Strangers touching my baby

[MummOfOne]

To not want strangers to touch my baby?

Am I being unreasonable? My son is 12 weeks old and whenever we go out in public strangers have this overwhelming desire to touch him and his hair, I understand he has a full head of thick hair which people are drawn too but I find it quite uncomfortable.

Is this just something that I have to put up with or is it reasonable to ask people to back off?

"With so many bugs around and with Jack being so small I'd rather you didn't touch him" the tone of your voice speaks volumes. If you are polite but firm people will understand. Some people just forget themselves!

I would feel the same, agree with the last comment.

Ugh we used to get that all the time. Older ladies were the most guilty of it. I used to wear my son in a sling and ladies used to grab his feet, stroke his hair, and peer round the sling folds to try and see his face. It felt very invasive. You're not unreasonable at all. Ashamed to say I never confronted any of them about it, I just distanced myself.

I think strangers touching your baby is a personal thing. It never troubled me but if it does, you have every right to say something. You could say something like 'He's overdue a nap so I need him to be quiet now' (inserting yourself between baby and intruding stranger)

What drove me mad was elderly women talking to my daughter as a way of criticising my decisions about her upbringing.

'Poor little thing! You need a dummy, don't you?' (Mother-in-law to three-week old)

'Is your mummy going back to work? Oh dear! Is she going to her office and not looking after you?' (Neighbour leaning into buggy and addressing seven-month old)

Tell them he bites.

I hated it.

If she was in the sling I'd turn my back on them and if she was in the pram I'd pull her away.

I slapped a grannies hand away once when she went to touch her face without even speaking to me.

I’m in the minority that I didn’t mind at all, very much have a “germs are good for you” mentality and me and kids are very rarely ill. In fact I remember being in Morrisons cafe once after doing my weekly shop, 4 week old DD was crying her eyes out and the food I ordered was getting cold - I was knackered, and looked it, and a lady of about 60 who was sat with friends asked if I wanted her to hold DD while I ate. I practically threw DD at her 😂 and was happy for her friends to hold. DD calmed down as I think she just needed a change of scene!

However touching before asking/checking is not cool. You ask first and respect it if the answer is no. Just be a smart arse and say “Of course he was BORN with leprosy but we love him anyway”

https://amzn.eu/d/aGiNHM7

Maybe these on the pram would help? We had one and no one ever tried to touch him

I never minded this and in fact liked people taking an interest, it felt quite community spirited too.

If you don't like it though, speak up. I would imagine people don't realise you don't like it and aren't doing it out of malice.