I have been dwelling on this all evening.

[TheLadyEvenstar]

This afternoon I had to rush DS2 to the hospital, while we were there a couple came in with a small baby I would say possibly around 9m old.
Dad was holding said baby and mum kept putting her head down.
I was waiting for DS2 to be seen and looked at baby, he was covered in blood which was coming from his eye.

I saw more closely as his dad was stood holding him next to DS2's bed. You could clearly see a round cut there, I then overheard - and I really wasn't listening deliberatly as I was worried about DS2, Dad say to mum "I can't believe you have done this he is a baby"

Mum hung her head again, dad continued to rant at her and got louder, he was so angry. It emerged that she had hit the baby for screaming, how she hit him I don't know as I asked for DS2 to be moved as I at this point felt physically sick and had to bite my tongue.

Now obviously I do NOT know the full details but how does a parent think it is right to hit a child?
It really made me feel sick when I looked at this LO's face.

im speechless actually. it clearly says in the op that it emerged she had hit the baby because it was screaming
and the sympathies lie with a woman who hit her 9 month old baby causing a bleeding head wound?

oooook.

tell you what lets just change the subject shall we....that would be a good response.

cant believe that onedge is the only one on here talking sense.

Vicar, I did change the subject as I wanted a bit of advice about DS2 as well.

I was very upset by what I saw and heard no dount there

BooyHoo, a friend said more or less the same to me :)

look vicar if a man had come on here saying his wife had struck their baby because she couldn't cope with him screaming then doubtless people would have alot more to say but as this is literally an (sorry TLES) eavesdropped conversation and we don't have the full story then there really isn't much any of us can say WRT it other than hoping the baby is safe.

BooyHoo - overheard not eavesdropped ;)

so do you think you got it wrong TLES?

either way medical staff would have alerted police/social services if they suspected abuse.

it just shocks me that people are always willing to look for excuses for the inexcusable, its always maybe it was overheard wrongly or maybe she has post natal depression or maybe it was him or maybe something else...

maybe sometimes people do things that there there are no excuses for. it happens.

Quite, BooyHoo. I think everybody can agree that hurting babies is A Bad Thing. But we don't know what happened really, and can only hope that help is forthcoming.

"maybe sometimes people do things that there there are no excuses for. it happens."

of course it does. but so does all the rest of the stuff you mentioned and human nature is to look for the best scenario that means the least suffering for all involved. sometimes humans are wrong an the thing that has happened is the worst you could imagine. wouldn't it be a wonderful world though if everyone jumped to the worst conclusion everytime. as if that doesn't happen enough already.

Vicar, I know what I heard and the dad was very angry, it became more apparent as he "spoke" to her. and his whole manner, he held that boy with such care and protectivness. Now I don't know the reasons she did hurt him I just know the sight of his eye made my stomach churn
But I am off to bed now ladies I need some sleep x

How awful. The one positive I can see from this story is that they actively sought help by taking him to hospital. I really hope it was a one off out of sheer frustration (not that it excuses it) and that primarily the baby, and mum and dad get the help/support they need.

When my eldest dd was in hospital after a hernia op, on the ward coming around from the general, there was a little boy, no older than 3 opposite. He was very fractious after his op and very whingey, and the mother was getting more and more pissed off with him by the second. She ripped up his certificate the nurses had given him for being brave, and was manhandling him and yelling at him. She was getting particularly rough, and after a couple of glances, myself and the mum next to me ran to the nurses station to get help. She had drawn the curtain and just as we got back we heard an almighty crack, she had really walloped him

I couldn't get it out of my heade for so long, mainly the thought that if she could do this when he was vulnerable after an op and in a ward, what the hell did she do to him at home. The nurses assured me they would deal with it but still...

Hope your ds is feeling better soon TLES

Because abuse of children and women by men is a lot more common than abuse of children by women (or abuse of men for that matter), and because many abusive men are superficially plausible and charming to the outside world, it's at least as likely that in this case the man's ostentatious display of outrage was because he had caused the injury, as it is likely that the woman had caused it.

TLES, my GP recommended flat cocacola for upset stomachs. (It didn't do any good for DS at 18 months with D&V because he wouldn't touch it but might work on an older DC).