'I'm sick of strangers fussing over my baby - they won't leave us alone'
Many new parents enjoy showing off their baby when out and about in public, but for one proud mum, the constant admiration from cooing strangers has become a little bit too much. The first-time mum says she and her husband are "obsessed" with their four-month-old baby son, who she describes as "objectively adorable".
It would appear that everybody else agrees, however, as the couple can't go out for a meal without somebody approaching them to fuss and exclaim over their "perfect" son. She does wonder whether this could possibly be a "generational thing" as many of those who butt into their conversation are over the age of 60.
Although she's kept schtum so far, the fed-up mum is now considering speaking up the next time she's approached, with three separate interruptions during a 30-minute coffee shop trip proving to be the final straw.
Taking to Reddit, the unnamed woman, who feels her personal space is being "invaded" by such interruptions, wrote: "Here is the formula they follow: One, they see the baby. Two, they materialise at my shoulder with their face about six inches from my cheek.
"Three, they immediately start rambling about various aspects of his physique ('Look how BIG he is! Look at his LEGS! Look at those 'EYES! Look at that HAIR!' etc). Four, they eventually start rambling about their own grandkid that they think they don’t see enough.
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"They never: One, introduce themselves to my husband or me. Two, ask if they can interrupt my husband's and my conversation. Three, ask if they can get close to our baby. Four, ask if they can touch our baby. Five, change their behavior when the baby inevitably gets fussy because of the weird attention from a stranger. Six, thank us for our time."
Currently, the tired mother's go-to tactic is to stay as quiet and "unapproachable" as possible, hoping they'll eventually take the hint and move on. This unfortunately doesn't always do the trick, and she's now wondering whether she'd be out of order to say something along the lines of, "We're enjoying a private conversation. Do you need something from us?"
Giving an example of an incident that particularly aggravated her, she continued: "This morning during the 30 minutes my husband and I were at our local coffee shop, we were interrupted three times. The shortest interruption was about two minutes and the longest was about five minutes."
A number of fellow Reddit users could relate to the mother's frustration all too well, agreeing that people should respect new parents' boundaries, no matter how cute the baby may well be.
One person agreed: "You're right - lots of people love babies, and a subset of those people seem to treat any baby that they see as public property.
"I never minded people smiling at my baby, or making faces at them or whatever, but when they get up in our space and want to start touching is when I have a problem."
Another commented: "I know babies are cute and people usually like to see them. However, it is not okay to be that invasive with people, one thing is to say 'what a cute baby' but to get that close or touch the baby is absolutely not okay."
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