I was mom-shamed. In public. By a stranger.

My son will be 2 months on Thursday. We’ve been struggling with his constant crying since the literal day he was born. It’s gas and reflux and then he had thrush and now he’s going through a leap week that has him constantly needing to be in my arms. Every time I set him down, he screams. For weeks I was too afraid to leave the house with him because I didn’t want to bother people when he inevitably would start crying. Recently we’ve been taking little trips out together, and I’ve started gaining some confidence as most people have just commented on how cute he is and didn’t seem to mind his crying.

Today shattered all of that. We went to a furniture store to find a patio set, and as soon as I put him into his car seat, he started wailing. He had just eaten, just been changed, so I knew he was fine. He just wanted me to hold him. After about 5 minutes of walking around, I checked his diaper again and it was wet so we went to the family bathroom. As soon as I’d locked the door, there was a knock. I opened the door and this woman immediately launched into a story of something she saw a pediatrician post online about how babies get herniated umbilical cords from mothers who let them cry instead of fixing the problem. I told her I was just changing his diaper so I wasn’t letting him cry. And then she went off on me about how I should have changed him immediately instead of waiting so long. Again, I’d only been there 5 minutes or less. I told her he was fine, but she said it’s not normal for a baby to cry and there must be something wrong with him. I calmly told her that his doctor says he’s perfectly fine but thanks for her concern and tried to shut the door as she kept yelling about how I wasn’t doing my job and she should call DFACS. 🙄

Honestly, I was afraid to come back out of the bathroom in case she was still there. We left the store quickly and I sat in the car with him while my husband finished looking around. And it’s stupid, but I couldn’t stop crying about it. I know she’s just a crazy old busybody and I shouldn’t take it personally, but it’s really ruined any confidence I had finally gained in going out with my son. And that sucks. I swear some people are just the worst.

Anybody else have to deal with the mom-shaming yet?