Small things people have done for you when you’re out in public with a baby

[Tryingandhoping2020]

Twice this week I’ve been touched by small acts of kindness from strangers when out with my 8mo.

A few days ago outside a supermarket a lady came over while I was trying to placate frustrated DD and helped me pack my shopping into my car.

Today, I was grabbing a quick lunch at a fast food place and cleaning DD up after her lunch (purée, not fast food!), an employee came over completely unprompted to hand me some more napkins to clean her up with and asked if there was anything else she could help with.

Both very small things that neither lady probably thought twice about, but meant a lot to a tired FTM. Thought a thread would be nice to share lovely things that people have done in public when they see you struggling!

DS tripping on pavement when I was 8 months pregnant. Young lad around 18. Dark hoody came running over. I am sad to say I thought the worse. But he helped my DS to his feet. Then chatted to him about dinosaurs as my DS was holding one. Calmed my DS down while I just stood like a lemon.
lovely act and taught me a valuable lesson.

The teenager boy who walked past me boiling hot and heavily pregnant in the summer sat on a bench in town, then ran into a shop and brought me out a bottle of chilled water and some haribo.

The older woman sitting next to me at a cafe who chatted to me and newborn DD while I cried. She held my tea up for me to drink and fed me my cake while I soothed DD

I'd walk a few miles to a cafe with DD (3mo) in a sling and my dog, then ordered a full cooked breakfast (rookie error). My dog was trying to take advantage of the fact I was holding DD whilst eating and attempting to steal the lot.

A kind women came over from where she was sat with a few friends and offered to hold the dog or DD whilst I ate. DD had a lovely cuddle with her whilst I got to enjoy my breakfast and my dog was thwarted!!

More recently when DD (now 4) was having an epic hangry melt down in Matalan, one of the shop assistants came and congratulated me on how calmly I was handling the tantrum, I felt anything but calm in that moment, but it was nice to feel supported not judged.

I have twin babies and almost everywhere I go I seem to get a comment which always has a negative connotation along the lines of "cor blimey, you have your hands full" or "rather you than me".

When I took our babies for their second immunisations, I was really nervous as I was going alone and wasn't sure how logistically to manage two crying babies.

As it happened, it went smoothly and at the end the nurse said to me "You are doing so well. Those babies settled because of you Mum. I see parents every day and I can tell you, you're doing brilliant."

I walked out and cried. After months of no sleep, a NICU stay and feeling like I was failing every day at the unenviable task of being a twin Mum, this helped beyond words.

One of the first times I was out with my DD1 she was screaming and I made the mistake of trying to keep hold of her and put the pram up at the same time. Couldn’t do it at all with one hand - a lady came over and asked me if the pram was going up or down and did it for me.
Had offers of carrying drinks/food etc to a table as well

Where I used to live there was a railway bridge with steep steps and no ramp. Almost every time I used that bridge someone would seemly materialise out of thin air and offer to take the buggy so I could carry DS.

A lady once pushed DD up and down a restaurant in her pram on holiday so that we could eat our meal.

I'm currently 6 months pregnant with my second and these posts are making me cry, so lovely!

I didn't have the £1 in change for a trolley at a supermarket but toddler DD was hysterical as she wanted in one. I only needed nappies and calpol, it was late afternoon on the way home from nursery/work (we were both tired and getting used to the new routine!). A lovely lady seen all this, went outside and got a trolley for us then surprised me with it in the next Isle a minute later. I met her again at the tills and she made us go ahead of her and refused anything in return. She was my hero that day.

A lidl worker who seen I was struggling at the trolley park...someone had put a load of the wrong type of trolleys in front of the ones that take babies car seats. He rushed out and quietly got us the right type, as newborn DD snoozed.

Lots of lovely people holding doors or grabbing the bottom of the buggy as you try and bump down stairs etc! Also shout out to all the older men who make funny faces at kids in shops/queues etc to keep them entertained!

8 months pregnant and doing a big grocery shop. Total stranger in line behind me offered himself and his teenage son to bag my things for me.

When Baby was about 4 mo we went to a funeral and then to a bar for lunch afterwards. Baby had a MASSIVE poop (fortunately didn't leak) and MIL came to the bathroom with me. I'd only met her a handful of times so I don't know her well at all (plus I'm self conscious because husband's ex is insane), bit MIL held the changing bag for me as i struggled to clean up the screaming baby. It was just a little thing but it really meant a lot.

This is a lovely thread.

Random USAF airman in Starbucks and the Starbucks manager where my act of kindness dream team a few years ago.
I was in town with all 3 DCs. DC1 was 4, DC2 was 2 and DC3 was a couple of weeks old.
DC1 was bored, tired and just generally in a shitty mood.
DC2 was refusing to go in the buggy, but also having a paddy about walking.
DC3 was in a sling and getting increasingly pissed off and hungry.
Stopped in Starbucks to feed the baby. Was in the queue to pay for our stuff, DC2 hanging off my leg wailing, baby starting to properly cry, DC1 whinging about anything and everything. I left the queue, went over to a table got the eldest two settled and started to feed the baby. Next thing I know, the coffee and smoothies I’d ordered then cancelled arrived at my table with the manager - when I looked at him like a deer in headlights and said I’d come and pay in a minute, he shook his head and pointed to the guy who’d been behind me in the queue. That guy then came over (looking very handsome in his USAF uniform 🥵), and told me I was doing a great job and he hoped he’d made my day a little brighter by buying my coffee. I promptly burst into tears 🤷🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️😂😂

These are lovely stories 😁

A very famous filmstar folded up and carried my buggy onto the plane when I was traveling with a newborn and toddler. He was very sweet and odd and kept entertaining the toddler and picking things up that we dropped. He actually didn't know what city he was flying to - agents seemed to organize everything. He had to ask! I didn't realise who he was until later because I don't watch action movies. It made such a difference to the journey.

oh these are lovely!

When my DD was about two my grandfather died and the funeral was arranged really quickly. I booked the 6-hour train journey, but couldn't reserve a seat as it was so last minute, and it was so, so busy - there wasn't a seat anywhere. The conductor was a bit short with me - he told me I should have booked a seat and I burst into tears and he was so lovely to me, and so apologetic. I ended up in first class with lots of nice free coffee and biscuits.

On the return journey it was much quieter but DD was very fractious as it was her nap time and she couldn't settle. A lady got off about halfway through the journey but before she got off, she stopped to tell me what a great job I was doing, how she admired how calm I was staying and that she could tell DD was a very loved little girl. And then she gave DD a little box of fluffy Easter chicks which kept her amused for ages and gave us both a breather and it was just wonderful. DD is 11 now and I still think about that lovely woman from time to time.

These are all lovely. Just tiny things like holding a door open and carrying your tray in a cafe are so helpful and appreciated! I tripped and fell in a car park holding my DS when he was about 8 months old, managed to save him but cut my knee and sprained my wrist. Two ladies came running to help us and make sure we were ok. Cleaned my knee and entertained DS whilst I got myself together again.

Once I had DS in his pushchair whilst pregnant and was in a city I didn’t know well trying to find my car. The only way I could find was up loads of stairs and two blokes appeared from no where and carried the pushchair all the way up for me.

These things definitely don’t go unnoticed!

Tell us who!

A kind waitress brought a stack of pancakes for my 4-week-old 😂 They were delicious.

A woman held my 5-month-old for 15 minutes for me at the airport when I was travelling alone, so that I could eat a meal with both hands before my long flight. I will never forget her!

Oh, I said "you've got your hands full" to someone with no idea it would be taken as a negative comment! I meant it as a light hearted acknowledgement of how much hard work it must be :( i did also pair it with "they're so gorgeous" so I'm hoping they didn't take offence!

an actress from corrie gave my then preschooler her seat on the tube, she was very sweet and helped her onto the seat, stunning blue eyes IRL too

A lovely lady chatted to my howling baby in Superdrug when I was getting my eyebrows threaded. My one act of self-care in about a year, to try to lift my mood, and my child wasn't happy that the pram hadn't moved in 3 minutes.

Scrambling to get two tiny twin babies out of my car, an older lady came up and handed me a paid up parking ticket that she’d just bought for me for one less thing to sort out.
A mum at pre school who I didn’t know too well who turned up at my front door one day and took the twin babies for an hour long walk in the park whilst I had extremely valuable peace and quiet in an empty house for an hour.
Years later I’ve never forgotten these little acts of kindness

I went into a Starbucks in a major shopping centre with my 6 month old twins. I didn’t have a chance to order a drink as they were really fussing. A very kind lady went up to the counter and brought me over a cappuccino.

i could have cried I was so grateful

I also used to have lots of negative comments about my twins when out and about - ‘what did you do to deserve two of them’, ‘didn’t you and your husband have a tv to keep you occupied’, etc etc. usually in Tesco. Used to make me cry in my exhausted hormonal state 😮

It’s also nice to hear these stories from the other side. My DF is a senior executive. He was returning from an intense week of business meetings in India. He was sitting in business class, when a two-year-old ran past him. The kid had escaped from her mum, who was travelling alone with 3 very young DCs on an extremely long flight. My DF ended up bringing the 2-year-old back to his mum waaaaay down the aisle of the plane. When he realized how exhausted and overwhelmed she was, he ended up playing with the toddler for a quite long time, and then roped a couple of other folks into helping too so that the mum could have a break every couple of hours. Playing with that adorable 2-year-old was the absolute highlight of his trip (although it made him miss his DGCs terribly, he told me!)