Member of staff stroked my child's face

[FeeFee382]

Aibu to be annoyed that a member of staff in John Lewis touched my babies face today?!

With coronovirus at large, this does annoy me but it's not ok to just touch random babies. Why do people do this?!

Get a fucking grip

@FeeFee382 Brilliant! Bellehare and RogueV have no issue with it, so the staff can touch their faces instead and leave your child alone! :D

Unreasonable, ridiculous and all that shit OP. And I think some posters would benefit their child greatly if they got help for their anxiety/fear(?) of other people.

Fuck me. I’m quite possibly a Susan.

I always thought I was Spartacus...

I’ve had my bump felt. Not pregnant (sadly couldn’t manage anything past 5 months) - just fat.

I don’t think that lady will ever feel a bump again.

At the moment I would be livid, regardless of the fact that children are less vulnerable. Generally I would be cross.

If you’re trailing your small baby round John Lewis in the middle of a pandemic, then you’re the one who is being unreasonable. I can’t think of one single item on sale in John Lewis that could be reasonably termed ‘essential purchase’ to see you thru the coming weeks.

If I see a baby I will naturally smile at them. I like babies and love my own. I would never touch anyone else's child or kiss it as I wouldn't like random strangers doing that to my children but I will often ask the name and how old they are and tell the parent how cute the baby is. I have had an elderly lady hold my dd's hand as a 6 month dd reached out to her. I didn't mind and thought it was quite sweet. Each to their own, you didn't like her touching your baby and made it clear.

If it was solely due to Corona yabu, if you were that concerned you shouldn't have been taking your baby out shopping!

What did you say to the member of staff?

When I gave birth last year (no pandemic scares!) I was told by several midwives always to wash hands before holding newborn. When we went to NCT baby groups the midwife offered to hold my baby and specifically went to wash her hands first. I’m not particularly precious and did let all our friends/family etc hold him, but new mothers are told repeatedly about hand hygiene and I would be sceptical about the hand hygiene of a stranger. Not everyone has the same hygiene standards, how many people do you see use the toilet and not wash hands? I know it’s very unlikely to cause harm to the baby, but so is eg food with a hair in it, still don’t want to eat it!

I get annoyed at this too. Worse still when DD is asleep and they pull back the blankets to get a good look and pinch a cheek. I try not to get annoyed though. Quite a few say their GC are overseas or far away so I understand why they do it.
So far DDs reaction is always to cry so they retreat pretty quick.
And not being ageist or sexist it's always old ladies. It's a sweet sentiment but I might have to start telling them not to- if anyone's going to infect anyone it will be perma-snotty DD making them ill.

What can you say that's not mean but heads them off before they get their hands in?

Sorry - let me clarify. It pissed me off that she touched my babies face, corona or not. It's intrusive and you are told to sanitise and wash hands regularly with a new baby. I'm not being over protective?

However, I'm aware not everyone is so precious. I would have thought that she would have been more conscious about this because of the corona.

She STANK of smoke too which made me more annoyed.

I just said, oh sorry... would you mind not touching him, we're just being hot on hygiene atm with coronovirus etc. I would have said something corona or not.

What's wrong with being in John Lewis?

Also, I drove to JL - I popped him in the pram, he was ASLEEP (wtf, why touch a sleeping baby), I picked up a boxed item, popped on the counter and my husband carried to the car. We didn't touch anyone, no-one touched us. Apart from some lady who stuck her hand in and stroke my babies face. There's no need!

I had a man (who was walking past us in the street whilst I waited at a bus stop) reach out and touch my DDs face in the pram when she was about 10 months, then walk away.

No words were spoken.

It's rude and you wouldn't do it for an adult or even an older child. Forget coronavirus, just general cold or even worse, the Herpes virus, can be awful for babies.

YANBU.

I didn't say she was going to molest my child or was a monster! Wtf!!!

I just thought with everything going on, she would refrain! It annoys me at the best of times.

I offered to hold a crying baby on a flight once because a single mother looked very stressed.

I held the baby for 20 mins so she could get her shit together and calm down.

I'm not precious!

I just think it's a random thing to do when you work in the store! And there's a pandemic on the go... regardless of whether you think it's ok or not.

My baby was fast asleep and I didn't appreciate someone sticking their stinky smoky hand into my baby's pram and touching them.

I held the baby for 20 mins so she could get her shit together and calm down.

Irrelevant.

All the posters on here calling the OP precious etc. Have you never used a public lavatory and watched all the people who either shove their fingers under a running tap for a couple of second or just walk straight out of the room?

Is it really 'precious' to not want someone who might be one of those people to touch your babies face?

You have no idea where other people's hands have been.

I held the baby for 20 mins so she could get her shit together and calm down.

This would be my first instinct, but having seen all the mothers in MN who don't like strangers touching their children, I would be nervous to offer anyone help, outside of dire/dangerous circumstances.

I didn't appreciate someone sticking their stinky smoky hand into my baby's pram and touching them.

A smoker? How could you tell?

What's wrong with being in John Lewis?

Erm...it’s a busy, crowded department store. Thought you were worried about the virus??

She stank of smoke now? Hmm.

@pigsDOfly

This comment is exactly what I am talking about.
We all seem to have been programmed to think of the worst case scenario about people and to act accordingly.

The irony of the comment is it could be true of anyone:
a) whether you are comfortable them picking up your child or not.
b) whether you know them or not

YANBU. I work in a supermarket and I love cooing over little baby’s but I 100% do not need to touch them or loom over the pram.

I’ve held many a crying baby while the mum shops or packs but I’ve always offered and also offered to do the scanning/packing while they hold if they’d prefer.

You can be friendly and admire without passing germs to tiny infants with crap immune systems.

@Cheeseandwin5

Of course what I said could be true of anyone, which is why my DD isn't happy with her father, my exh, holding her newborn babies because she knows he smokes and that his hand washing is infrequent. So she always asks him to wash his hands and not smoke prior to holding her babies, which she is able to do because she knows him.

It's not a case of being programmed to think the worst of people. I've seen a great many people in public lavatories not wash their hands after using the lavatories, I've seen people pick their noses in public, pick at spots on their faces, spit on the ground and all sorts of other unpleasant things that people do.

I'm not 'programmed'. I've seen what people do and don't do and have decided on the strength of what I've seen, that a great many people have very poor hygiene standards.