‘Baby’ versus ‘the baby’

[Orangebitters]

Does this give anyone else an irrational rage?

I am recently pregnant and I keep hearing......

‘When baby comes’
‘Best for baby’
‘I bet you can’t wait for baby’
‘Is baby a boy or a girl’

I miss the definite article.

Haha! I never realised how irritating this was until I’ve just saw your post op. So unnecessarily twee I hate it

I'm pregnant and always say THE baby

OMG I know, it really peeves me off too. Everytime I visited the midwife! Is like they're talking as if i'm child or something.

I hate this too. And vice versa when an unnecessary “the” gets inserted. My mother does this. She talks about a message she got on “the WhatsApp” and now what’s going on with “the COVID”.

I've had three pregnancies and HCP have driven me bonkers with that each time.

I always say Baby, to me they're currently called Baby, "The" feels wierd to me, so does "it", my baby isn't a thing, they're a person.

My MIL keeps referring to my baby as “bump”.
I.e. when she says bump she doesn’t mean my baby bump (belly), she means the actual baby I think.

So she’ll say, “how’s bump?”. Or if I’ve gone off a food she’ll say “what does bump fancy to eat?”.

I find it very disconcerting. Is this something people normally say?

@JemimaTiggywinkle oh good god that is even worse!

Throwing in ‘mum’ for good measure. 30 mins after giving birth, soaking in the bath, in pops the midwife - ‘and how’s mum doing now?’

RAGE.

@Orangebitters I'm so glad it's not just me, I find it extremely fucking irritating!

Not as annoying as twee nicknames like Peanut or Raisin "because that's how big baby was when we found out". So effing twee.

I've had cards from name, name and bump

my bump must have very bad manners then not to have signed our Christmas cards

@LikeSilentRaindrops

Throwing in ‘mum’ for good measure. 30 mins after giving birth, soaking in the bath, in pops the midwife - ‘and how’s mum doing now?’

RAGE.

This annoyed me because they'd clearly forgottrn my name!

‘The baby’ sounds a bit detached to me whereas ‘baby’ refers to a person. I’m with @Godimabitch

YADNBU. Anyone using “Baby” as a proper noun should be taken outside and shot.

They say it in ‘Call the Midwife’ a LOT.
I’d never heard it before much before I watched that. Agree - it’s irritating!

@LikeSilentRaindrops

Throwing in ‘mum’ for good measure. 30 mins after giving birth, soaking in the bath, in pops the midwife - ‘and how’s mum doing now?’

RAGE.

Agreed. I work in healthcare and it never seems right to address a woman as mum whether they’re a patient or the patient’s parent. Everyone does it though, and nobody else seems bothered!

Anyone using “Baby” as a proper noun should be taken outside and shot

Seconded

Yes! ‘Baby’ and ‘mum’!!!! Drives me potty!!! Just ask ‘how are you doing?’ rather than how is mum doing?’

FIL has been known to call me "Mummy".

Yes, this is one of my pet hates; glad to see I am not alone! It’s up there with “boobing” etc.

yes it pisses me right off and when I see it on a thread I have to hover wondering if im going to say something about it for ages, same as 'ass' instead of arse from british people on here.

@davidsSchitt

FIL has been known to call me "Mummy".

This is worrying on several levels!!

Yes, I was going to chime in and say wait until they all start calling you ‘mum’ at any appointments once your baby’s arrived. I’ve seen people say it’s easier, we don’t have time to look at every name on the file etc. That’s fine and understandable, so just say ‘how are YOU doing?’.