Childfree Woman Is Furious After She’s ‘Forced’ To Hold Friend’s Baby Against Her Wishes

Aug 13, 2021 by apost team

While many people choose to start families with their partners, plenty of others decide not to have children. Some people have not had much experience with babies or young kids and so they feel uncomfortable or awkward around them. This was the case for one woman who was at a friend’s party when a baby was thrust into her arms against her wishes. The worst part was, the baby’s mother made a scene over the situation and embarrassed the woman.

The woman is 35 and her husband, Charles, is 40. They do not have any children, although she says that Charles is great with kids. As for herself, the woman says she is socially awkward and an introverted person in general and that her awkwardness comes out around children. While at a party for Charles’ high school friend, Kayla, and her husband Alan, the woman and her husband were introduced to their new baby, Addie. 

At the start of the party, Kayla came up to the woman and asked if she wanted to hold Addie. Before she had a chance to respond, Kayla had already put Addie in her arms. After seeing the look of shock on the woman’s face, Kayla began to laugh and refused to take back her baby. Instead, she drew the attention of the rest of the party to point out how uncomfortable the woman looked. 

At this point, the woman was so embarrassed that she put the baby down in her play area and walked out of the party. This drew Kayla to follow the woman outside and berate her. Then as the woman and Charles are driving away, Kayla called her a rude name and said that she ruined the party.

The woman posted her story to a forum on Reddit to find out if she was in the wrong for her behavior at the event. She wrote in her post:

“Kayla brings over Addie to me and asks if I would like to hold her. Before I can even finish saying ‘no thank you,’ she has shoved her baby into my arms. My face apparently showed my annoyance and surprise, because she started laughing and goes, ‘Oh wow you look like a shocked Pikachu!’”

She continued, “I tried to hand Addie back to her, but she backed away still laughing and calls for our husbands to come over. Everyone is now looking at me and I'm so embarrassed. I try again to hand back her baby. AND SHE WON’T TAKE HER! So I take Addie and put her in the playpen thing and walk out the door.”

The woman chose to walk away out of embarrassment and did not want to respond. “Kayla and Alan follow us outside. Tells me ‘she's just a baby,’ ‘Why won't you hold her,’ ‘it was just a joke.’ I don't respond because I know I won't be able to hold in my feelings so I just got in the car. Charles is telling her to stop and Alan isn't saying anything,” she wrote.

The woman added at the end of her post: “She has called all their mutual friends saying I'm a horrible person who hates children and I ruined the first party since covid and having a baby. A couple of people from the party on her side saying I'm (in the wrong) but others are saying it's on her because she put me in that situation.”

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There was a heated debate in the comments section over who was right and wrong in this situation. The general agreement was that the woman was in the right and Kayla acted rudely by forcing her to hold the baby and then laughing at her when she was uncomfortable. 

One commenter wrote, "They forced you to hold the baby, and then when they saw you were not comfortable holding the kid instead of taking it back they chose to mock you and make you into a spectacle – they are in the wrong here not you."

While another person added: "There is a lot of pressure for women to automatically be baby crazy. If you don't want to play with a baby, hold the baby, have the baby, you get grief. (And I love babies and am absolutely baby crazy and will hold any baby at any time.)"

Some people agreed that Kayla was wrong but still think the woman may have overreacted by leaving. "Sounds like Kayla assumed you would be into holding the baby because you are a female and then instead of just taking the baby back, doubled down to embarrass you. Walking out may have been a bit much but you were obviously embarrassed, put on the spot, and mocked. Understandable," another Redditor commented.

Just because Kayla and Charles have been friends since high school, doesn’t mean she is a good friend. A third person chimed in, writing: "P.S. If this ruins a twenty-year friendship, it wasn't much of a friendship."

Do you think the woman was in the wrong? What would you have done in this situation? Let us know your thoughts and be sure to pass this along to your loved ones.