worried about raising low self esteem daughter

[thinking333222]

hi,

i am potentially thinking too much. but i worry that i am not protecting or standing up for my little girl (9 months) enough (FTM). example today is that we were after a baby class and two girls (maybe 5 and 3?) were holding a toy flower and stroking my daughter's face in the pram (i was in the middle of packing up). i said to the little girls - not in her face, they then did it on her head and my girl was trying to grab the flower all the time (teasing her). maybe stroking is the wrong word, it wasn't super gentle but not rough either.

i just feel like i should have asked the girls to stop right away, instead i let them continue and eventually said, ok stop now because she (my daughter) doesn't like it. i completely appreciate that they were very young children as well.

i think this boils down to me having low self esteem and having trouble standing up for myself generally, so i just worry about passing this down to my little girl!

You are way overthinking. Kids do things like this. the girls were probably trying to be nice to the baby. Just gently supervise that they dont poke her eyes out or shove it up her nose.

Was your baby distressed? Or was she enjoying the attention? If she was crying and you let them continue, then yes you fucked up. If she was fine, and you stepped in when you felt they were going too far, then you did nothing wrong.

There is no rule that says no one is allowed to touch your baby. I know on MN it's a capital crime, but in real life, if you're happy for other people to interact with your baby, that's absolutely fine!

Thanks both, yes I think I was overthinking, and potentially projecting my own insecurities too. My baby wasn't in distress and she wasn't crying.