to not want strangers to keep touching DS without permission?

[Fruitflieslikeabanana]

OK this may turn into a rant

Why is it some people feel the need to touch / stroke / pinch the cheeks of my 10 month old DS? I've just taken him to the GP (D and V for several days but thankfully resolving today) and as I know he is probably contagious I sat as far away as possible from others and kept him sat on my knee. He's doing a lot of babbling at the moment so sat there making bits of noise and blowing a few raspberries which lead not one but two people to come over and put their hands on his face and coo at him.

I'm not particularly confrontational so I don't like just telling people to just go away or snatch DS away. AIBU to expect people not to do this to a child they do not know? It used to happen a lot when he was a small baby but I thought it would stop now he's bigger.

precious much?

Feel vindicated that they are probably now puking their guts up!

YANBU at all. You need to perfect 'the glare' when someone starts to put their hand out. Either that or offer them some hand steriliser because your DS is 'contagious' right now and laugh at their look of horror!

They must have been particularly stupid people to have gone up to a child at the GP though, I mean, really??!!!

Here. This is a grip. Feel free to help yourself to it.

disgusting people, interested in your baby, how dare they

People coo and touch cute babies though so yes you are being unreasonable.

Oh come off it, this is a wind up or my name is Lord Lucan.

Deleted by Mumsnet etc etc etc

Anyone else imagine the look on the OP's face if a strange man on a bus announced "I'd like permission to touch your child"

Can people not be interested without actually touching him? I will gladly talk the ears off anyone who wants to know about DS but it's the handling aspect. I wouldn't expect a stranger to come up to me and put their hands over my face.

YANBU, and its ok to be precious about strangers touching your child. I don't want strangers coming up and touching my face, so why would I think its ok for my baby?

You do sound incredibly precious OP

But then again, given some of the threads on here about pregnant women moaning because 'everyone keeps asking how they are'....well nothing surprises me any more.

Sorry YABU. It is a basic urge in many people to touch babies. I think it must tap into our urge to nurture and look after babies. We obviously don't have this for adults.

Secondly your baby is an individual in his own right. If your baby is happy to be touched by strangers, then I think this is all that matters.

Bastards. That's what they are.

Liking babies and finding them cute. Using a display of physical affection to demonstrate how sweet they find toddlers.

Utter Bastards.

YANBU, and its ok to be precious about strangers touching your child. I don't want strangers coming up and touching my face, so why would I think its ok for my baby?

Because just maybe the baby likes the affection and enjoys being sociable?

Most babies will make it perfectly clear at the top of their lungs if they don't like something/someone.

Lesley, most babies would happily put poo in their mouths given a chance, would you let them do that too if it makes them happy?

Them being happy is not all that matters. The mothers feelings matter too.

I've never had the urge to touch a strange baby, I guess it's just me that finds it strange then.

Oh dear lord.

Evoloution has been very smart and, given that babies are very vulnerable, needy and frankly a pain in the arse, it has created a string urge in grown adducts to feel very drawn to then, protective of them and affectionate towards them. Otherwise they woukd be on pretty thin ice frankly.

So why don't you try and embrace the fact that this huge out pouring of goodwill towards your child is a good thing. So treating it with some good battered patience wouldn't go amiss.

Many people in society are quite isolated. A good dose of old fashioned human contact is a good thing for everyone.

Adducts may be drawn too. I was thinking of adults.

I wish people would pinch my chubby cheeks more and tell me I was gorgeous.

Would cheer me right up :)

I think YABU, yes. I don't really understand this obsession with not interacting with people while we're out and about with our DC. And I think it's quite sad really. Older people love having a cuddle with a baby and if the baby doesn't mind, why not let them enjoy it? I also think if we try keep our DC in a sterile bubble with no contact with others, you are depriving them of the ability to understand how to interact with strangers or how to view the world as being bigger than just their little slice of it.

And perhaps, if people were less insistent on keeping everyone else away from their children, we wouldn't have this situation where small children have no idea how to behave in "polite" society. It's petty, but I was disappointed at nearly 40 weeks pregnant to find that when I accidentally dropped my bus money while waiting for the bus, the approximately 5 year old child nearby did not make any effort to help me pick it up. When I was young, I probably would have been pushed by my mother if I hadn't immediately gone to help the fat helpless woman who couldn't bend down.

Oh catgirl....lovely chubby cheeks

On the day we brought DS home from hospital we needed some urget supplies so popped into the local supermarket. A lady asked if it would be ok to try some clothes on DS as he looked 'about the right size'. We said no (as we thought it was a bit strange), would anyone have said yes?

"The mothers feelings matter too."

But why do you feel the way you do? It's not a totally rational reaction is it? Maybe it is? If you were to say for example 'I hate people with beards! I refuse to talk to them. Don't my feelings matter too?' we'd all tell you to stop being so silly and rude. I'm not sure if this is any less so.

so let me get this right, say a man you have never met comes over to you in sainsbury's says

'oh hello there, isn't your baby cute, would you mind if I touched him?'

this would be perfectly acceptable?

Probably not a wind up as we get one of these now and again. yawn