Shopping- People You Dont Know and Your Little Ones

I never understood people who get all worked up about people touching their babies. Don't get me wrong, if your child is a preemie and has health issues, no one should be touching that baby. But a healthy six month old at the store with super cute fat cheeks just waiting to be pinched, well that is just asking for it!! =)

Seriously though, these sweet old people just love babies, and your daughter has the ability to make their day just with a few minutes of your and her time. Try to relax. Spray her down with lysol when you get home if it really worries you that much....

And no, I don't think it is rude at all for you to simply say after a minute or so "sorry, we are in such a hurry, thank you for your kind words about my little girl, but we have to go!"

ETA: Sounds like it is just your "thing" - and that is OK! We all have them. Some people are just more thingy than others. My husband FREAKS out if I grab a piece of food off of his plate. I couldn't care less if someone does that to me. So to me, his behavior is odd, but hey, it is his thing!

I was a SAHM, so I wasn't normally in a rush in the grocery store. The more people who stopped to chat with me and fawn over the baby, the better. I really liked to expose my children to as many different people as possible. I think it helped them develop socially. Even now that my children are in school all day I find myself chatting with lonely seniors when I am in the store. My dad was one of those friendly old men who would stop to talk to everyone and always liked to visit with babies and children. He was such a kind soul...

Some people have no boundaries. Or they are very lonely, or they have some social challenges. That's all I can say about it. After the first friendly "thank you for thinking Kiddo's cute, have a nice day", I don't feel like I owe anyone any more politeness than that....we just get on with our business.

I do notice some older ladies seem wistful when they see youngsters. It's likely been a long time since their grandkids were that little.

And yep, some people are just plain nuts, too!

I get irritated too. Usually I'm in a hurry (knowing my daughter has a limited tolerance for what we are doing) and don't have the patience to talk. I use two strategies to ward of both the touching and lingering. 1) when someone stops and I think they might touch I touch instead, I stroke her face, move her hair back, etc. reaching to the side nearest the person crating a "mommy barrier" and usually they back away a bit. 2) when I'm ready to go I say "alright baby, say bye-bye" so I don't feel rude but they know we're moving on.

It's a personal space issue. You wouldn't want people you don't know coming up to you and piching your cheeks, so why would you want them doing it to your baby? I don't think you have a problem at all.

lol, my kids are 13 and 10 now but I remember this happening. I just flat out would say something about not touching them. If I were you in your situation, I would have said, "yes, shes cute and I know its tempting but please don't touch her, its flu season" and then walk away. We don't have to feel obligated to do anything we feel uncomfortable doing. But I do have to say...6 mo is my very favorite age! I always say something to the parent about how cute their baby is when I see one at that age, but never think to touch them. =)

Yes. Been there. This is one of the reasons I started having my daughter sit in her stroller when we were shopping. Yes it takes some getting used to, trying to walk down the aisle pushing a stroller an pulling a cart, but it helped keep this situation at bay. I could keep the canopy down and people would just walk by. If the canopy was up and she was 'out there', people would stop. The stroller was also reclinable, so it was great for when she was tired.