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Original poster

I stole somebody else's baby

216 replies

LiveLoveWoof · 05/11/2020 10:51

Name changed as outing.

This was yesterday. In supermarket with DD 3 year old DS and 14 week DD. DH had the pushchair & I had the trolley. We were in a bit of a rush so DH said he'd go get a few bits and we'd meet in the middle. Off he goes and takes the pushchair with him. DS stayed with me. Had a quick look at the baby clothes for DD. Left trolley at end of aisle. Wandered up another couple of aisles then turned round and automatically put my hands on the pushchair that was there. Started walking off and DS pipes up "that's not my sister" I looked down and realised DD was now wearing boys clothes and had aged by about 6 months. I panicked and returned baby to the aisle I stole him from. Thankfully I'd only got to the end of the aisle and turned to go into the next aisle before DS said something. The other mum never even noticed!

OP posts:
AriesTheRam · 05/11/2020 10:59

Omg lol

Sweetchillichicken · 05/11/2020 11:01

While this is hilarious thank fuck your not a bad person as I’m honestly surprised the mum didn’t notice. It’s scary how easy it was for you to take him.

Knittedfairies · 05/11/2020 11:04

I've done it with a supermarket trolley - no child in it, thankfully - and I felt bad enough doing that! Your son will never let you forget it...

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TheFormerPorpentinaScamander · 05/11/2020 11:11

I accidentally tried to 'kidnap' a child on the London underground once. I thought it was my DS so grabbed hold of him, another lady grabbed his other arm and tried to pull him away so I put my arm around him. Then realised it wasn't my DS at all! I apologised profusely. The other Mum didn't seem to speak any English but her smile and "is ok is ok" made me think she understood!

Its awful that the other mum didn't even notice though!

lifestooshort123 · 05/11/2020 15:04

My 2-yr old son once grabbed on to another woman's denim leg from behind thinking it was mine - one tiny paw went right up the top as well! I can't remember who screamed the loudest.

ScatteredMama82 · 05/11/2020 15:07

That's hilarious OP! We were on holiday abroad with DS1, aged about 7 months and in his pushchair. I paused to look at something on a shelf in a shop. DH wandered up behind me and, helpfully, wheeled DS away. I turned round and he was gone! I started screaming 'someone's got my baby!' - DH appeared round the corner looking at me like I was some kind of lunatic. Blush

ProudAuntie76 · 05/11/2020 15:14

My Mum and her friend went to the big supermarket in town to shop together (as one drove and the other didn’t). Returned their trolleys. Got in the car, drove out, nearly all the way home.

Then my Mum remembered a vital fact. That she had a baby. In a pushchair. And she’d never had her own trolley. She’d returned the pushchair instead of a trolley. And with it, baby me. And her friend was as ditzy as hell.

After half an hour since she “returned me to the trolley bay”, she finally found me happily playing with some cans of veg. No one had raised an alarm.

Years later, I found her sitting in a car that wasn’t mine (but looked like mine) with a confused teenager in the back. Some things never change.

Original poster
LiveLoveWoof · 05/11/2020 15:20

I'm glad I'm not the only one. The other mum was helping her other child and the baby was asleep. It was only seconds thankfully. The pushchair was similar to mine.

I've reminded myself of the time, over 15 years ago, that I walked my dog into town and tied him up outside a shop whilst I popped in. I was half way home before I realised I forgot him. Best of all? The shop he was outside of was RSPCA charity shop although I had gone in the butchers next door. Half ran back to him and he was so excited to see me.

OP posts:
TheoriginalLEM · 05/11/2020 15:22

Can you imagine if your ds hadnt noticed Grin

Icanseewhyichangednyusername · 05/11/2020 15:23

I did the same as a nanny collecting a new charge on the first day of a temp job . I walk up and ask him “hi are you ready to come home with me?” He says “no I don’t want to.”
I say “no your mummy says I have to collect you and bring you home.” At this point The teacher comes up to me and says you’re trying to take home the wrong child!

EatPrayYoga · 05/11/2020 15:24

I hope you disinfected the pushchair handle before giving it back!

Turtleturtle81 · 05/11/2020 15:27

When I was about 6 years old I remember a woman marching up to me, grabbing my hand, gave me a smack on the legs and pulled me along the supermarket aisle while shouting at me for wondering off. I can still clearly remember the look on her face when she realised I was not her child! She kept apologising to my mum and my mum just shrugged and didn’t say anything :/

Phlewf · 05/11/2020 15:33

When ds was little I was forever taking the hand of any small child within my reach. It was like a reflex. Never got very far with them but did it too often. I miss sweaty sticky little paws. Ds’s hand is bigger than mine now

Plumplumbadum · 05/11/2020 15:41

@EatPrayYoga

I hope you disinfected the pushchair handle before giving it back!
OMG.....there's always one. Hmm
lalafafa · 05/11/2020 15:45

@ProudAuntie76

My Mum and her friend went to the big supermarket in town to shop together (as one drove and the other didn’t). Returned their trolleys. Got in the car, drove out, nearly all the way home.

Then my Mum remembered a vital fact. That she had a baby. In a pushchair. And she’d never had her own trolley. She’d returned the pushchair instead of a trolley. And with it, baby me. And her friend was as ditzy as hell.

After half an hour since she “returned me to the trolley bay”, she finally found me happily playing with some cans of veg. No one had raised an alarm.

Years later, I found her sitting in a car that wasn’t mine (but looked like mine) with a confused teenager in the back. Some things never change.

proper ROFL Years later, I found her sitting in a car that wasn’t mine (but looked like mine) with a confused teenager in the back. Some things never change.
orangenasturtium · 05/11/2020 15:47

My 2-yr old son once grabbed on to another woman's denim leg from behind thinking it was mine - one tiny paw went right up the top as well! I can't remember who screamed the loudest.

That reminds me of my late DGM.

She was on an escalator at a tube station when she felt someone caressing her bottom. She turned round to give the man behind a hard stare and he beamed back at her. The stroking continued so she glared at him again. And the stroking continued...

At the top of the escalator, she turned around to give him a piece of her mind and alert the guard, only to see the man clearly hadn't been stroking her bottom as he had a case in one hand and was holding hands with a toddler on the other side. The child was obviously intrigued by the knobbly boucle fabric of her coat Grin

iwantmyownicecreamvan · 05/11/2020 15:49

Mind you this was in the 50s

My Nan took me as a baby (about 4 months) to the shops in a pram. She left the pram outside whilst she went in (people did that then). Then she came out, forgot she had brought the baby with her and just went home.

My Mum thought she had left the sleeping baby in the pram outside the front door (yes, people did that then too, so baby could get fresh air) and said "Goodness she's sleeping well outside today!" Cue a hysterical dash back to the shop for both Mum and Nanna to find a distraught howling baby being passed around by the poor shop assistants.

LittleDoritt · 05/11/2020 15:53

I've never stolen someone else's child but I have roared "Will you pack it in!" to my two squabbling children, only to remember that mine were actually at home with their Dad and these, horrified little ones were strangers to me.

IthinkIsawahairbrushbackthere · 05/11/2020 15:53

My daughter as an older teenager was nearly "kidnapped" by a foreign language teacher on the London Underground. In fairness she looked very young for her age and there was a huge group of young teens with some very harassed staff who tried to hustle her on the train with the rest of their group. Her refusal to join them wasn't helped by looking very young for her age.

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 05/11/2020 15:54

@LittleDoritt

I've never stolen someone else's child but I have roared "Will you pack it in!" to my two squabbling children, only to remember that mine were actually at home with their Dad and these, horrified little ones were strangers to me.
Wonderful. Grin
tmh88 · 05/11/2020 15:59

Oh god this has reminded me of the time we met my dad on holiday he had gone in his car and me and my partner had gone in our car, we were meeting in a car park to go on a hike.. as we were pulling in we could see him going over to a couple in a the same car as us! My dad has this habit of like pretending to trip while waving/or like standing there tapping his watch etc for a joke and he did just that on the day.. started to wave at this couple in the car and then did a fake running fall into her side door Blush me and my partners face watching this happen from the entrance was like this Shock I have never seen my dad go so red! I laughed typing this but realise it’s one of them you have to be there moments Grin

BanningTheWordNaice · 05/11/2020 16:00

I have 2 not my kid stories : one kid in a German Christmas decoration store kept looking at me and going to destroy stuff - mum nowhere on that floor and the staff yelled at me to control my child. In German. I don’t speak German and so left the store to confused staff. Another time a kid ran under my long skirt yelling mummy - I’d nearly thwacked him as until I heard the kid yell it felt like someone’s hand on my bum.

AliceMcK · 05/11/2020 16:00

Hahaha I’ve started walking off with another child when not paying attention. I just felt a little hand in mind, luckily the parents were there and saw the funny side.

StillMedusa · 05/11/2020 16:01

I left my 6 hour old baby in the shopping trolley by the nappies and wandered off round Tesco (we had stopped on our way home from hospital.. 3rd baby) DH had the other two..aged 2 and 1, in one trolley and I had the other trolley. He came across me in the veg isle... 'where's the BABY!?'

Oops... (she was still by the nappies with some assistants cooing over her...)

notacooldad · 05/11/2020 16:04

I've never stolen someone else's child but I have roared "Will you pack it in!" to my two squabbling children, only to remember that mine were actually at home with their Dad and these, horrified little ones were strangers to me
This made me laugh!!

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