Why is it “baby” not “the baby” or “your baby”??

[Pumpkinpyee]

Always wondered this. Why do people tend to drop the “the” or “your” when referring to an unborn child?

Oh god, I viscerally hate this.
Also, when you speak with your child's school, the staff refer to you as 'mum'. Not X's mum, or his mum etc. I'm like, piss off - I'm not your mum! 😡

Maybe because they are using it as a replacement for a name, because the baby doesn't have one yet.

exactly !!!

its like they think it makes them sound friendly or approachable when really they sound patronising or they have forgotten your name

I put this on my birth plan - to not call it “baby”! Needless to say that request was totally ignored

It's related to nurses saying, "Are we ready for Christmas?", when the nurse is in a physically advantageous position and you are not.

It's standing in for a name so people don't say the baby (in this context) for the same reason they don't say the Kevin.

I would always say 'the baby'. I once got told off by a woman I interviewing for a childhood development study, because I referred to her 4 month old child as 'the baby' instead of by his first name. It's like, well, you only have one baby. You must know who I'm talking about? Language around babies and little kids can be quite weird I think.

I hate that too, always have. A baby is 'a baby', 'my baby', 'our baby', 'the baby', not just 'Baby'.

Thank you! I also hate this, it always sounds so patronising. Just say the baby or your baby. The mum thing is just weird, if you've forgotten my name then just say 'would you like a seat' instead of 'would mum like a seat'. You wouldn't say 'would woman like a seat', for example!

I can’t believe you put this in your birth plan.

I hate it too. However, there's a lot of tweeness around babies which I find generally irritating - for example, "food is fun until they're one" and similar. I always imagine the clock striking, the child in question reaches its first birthday, and suddenly mealtimes become dour and joyless occasions, with food eaten in silence, possibly while the family listens to a reading of the Communist Party manifesto...

I know. What a dick. First baby and all that. 🤪

Looking back, I should have just written “don’t let the nervous, ham-fisted junior do the stitches afterwards” in massive capital letters on a sheet of A3, and left it at that.