Commenters praised a mom online after revealing that she filed a report against a hospital employee who kept trying to touch her 7-month-old son without permission.
The original poster (OP), known as u/PsychologicalHair519, posted about her situation in Reddit's popular "Am I The A**hole" thread where it received nearly 8,000 upvotes and 900 comments, many supporting her reaction to the stranger trying to touch her son. The post can be found here.
Resist the Urge
As the founder of Pregnant Chicken Amy Morrison wrote, it is common for parents to not want strangers near their baby, especially since 2020 with the COVID-19 pandemic, yet people seem to not be able to resist newborns and often try to touch them.
"Even though we can totally understand the appeal, germy hands aren't exactly what you want stroking your 10-day-old infant," she wrote.
Morrison said that while there are polite and subtle ways to go about telling someone not to touch your child, there are also some blatant and sometimes "not polite" ways to go about it.
Some suggestions Morrison wrote online include:
- Wear baby in a carrier
- Blame it on the pediatrician ("the doctor said he shouldn't be touched.")
- Simply say "no thanks."
- Say they haven't received their shots
- Carry a cover for strollers and car seats
- Place a sign on the stroller saying "do not touch."
Am I the A**hole?
In the post titled "AITA for filing a complaint about a hospital worker trying to touch my baby?" OP said she was waiting with her 7-month-old son to get her blood drawn for a doctor's appointment.
While waiting, she said a woman approached and began asking questions about her son while he was asleep in the stroller with a blanket over him.
"This woman proceeded to lift up the blanket to peek inside at my son," the post read. "Immediately responded with (in a slightly annoyed tone) 'he's sleeping right now, he's been having a rough time with naps during the day so he was very cranky earlier.' Which is mom code for 'DON'T WAKE UP MY BABY, DONT TOUCH MY BABY.'"
After being told the baby was sleeping, the woman said "okay" in a hushed tone before attempting to stick her hand under the blanket on the stroller. At this point, OP said she "snapped" and told the woman not to touch her baby.
"She had the nerve to tell me it was okay because she worked there at the hospital," the post read. "That just made me even more mad so I asked her 'so then are you here to draw my blood too since you work here and you can do everything?'"
The woman told OP she was "rude" and that she was just trying to "congratulate her," adding that it was a "shame" that motherhood didn't turn her into a "sweet person" who wanted to brag and show off her child "like it does for everyone else."
After the woman walked off, the check-in counter opened up and OP approached, asking to file a complaint about the employee for trying to touch her baby. The woman at the counter said yes, but proceeded to ask if she was "sure" she wanted to complain because "lots of people like touching babies here" and that the parent is usually not upset.
"I was literally flabbergasted that she would say that to me so I turned around and left the whole god damn hospital because i could feel a nuclear breakdown coming," the post read. "I called the hospital later and explained what happened and that I needed to reschedule. The woman on the phone apologized on behalf of the hospital and said she would file the complaint for me."
But now that she's had time to reflect, OP said she feels a "bit karen-ish" for filing a report against the employee, but that she is still angry about the way she was talked to at the clinic.
Redditor Reactions
Nearly 900 users commented on the post, many criticizing the hospital employee for trying to touch OP's baby without permission.
"At the very least, unless the person is going to examine the baby, they should be asking you permission first," one user commented.
"Your baby, your rules," another comment read.
"Pandemic or not. YOU DON'T TOUCH SOMEONE'S KID," another wrote. "You never ever touch someone else's kid, baby or whatever without the parent's EXPLICIT permission! YOU were the patient! Not the baby. So she had NO reason to be trying to lift the blanket or touch the baby AT ALL."
"You told her not to touch your child and she continued to. You were right to file a complaint," another user commented. "I don't think people would hesitate to file a complaint if she just kept going around touching adults when they told her not to. That's what she was doing, but to someone who couldn't stand up for themselves because they were a baby."
Newsweek reached out to u/PsychologicalHair519 for comment.
In March, a pregnant woman went viral after revealing she was tired of people non-consensually touching her belly.
Another woman was supported online after telling her husband he doesn't like her constantly trying to "bond" with their unborn child by touching her pregnant belly without permission.
But one mother on Mumsnet started a debate after asking parents if they thought it was okay for people to kiss their babies without permission.
