to not want strangers to touch dd?

[mookickkick]

On the bus, in shops, on the street... Would it be rude to tell them NO DON'T TOUCH HER? She chews her hands all the time and the thought of all those germs -- yuck.

Why are strangers touching her?

yes it would be very rude

she has an immune system to cope with the germs so don't be precious!

I hate this too but it is rude to say anything IMO.

put a sign around her neck then. fgs what is the world comming to?

was in public loo waiting for DD to come out of cubicle, with DS aged about 8 months in buggy

old lady comes out of cubicle and WITHOUT washing her hands, starts going all coochy coo and stroking DS face and letting him grab her finger.

I was and asked her not to touch him "because he has severe allergies and we have to be careful" (first thing I thought of)

OP, YANBU, soem people are plain filthy and why should they touch your DCs

(we have been doing lots of hospital visiting of late and the number of peiople ignoring the alcohol sprays etc is staggering)

I'm afraid YABU.

When DD was small old ladies would stop and coo and I could see they were itching to chuck her cheek but usually restrained themselves presumably from past tellings-off. I wanted to say "go ahead and pat her if you want" but didn't as that would have sounded really nuts.

It made me feel a bit sad TBH.

It's called society, or civilization even. I winced the first few times, but its moulding your DD into a member of society, not just your daughter, preparing her to be a pupil, neighbour friend et al. Your DD will thank you for holding back on the germ cringing when she's 70, lonely and patting a new born is the highlight of her day.

Hmmm, interesting to see the other side. I am quite a touchy person myself but not with complete strangers and certainly not with their babies. DD is 8 months btw.

loubeylou I would have said something in the loo too. The number of times I've seen people leave the loo without washing their hands is shocking.

I don't really like it either, but then I'd rather that then my child be ignored. Most people are fine; it's when the local bag lady touches him I wince sometimes as she is quite smelly. However, that could be me some day for all I know, so ...

than, not then.

Ooh yanbu, i hate it when people touch dd2 with their grubby hands, if i knew they where hygenic then fine, but i don't!

enjoy it while it lasts. DD had her fair share of touchy-feely old ladies as a little one, but now she's a loud and snotty toddler the senior citizens practically run in the other direction when she comes into view.

Message withdrawn

yes lots of people die from the not washing their hands in the loo virus

urgh would hate it if I knew for a fact someone was touching me having been to the loo and not washed their hands. I know it must happen but I'd rather live in ignorance.

southeastasra-how do you think bugs are spread?

YANBU. Tell them she bites.

The problem with teaching old ladies they mustn't touch your precious child is that three years on they will be too afraid to catch him when he's got loose and is about to run into the road.

This is truly horrid

Whilst in my local tesco a young lady came in with her new baby-all beautifully 'new' and she looked lie a model [pah],,,,the dad was handsome and fussing over his wife and baby .....an old lady who unfortunately was not as clean as she might be leant over to admire the baby- then suddenly rushed off leaving an ominous trail of 'fluid' dripping from her trouser leg......they came to clear it up and as they were doing so,glowing new mum looked aghast and made a little noise.....I asked her what was wrong.....the old ladies tooth had come out and was squarely resting in the blanket next to the babies face !!!!!!

My mum actually did put a sign around my sister's neck when she was a baby. It was rigid plastic and said 'please don't touch my hands I still suck them'. But then my mother is a bit of a fruitcake.

I must admit, I didn't like it myself with either of my dss but wouldn't have said anything, even if the toucher was less than hygienic looking. But I did wipe dss hands with a baby wipe after any touching! (Subtly and well after the toucher had gone.)

YANBU, I hate it when strangers touch DS, why should they? But you can't ask them not to touch them, I just don't encourage the interaction. I wouldn't dream of touching a child I didn't know! Old ladies don't know any boundaries when it comes to babies.

Carry her in a sling. I used one of these a lot when DD was little. She's closer to eye level so can be admired easily, but they'd have to be REALLY brazen to get their fingers in there

I'm undecided whether YABU or not.

It depends on the individual - some like to be touched, some don't. A parent's instinct is to protect their child and parents usually impose their preferences onto their babies i.e. about being touched by children.

I used to really fret about my DS when he was a baby because he would literally be pawed every time we stepped out of the door. It would annoy me more because I couldn't get to where I wanted to go quickly and I did feel that people took liberties and touched him.

But then he was my first - my apprentice baby, poor lad - and I had a lot of different things to get used to with him.

But I guess we have immune systems for a reason. I don't think you need to worry about germs but if you feel it's an intrusion of personal space, then I can understand that too. I'm not really sure what you can do about it though.

Nickschick, that poor old woman. She must have felt mortified at losing her tooth, the ominous puddle coming from her trouser leg.