Who WBU: baby and train

[Charmander123]

So I'm on a train with my baby which is about an hour long. There's a woman next to me with a young baby and a toddler. Her little girl really needed the loo so she asked if I could watch the pram. I said yes and luckily the baby didn't cry in that time ;-)
(This train is a little dated so the only toilets are those very tight ones at the far end of the train)
As the mum left, this group of l women behind me started bitching and having a go about how wreck less the mother was leaving the baby there with a stranger. I turn around and say he is in safe hands, and asked how many of them had 2 young kids (turns out none of them had any ).

I didn't mind at all but in this situation;
Do you think the woman were wrong to be so judgemental or wrong for the woman to leave the baby with me?
Xxxxx

They were rude I guess but tbh I don't think they were unreasonable to be annoyed that someone left their baby with a stranger. No matter how lovely they are!

You were very kind and they were BVU

They were being U and good on you for standing up for the other woman.

I'd happily watch/hold a small child for someone in this situation and I think it'd be nice to be asked. I do understand that people are worried about safety, but part of me also finds it sad to think that we have a society where people would rather struggle than ask someone to hold the baby for a few minutes.

Not a train but a man asked me to watch his 3/4 year old daughter while he went toilet in McDonald’s once. I was sat with my husband and 2 boys so I assume he thought we’d be a ‘safe’ choice to watch his daughter for 5 minutes. She sat happily at the table on an iPad the whole time. I don’t see the issue, we need to be kinder to each other.

happylollipop

I've had a lady help me in exactly same circumstances. Stall too small, lady said "I have kids too, you pop in and I'll watch baby"

Was so grateful! They were DUB! Like others ave said they have no idea of woman's circumstances. It's not ideal, but if absolutely desperate, I would also ask another parent to keep an eye on baby. Kidnap on a train is pretty tricky!!

Have been the watcher & the asker, I really do not see the problem here, especially on a moving train!

AnnieAnoniMouse
Have been the watcher & the asker, I really do not see the problem here, especially on a moving train!

snap! Fundamentally MOST people are not baby snatchers/abusers/weirdos. Most are fairly normal!

In life you just have to trust people sometimes. I did the similar on a train once. I bet she just knew with you OP. Life wouldn't be worth living if you couldn't just feel that way with some people.

The women were arseholes.

I was once taking my daughter to the loo at the local gym when a mother with a tiny baby came in and sort of awkwardly looked at the loo door. I offered the hold the baby while she went into the loo and remember thinking before she answered 'oh my god she's going to think I want to steal her baby' but she was seriously grateful! Maybe it's naive but I just assumed she'd consider me safe because I had my young daughter with me...

This is my favourite type of AIBU mainly because it's one of those praise-seeking 'I saved a baby rabbit from an oncoming 2-tonne lorry full of bricks - WIBU?'

I think the world would be a much sunnier place, and many mums would feel less isolated and overwhelmed by motherhood, if we all felt able to ask the odd stranger to hold our babies when we need a hand.

It wouldn’t occur to me that another parent with a baby on a train of all places (so hardly able to leave!) and surrounded by other people wouldn’t be able to watch my baby safely for the few minutes I would be at the loo with the toddler. I’d much more likely leave a baby for a few minutes who would be generally unaware and probably just lie there than a toddler who would freak out or act up or try and run away! I’d not hand a baby to anyone anywhere but it seems like this mum judged the circumstances safe enough and did a bit of risk assessment.

If she took the baby & her daughter needed help, what was she supposed to do with the baby??

Are people really this stupid and paranoid? How likely do you honestly think it is that another woman with a baby is going to kidnap/assault/eat your baby if you ask her to keep an eye on the baby for a couple of minutes? Has anyone EVER heard of a woman (or a family) attacking a stranger's baby/kid they were asked to look after in a public place for a short space of time?

ReanimatedSGB
Are people really this stupid and paranoid? How likely do you honestly think it is that another woman with a baby is going to kidnap/assault/eat your baby if you ask her to keep an eye on the baby for a couple of minutes? Has anyone EVER heard of a woman (or a family) attacking a stranger's baby/kid they were asked to look after in a public place for a short space of time?

I'm so glad it's not just me. I sometimes sit here whilst all these people drag their kids around like a bumbag wondering if I was just careless lol

I’ve been in that woman’s situation. A mobile ds2 who wanted to crawl everywhere and ds1 who needed to poo (he told the train loudly) and not yet able to wipe.
A woman sat with her dc offered her arms to my ds2 and said ‘go on, I’ll put peppa pig on the iPad, he’ll be good as gold’
Gratefully, I accepted. We only went about 30foot to the nearest toilet, and got her dc snacks by way of thanks from the cafe (same carriage)
I would and have happily done the same for others in that situation.

At the end of the day, travelling alone with more than one kid you’re going to run into trouble at some point. If someone can be kind enough to offer help, then great.

Op you did good. Know that the Mum will be thinking of you for months down the line if she’s anything like me, and still being thankful

The women judging were being totally unreasonable - she picked another mother with a baby on a train that presumably didn’t stop so they couldn’t go anywhere. I can’t see what risk there was or reason not to do it!

Those women sound horrible; a bunch of bullies, and I bet none of them would have said anything if they had been on their own. What the other woman asked was fine, and what you did was kind and helpful. If you had been quick of the mark, you might have said she's my neighbour, but it's the sort of thing you think of afterwards.

Those women were BU and judgemental, well done for standing up for the mum. There isn't really much to worry about asking someone to watch your baby on a moving train assuming it's not going to reach a station while you're in the loo (and even then someone is unlikely to try to kidnap your baby in full view of everyone else in the carriage!)
I had someone ask me to hold her baby while she went to the loo on the national express, I wouldn't want to use the tiny cramped loo on those coaches while holding a baby either!

What did the women imagine was going to happen to a sleeping baby in a pram on a train while someone was watching her, you where hardly going to be able to stuff her down your jumper and shop lift her! Wait until they have two young DC, they may be less Judgey then.

When I say I’d not hand a baby to anyone anywhere I mean to “just anyone just anywhere”, not that I’d never do it at all! If I were stuck in a situation like the woman in the OP I wouldn’t see a problem with what she chose to do.

Maybe they were miffed off because obviously you looked like a nicer person that's why she asked you and not them!!

She asked you not vice versa. You had your own baby with you so you're not a complete incompetent. It was in a public place, so in the incredibly unlikely event you decided to do something odd with the baby, you'd have been stopped. Sounds absolutely fine to me, well done for helping out and standing up for her too.