Mom Daily: Hold Your Baby? Er, No Thanks.

Has this happened to you? You're at a barbeque, chowing down on bean dip and Mountain Dews when your friend propels her 8-month-old baby towards you and asks, "Wanna hold the baby?" Mouth full of bean dip, and not wanting to offend your friend, you accept the squirming, bobble-headed child when what you really wanted was to attack the carrot cake.

Yeah, it's happened to us, too. And to the ladies at CafeMom. And even though you like kids, and often want to hold them, you don't always want to have a baby thrust upon you. So we suggest you do what Cafe Kim's friend does:

If she brings her baby to a social gathering, she simply says to the group: "If anyone wants to hold Kyle let me know; if not, that's fine, too." That way her mom friends get to hold Kyle—but on their own terms.

Do you get annoyed when moms assume you want to hold their babies? Or does it not bother you?

Showing the Latest of 4 Comments

Sizwile
2 yearss ago

People shouldn't ask other people to hold their babies unless it is absolutely necessary! Thos who wanna hold the baby will volunteer! http://frommummy.blogspot.com

elie7
2 yearss ago

Ha. I'm just not a baby person. Never was, and now that I have my own... nope, it hasn't changed. If I wanted to hold your baby, I'd ask... And I don't love passing my own baby around to just anyone at any time, either.

bwankel
2 yearss ago

A lot of people in our group of friends don't have children of their own. And I know the baby's not a big deal to them the way he is to us. I would feel really really weird just handing him off to someone who didn't ask to hold him. You wouldn't do that with a pet, right? I'm not likening pets to babies, I'm just saying, you wouldn't just toss something that needed a ton of attention on whoever was standing next to you, right?

francophoney
2 yearss ago

This has always been a subject with me, because there is no way to politely refuse to hold someone's baby without coming off as a bitch. I really dreaded those moments, especially before having a kid of my own, because little babies? They're intimidating, all fragile and you have to hold this up and support that, etc. So, I never ask people if they want to hold the baby... I let people volunteer, otherwise my kid stays with me.

Express Yourself!

Momversation is the place where real women share personal insights into the issues that affect us.

MOMVERSATION and its Affiliated Parties neither endorse, nor are responsible for the accuracy or reliability of any opinion, advice or statement on the MOMVERSATION "Site" located at the URL: www.momversation.com or contained in any video distributed therefrom. Under no circumstances will MOMVERSATION or any Affiliated Parties be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on Content obtained through either the Content on MOMVERSATION Site and/or any postings on the community areas of the MOMVERSATION Site. It is your responsibility to evaluate the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any Content available through MOMVERSATION Site and/or the community areas of the MOMVERSATION Site. Please seek the advice of professionals, as appropriate, with respect to your evaluation of any specific Content, including but not limited to financial, health, or lifestyle Content appearing on the MOMVERSATION Site. The full text of this "Summary Disclaimer Language" can be viewed here and is also contained in the "Terms of Use" .