to shout at stranger

[littlejolee]

Sorry this is a long one and a bit of a rant. In the que in lidl today and lo is one and already having some major toddler tantrums. He was having one at the checkout because I wouldn't let him play with the plastic bags. I tried distracting him with a toy and dummy and funny faces etc, no avail, so said tantrum continued with lo making a fair bit of noise but with no tears. The next minute the woman in front of me in the que turned around and put her face about an inch away from his nose, with her head right under the pram hood and started blowing really hard in his face! He starts screaming blue murder and the tears were streaming down his face, he never has tears unless he's hurt or frightened. He was crying so much he was holding his breath and going purple, he looked terrified. I flipped my lid at this point and said to her 'what the f* do you think you are doing get out of my child's face and stop blowing on him!' She said 'he's not breathing ' and she was right he wasn't but only when she started blowing on him! I was furious. I had to take him out of the pram and carry him home before he calmed down no mean feat im only 4ft9" and he's a little heffalump. Poor oh got a right earful when we got in!

"The loon started blowing in his face while he was shouting, causing him to freak out and hold his breath."

She blew in a small child's face, claimed the child wasn't breathing when he was in fact yelling his head off, and only then did the child stop breathing? How on earth would she have known he'd react like that?

'I would have gone nuclear'
'I would have flipped my lid too'

I guess she was just trying to help. Perhaps she thought he was struggling. You could have just asked her to stop.

I can't believe people are saying that what this women did was okay, I would have lost it completely.

I'm sure the OP would have noticed if her child wasn't breathing and since she's already said he was shouting, evidently he was breathing.

Of course you weren't being unreasonable! Stupid woman she was!

I once told a shop assistant off for bollocking my 14 month old as we were leaving a shop! Only on MN would you be told off for this!

*Can't yes she COULD have asked the woman to stop but personally, I too might have lost my temper at such a disgustingly personal approach. Who wants a stranger's breath and spit in their baby's face ffs!

put her face about an inch away from his nose, with her head right under the pram hood and started blowing really hard in his face

Just curious..... How did you know all of this if her head was right under the hood?

I am sure the OP either heard the blowing or the pram had a transparent panel in it.

Also, it could have been at an angle. What this stranger did was disgusting, inappropriate and too intimate.

If she had to duck under the hood of a forward facing pram then you wouldn't have seen him properly if you were only standing next to it and not in front of it.

With that in mind, if sounds like she thought he wasn't breathing/saw him changing colour.

Walter not at all. The pram could have been angled or had a transparent hood.

I think she was clearly trying to be helpful. Calm down, OP.

Walter not at all. The pram could have been angled or had a transparent hood.

True.

It's such an odd thing to do though, I still maintain either the baby had stopped breathing or she thought he had.

OP quite clearly says the baby is making a fair bit of noise when the woman starts blowing on him - she isn't trying to make him breathe.

Walter some people are just weird though. I had a woman come up to DD in her buggy and repeatedly make "Punching"2 gestures at her tiny little face. She did about 3 before I realised what it was she was doing as it was sort of slow motion...she said nothing...I said "GET THE FUCK AWAY!" When I realised.

She was elderly too...I suppose she might have had some sort of learning disability but she was alone and seemed not to have.

Can'tbelievethisishapening the hood is see through

So....the AIBU is....??? Shouting and swearing at a woman who blew on a screaming child's face as she may have, rightly or wrongly, thought the child was struggling to breath.
Massive overreaction based on your OP and subsequent posts.

YABU

It was presumptuous in the extreme of the woman. She saw the Mother was right there. She did not need to decide to do what she did.

Why is OP being cross-examined? It is perfectly possible to see what someone is doing under a pram's hood.
YWNBU; your poor baby being frightened needlessly. You should have called the police, what she did was abusive.

You should have called the police, what she did was abusive
Oh FFS

Have I stumbled onto Netmums?

She may have bizarrely thought the baby wasn't breathing.

Or she may have been irritated by the noise and thought it would shock the baby into stopping

Or she may have thought something else entirely.

Either way, OP is NBU to have shouted at her.

I would have gone absolutely crazy . I do not understand how anyone can say ywbu.

It would be one almighty coincidence for the woman to pretend the baby is not breathing, and then lo and behold.. he actually does stop breathing.

Where does she "pretend the baby is not breathing"?

I'm amazed at the people who would be perfectly equanimious if a random started blowing in their baby's face. I wouldn't be relaxed about that at all!