to be annoyed that only women are expected to cuddle babies at work?

As it is in the office so it is in life.

If you want to get really cross OP, consider this : a man can father a baby then fuck off away, live the rest of his life as though it never happened and absolutely nothing is expected of him whatsoever. Not even the teeniest eeniest flicker of interaction or interest required.

Of course, if he does take any kind of responsibility at all for the life he's created, he is then a fucking hero.

I took my (now 20 something) DC into work at 4 weeks because I had a short (work related) meeting and one of the men in my team did an excellent job of entertaining them. Maternity eave was only 6 weeks in those days and the meeting was about taking on a new larger role when I was back.

I work in a predominantly male office and I've been in with my baby twice - both times it's been guy who have been cooing and cuddling. Depends on the people I guess!

My baby much preferred men

I worked with a male headteacher a couple of years who spent almost his entire lunch hour in the staffroom cuddling our colleagues new baby girl! The rest of us didn’t get a look in 😂
to be fair the baby was settled and asleep and no one wants to disturb that.
Dh and I are always secretly competitive about who gets a cuddle with a new baby first.
No one has had a baby since I worked in my office where I am now but my willingness to cuddle their baby or go and coo over them at least would be directly linked to how much I liked their parent 🫣 I would always make an appropriate comment, “cute baby, hope you’re doing well, good to see you” kind of thing but then move on quickly if I wasn’t particularly friendly with the parent or be more inclined to stay and chat if we were close.

'We only have them in the kitchen. So you get the message “Jane’s here shes brought baby John”
So those who are interested go through and they all hang out or make coffee etc. and if you don’t want to coo and cluck you don’t have to.'

This is a very sensitive, thoughtful and professional approach to the whole issue. Babies being brought into the office is dull for some, downright painful for others.

I agree with you OP - men aren't expected to coo and fuss, but women are. It's very tiresome

That doesn’t happen where I work but I’d be delighted if it did as I adore babies and children. When colleagues have occasionally brought a child into work e.g. to show where mummy or daddy work men and women normally stop what they are doing to make a fuss of them - no one is too busy. Particularly as more senior colleagues it’s nice being able to show that side of yourself.

This never happens at my work. DH and I used to work in the same office. He loves babies. He’s always the first to down tools and demand first cuddle.

I don't think I have ever had a baby forced on me by a colleague. I once had one thrust in my direction by a customer, complete with a bottle in his mouth that she expected me to juggle - I just held up my hands and said "I'm no good with babies, he'll start screaming if I take him" - a colleague nearby who had children and grandchildren was more than happy to step into the breach.

Yup same with us ! I fondly remember our male business manager having a lovely time cuddling someone’s baby !

What you’re saying is probably the reality in mushy places but my DH always ends up carrying the babies at his work when mums bring them in, he tells me.
I probably fussed over them before I had my own but not since then. I just walk by if I need to go somewhere and say ‘aww’ determinedly walking past.

Babies in the office, no thank you. However a Rottweiler? I'd be in for cuddles so fast!

It’s been at least a decade since this happened to me.

I’ve never been interested in other people’s children but I can usually summon up a couple of minutes of good manners to congratulate the colleague and make some nice compliments.

it’s a baby not a Rottweiler.

I love a cute baby and not enough people bring them into work/over to me to cuddle.

Ha not like this at my work. Everyone loves when a baby/small child is brought in, the blokes are as likely to be queuing up to give the baby a cuddle as the ladies

This has never been a thing at my work. I remember taking my now 20 year old into work. The (male) director disappeared with him and was bouncing him around. He then gleefully announced he was off to London for a directors meeting. Thankfully I rescued my son before any damage could be done to the pristine suit!
Normally when people bring babies in now it’s a prearranged visit to see the people they actually work with (both male and female) and anyone else would just pop over and say hello if they wanted to.

I remember this from my office days. There is an assumption that all women just want to drool over any random baby. Not sure how to handle it other than to be busy in a meeting or on the phone. I share your annoyance, especially when I didn't see the same being expected of the men.

When colleagues on maternity leave came in to show us the baby I found it was generally the men who were first in the queue for a cuddle, to be honest.

"No thanks, I'm not hungry right now" tends to make them move away, I find. Often rather quickly!

I truly have no idea why people bring babies into a work place. It’s a work place. A place of work. I have absolutely no desire to feign interest in a baby whilst trying to get on with my job. I don’t understand why they don’t organise a social event and invite colleagues to visit the baby. Surely that would be better for the infant anyway?

I don't mind it, I always love a cuddle of a newborn! When I took my first baby into work many years ago, just as many men as women came over to say hi and one or two of them had a hold ☺️ I didn't take the baby round the building thrusting it in people's faces though!

Oooh, I HATE this @pppaper and I could not agree more! It's even worse when you don't have children yourself, and someone points at you and and says 'you next!' I have DC now but didn't have them til around 30, and I got SO fucked off with people trying to turn me into a brood mare as soon as I hit my 20s, just because my 3 female cousins all had DC by the age of 21!

Even though I have children myself, (they're now aged late 20s,) and have always loved holding and cuddling them - I have no desire to hold, and 'cuddle' someone else's baby who I am not remotely related to! Several years ago, a colleague of DH's had a baby, and we went to a 'work do' of his a few months after, and she was on maternity leave but still came to the 'do' at a pub... I was sat down for no more than 10 minutes when she marched up to me and plopped this huge heavy 3 month old baby on me. I was sitting at a table in the pub, up a corner, and was quite squashed and uncomfortable, and it was wrenching my back holding this 17 pound baby!

One of the women started giggling at how 'awkward' I looked holding him, but it was because I was in an awkward position, and also because I didn't want to fucking hold him! I have my own DC, and a few nieces and nephews who I'm close to, (now grown,) but I have NO desire to hold peoples babies. As I say - who I am not related to.

A minute or so after the woman giggled at me, I stood up with the baby and said 'YOU hold him then!' and shoved the baby in her arms. Fuck that shit. I didn't ask to hold him, and I barely knew the woman/his mother. She soon stopped her irksome giggling!

Not my experience at anywhere I've worked, people who want to see the baby do that, everyone else carries on with work. Maybe it's a your job problem

We only have them in the kitchen. So you get the message “Jane’s here shes brought baby John”
So those who are interested go through and they all hang out or make coffee etc. and if you don’t want to coo and cluck you don’t have to.

I stick my head in. Do the obligatory “oh isn’t he gorgeous” and go after about three minutes to answer an urgent email.

Others stay maybe 20mins and then it’s back to work.