WWYD? People want to touch my baby

[Frangipani Lou]

Thanks guys. I actually had the opportunity to put this into practice at the park with Teni Bear today when a woman approached, Asked how old DD is and began to touch her feet. I said "please don't touch her, your welcome to talk with her but please don't touch her" the woman said "oh" and just stayed squatting too close to me for a few minutes. Awkward!!

[nickle730]

Actually they are a few thing you can catch from a simple touch. Especially an immune compromised baby.

Chrispe, what do you think your baby might catch from another person touching his her her arm?

[Chrispe]

MRSA and scabies are a couple of things. In fact the common cold. Person touches you baby's arm leaving germs, you then touch the arm, then spread the germs else where that way. Have done some small study on infection spread and prevention (at uni).

[onthefly]

I've never had a stranger touch my baby! I think that's a bit forward. You should ask first.

[nickle730]

But Chrispe, you can spread those diseases by touching the trolley in the supermarket and then picking up your baby to put them in the car. Or by sitting in a cafe and then picking your baby up to feed. Germs are everywhere, we are exposed to them all day every day. A person who appears healthy, with no skin open skin lesions, is no more likely to give your child a disease than general life is.

I don't have a problem with people simply not liking a stranger touching their baby, but I think it must be awful to wander round seeing every stranger as a possible disease threat.

[Phteven]

FL, Is your baby immune compromised?

I never had many strangers trying to touch my babies but on the whole it didn't worry me. Babies are such a treasure - they spread joy just by being so if someone wants a tiny bit of that happiness then I don't see harm in it.

[Frangipani Lou]

Onyx, no, she's not immune compromised.
Happy to spread the joy- DD definitely lights up people's faces :-)

[Tinks]

This thread now has me worried that I"ll catch scabies or something when I'm out.

I think you should keep your baby home tbh.

[Charlotte91]

The OP is just asking for ways to stop people touching her baby. I don't think she should have to justify why, and there's certainly no need for sarcasm.

[Tinks]

Charlotte, I honestly think that if she fears her baby is in danger of getting sick, she should keep her baby home. There is no need for you to put your 2 cents worth in. If you don't like my response, don't read it.

[ladybirdflies]

It's a personal thing and if you are not comfortable with people touching her, you need to stand up for her. Great that you started practising already!!! I usually pop my hand in front of theirs to signal don't touch. My last baby did in fact get scabies from one small touch from a visitor when she was two weeks old. This experience was horrific as it was not diagnosed for many weeks. Not one other member in our family got it, just my little newborn baby.

Another person I know had her baby in hospital, the cleaner came up and rubbed the baby's face with his rubber gloves on and she ended up with a staph infection and very sick.

It can and does happen, and your mummy alert is finely tuned for you to listen to that, I would rather upset a stranger then not listen to the prompts to protect my baby!

[Frangipani Lou]

Thanks everyone for your ideas and opinions. The topic is certainly much hotter than I'd imagined.
We will continue to go out and socialize with many groups of people... Mothers group, ABA meetings, at the local shops, cafe's and restaurants. After all DD, my partner and I are very social. I believe it's respectful to the child and to the parents to ask if you want to touch the baby. I think that the right thing for US is for me to continue to ask strangers not to touch DD. I think the exposure of being social and having close contact with family and friends is enough for now and that we can continue to light up people's days without them touching her.

[Charlotte91]

Wonderful.