, rather than a person, at least it does to me.
Whereas just 'baby' is a replacement for the name.
Does that even make sense?

On a similar note, my ex always refers to his new DS as 'the baby' when talking to me, which is silly as I'm well aware what the baby's name is.

[specialsubject]

also can't quite identify why it is so nauseating and patronising, but it is

'the baby' or 'baby fred', or just 'fred'!!

[fluffyraggies]

Doesn't bother me personally. In books, on TV, by MW ect.

However - my MIL still calling her first GC Baby, when he is now nearly 7 and she has 3 other grand kids who are actually babies, makes my teeth itch ...

''Baby is coming round later'', ''Baby rode his bike up the street today'', ''Baby loves his onesie'' etc. Ugh.

[Ifancyashandy]

I am unlikely to ever be a birth mother and yet this grips my piss. 'The baby' or ' Your baby' are fine. 'Baby' makes the woman (IMO) sound like an incubator, maybe because it totally removes the mother from the equation.

[Tulip26]

Annoys me too. I'm a grammar nazi though.

[Fairylea]

I hate it too.

[BabyDubsEverywhere]

Drives me bonkers too.. slightly irrational I fear but it still makes me get all stabby.

[FirstStopCafe]

Doesn't bother me at all

[raffle]

The midwife we had on the ward referred to our DS as "Bub".

She was saved only by the fact that I had a c-section and couldn't physically get out of bed and punch her

[JedwardScissorhands]

Hate this. My MIL kept using this with my eldest. Like it had a fucking capital B.

[ImperialBlether]

I hate this, too. Mind you, I also hate it if people are talking about their family in the same way, eg, "Dad says..." Surely that implies he's my dad, too? Why can't they just say, "My dad says..."?

Mind you, I've found that sort of person is self-centred too.

[honestpointofview]

I am the same as Fourtydoors. So many people at work have children I forget all the names. i try to say how is your little one or something similar.

[poocatcherchampion]

I hate it too. and the whole "mum" thing. "how's mum today?" arg!!

and my last midwife was particularly annoying: "so, we had a c-section last time didn't we?" I'm thinking, oh you too? oh no, you just seem to have a grammar problem. shut up shut up shut up!

[hedwiggywiggerson]

I don't mind it actually, 'your baby' would be better I suppose.

'The baby' grates on me because it sounds like an inanimate object not a person, especially after the birth when there is a name!