We were at a strangers meet and a boy looked at me and asked ‘do you want to hold chotu’?. I was confused and looked at his mom who clarified that he was offering me to hold his baby sister. I replied ‘oh if you want me to hold, I can, that is, if mom is also okay’ and looked at her. Mom was totally okay and handed me the 8 month old. I told her, that her son was sweet and she replied – ‘oh he just wants his mommy to himself’, sure enough the boy went and snuggled with his mom right away.
And the 8m old? She was such a darling, it felt like holding a cotton ball wrapped in a baby dress. She was fascinated by my everything – my grisly grey hair (which for some reason freaks every adult I know), my face, my nose, my earring, chain, shirt – you name it, she loved it and giggled trying to hold it or looking at it.
And then… she hugged me, some nice landing of her tiny head on my shoulder and came back and looked at my face and laughed. And she went for it again, such tiny hugs from a super tiny human. It was so precious and so priceless. I told her mom I am taking her home 🙂 and we had a nice laugh.
We kept laughing at each other and she kept hugging me. I only had to give her back because of the stares I was getting from my LO 🙂 plus obviously her family needed her.
Why am I sharing this?
Don’t reserve your babies for yourself. Let a friend hold them. Especially if that friend is trying hard for a baby.
I do not know how it came about that – letting a married women who is not a mom hold your baby will be harmful for the baby or cause jinx…. Maybe it stemmed from someone who was sick and might have passed her germs to the baby. I do not know. I don’t think anyone can have ill thoughts while holding a baby.
If I hold a baby, I only feel such warm burst of love – must be oxytocin at work :), never a bad thought.
Plus if an unmarried women can hold a baby why is it such a taboo to let a married women hold one?
I totally understand being cautious around newborn and asking people to sanitize before holding your baby. That is totally valid. No one wants to get newborn sick. They need to be in germ-free environment until they are older.
However if you have an older child, don’t be anxious, if s(he) wants to steal someone else’s heart – after washing hands of-course 🙂
PS:
Please be cautious and avoid handing babies to strangers whom you do not know. This post is meant to address the relationships with friends and family.