Is it okay to touch peoples pregnancy bump?

[Baconbaconbacon]

So I have no bump to speak of so far (well I do if you count bloatyness and fat!). A good friend of mine keeps saying how she's so excited to 'feel bump' etc and asking if I have one yet (we work together and wear very baggy uniform so not easy to see). At the weekend I saw my SIL who I don't see very often and she ran forward and started touching my stomach? I said baby is tiny and there is nothing to feel yet and she just laughed!

I mentioned all this to my sister and she said ah it's acceptable when you're pregnant everyone does it!

Aibu? I think I'm quite self conscious anyway so fully ready to be told to suck it up and it's just another joy of pregnancy!

No. It is not ok. It is fucking rude.

It's only when I joined mumsnet that I realised it was even a thing to be offended by.

I used to have an involuntary reflex which caused me to slap people's hands away. I hate being touched.
The look of shock on people's faces when I batted their hands away used to make DH chuckle.

No it’s not OK, but no one ever tried to touch my bump when I was pregnant & I have never, ever touched anyone’s else’s. I can’t imagine being so intimate with any of my family or friends..

It's hardly 'intimate'!

masterandmargarita you're entitled to feel it's not intimate. Others are entitled to feel it's too intimate for a stranger, colleague or interviewee (!) Start feeling up without consent. Personally I'm in the latter camp but that's the great thing about consent and touching people's bodies - we each get to decide what we're comfortable with :)

I smacked a colleague’s hand away in the lift once as she was lunging towards my bump. Fuck right off, lady. I’m still your appraiser, and pregnancy has not turned me into your personal plushy.

My MIL did this when I as pregnant with my first. It felt so intrusive and my DH ended up having to tell her to stop it because it upset me so much. She never did it with my second!

How many times a day do you go up to people and rub thier abdomen Master?
Would you like it if your work colleagues said "goodmorning" as they copped a feel of you?
No?
So why is it ok to do it if a woman is pregnant?
Personal space is just that and it doesnt change as your belly grows.
Ask politely or just keep.your grubby hands to yourself.

The minute I announced to my in-laws that I was pregnant (we announced prior to 12 weeks) my MIL rubbed my stomach like she was trying to get a genie out a lamp. I told her at the time I was just fat and there was nothing there but it didn't stop her. I eventually had to tell her at a later time that I didn't like people touching my stomach unless invited to as she didn't take the many many obvious hints. No one else was so forward, only her.

Oh it still makes me cringe when I remember my last day of being pregnant.
DS was 9 days late, my skin was so stretched on my stomach that it was painful, especially right above my belly button...
DH and I were in the queue at Tesco and this loud mouthed oaf in front of us started asking questions, is it your first/when are you due, etc, then lunged forward and rubbed my stomach so hard that it shook... I was livid... it actually caused me pain. DH almost lamped him!
I would never touch someone's stomach unless they had invited me to.

You may have no problem with it master and that's fine.
I absolutely hate being touched by strangers whether pregnant or not. When I was pregnant with ds2 my darling mum was dying of ovarian cancer. So when a complete random strangers tried to touch my bump, in a way I was ready for them. I don't know you so don't touch me you weirdo.
Yes I'm pregnant and for that I'm happy but inside I'm in absolute turmoil because my lovely mum may not live to see this baby.
Not every pregnancy is a happy one for loads of different reasons so imo it is never ever appropriate to touch the bump of a complete stranger. Apart from being downright rude, you just don't know what's going on in that person's life.

Willow, just because I don't mind people doing it to me when I've got a huge great lump sticking out my front, that doesn't mean I then in turn rub random people's abdomens

that doesn't mean I then in turn rub random people's abdomens

If you dont do it to people who arent pregnant why should anyone think its ok to do it to women just because they are pregnant?
Why are pregnant women public property?