Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Crazy People

We went to a barbeque last weekend. Now, I realize that not everyone is into attachment parenting or exclusive and extended breastfeeding, let alone tandem nursing (two nurslings at once), cloth diapering, co-sleeping, or any of my other crunchy tendencies.

But IMHO, offering a 6-week-old baby a bite of an otter pop, over her mother's protestations, is completely and totally inappropriate. I love the person who offered, just was annoyed by the offer, and the fact that the person said if it was their niece, they would have given it to the baby anyway.

And then there was this gal there whom I've never seen before. She's pregnant and due in October. As soon as she saw our infant carrier, she said, "I get an infant for the evening!" I said, "I'm not sure how well she'll cooperate with that plan. She's sleeping now and will be hungry soon." And left it at that. We got to chatting and I felt okay with her holding the baby eventually, but then she said, "You won't be getting her back!" And I smiled ever so sweetly and said, "That's okay. I'll just call the police." She looked at me like I had two heads or something, but really, I don't think any mother would find that funny or okay for someone to say to them if they'd never met before! My stars.

Bitty only let the person hold her for a few minutes before she started asking for more food, and she did give her right back, so everything was fine. I'm just wondering what planet these people are from and if I'm completely off for thinking that both of them were behaving inappropriately.

6 comments:

Rockelle said...

Your a bit off! but then your a new MOm, and they were a bit weird so it all balances out. But now since you said you'd call the police i am sure she thinks your WAY OFF...haha...good ol you, your funny!

Jules AF said...

Ew, I wouldn't offer an otter pop to a six week old.

Katie said...

Holy smokes, offering a popsicle to a 6 week old? Completely inappropriate. What exactly is tandem nursing??

Jillybean said...

I once had a woman (a complete stranger) at a restaurant ask me if she could hold my baby (who I was discreetly nursing at the time) while we ate.
My husband immediately said "NO!" and I think the woman was offended, but HELLO! I DON'T KNOW YOU! I'M NOT GOING TO HAND MY 4 WEEK OLD INFANT OVER TO YOU!

And giving a cold otter pop to a baby who is used to all of her food being mom temperature is just mean.

MamaBear said...

otter pop? you're spot on target. especially with our family's tendency toward food allergies!

the other lady? just super baby hungry and phrased it wrong. she's not nuts, and neither are you.

and is tandem nursing where both your youngest are still being actively nursed? you're uber-crunchy, but MORE POWER TO YOU - because if it works for YOU, that's ALL that matters. :D

(((hugs)))

(i used to tell DH if he didn't let me have another baby i would eventually get arrested for baby-napping. and i scaled it back a bit for comments to strangers - your baby is totally snatch-worthy! [hush your dirty mind, you know what i mean!])

NG said...

Someone tried to give my 2 week old gum once and couldn't understand why I objected. People are just awesome.