BLOG: This 'confession' attracted 700 comments.

By REBECCA SPARROW

If you’re in the mood for a debate – get comfy, people.  This mother’s ‘confession’ on a popular US website, ignited a heated debate of its own in Mamamia HQ.

In a nutshell, it’s about whether adults respect the personal space of children.

Or maybe it’s about how much of a germophobe you are as a parent?

Dunno. You decide.

A few weeks ago, on the  parenting site Cafe Mom, a mother anonymously posted the following conundrum on the site’s ‘confessions’ page.  Take a look …

I have a newborn, I took her to the dr at 4 days old for her first weight check then just again at 11 days old for another weight check. When he picks her up after exam he kisses her, twice the first time and once the second. How would you feel about this?

Wait, what?  Your paediatrician is kissing your baby?  On the lips?  On the cheek? On the tummy? Whatchootalkin’about, Willis?

After the Cafe Mom community went into meltdown, the ‘Anonymous’ mum came back to provide more information …

He is american male high 30’s low 40’s. I’m not saying I think he is a pervert, I was just shocked! I just wanted opinions and to see how other moms would feel or react!

Ok, so the kisses were on the back of her head and her forehead. He is my son dr as well but only for the last year so ive met him 3 other times.

He is not a family friend or anything. He has never been inapproiate with my son or anything like that or i obviously wouldnt have taken my daughter to him.

I feel that it was unprofessional and pretty inapproiate considering he is a dr and he of all peoople should know how dangerous germs are to a 4 day old baby.I do not feel this way only because he is a man, a dr is a dr to me

Sooooo let’s just do a recap.  The mother has a paediatrician whom she has (comfortably) used for her son in the past and who is now the paediatrician for her newborn daughter.  And the mum’s offended because the doctor – after each examination of her baby – gave the baby a kiss on the back of the head or the baby’s forehead.

Okaaaaaaaay.

So was this doctor out of line and disrespecting the baby’s personal space? Was it putting the baby at risk of a cold or Whooping Cough or, say, Ebola?   Or is this mother from Planet Cray-Cray and making a big deal out of absolutely nothing?

My opinion?  I kinda think she’s on Planet Cray-Cray:  Population One.

I think it’s lovely that the paediatrician was affectionate to the baby. He didn’t kiss her on the cheek  or on the mouth. He kisses the little bubba’s forhead!  And the back of her head! What is the world coming to when we’re now suspiciously eying anyone who is affectionate to our kids?

I get the whole germ thing. I do.  Particularly with a newborn.  And if you’ve got a cold or a virus — then you are welcome to admire my child from 30 metres away behind protective glass.

But medical staff – more than ANYBODY ELSE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD – wash their hands obsessively. So what? So the majority of health websites will tell you that eighty percent of infectious diseases are spread through hand-to-hand contact.

So the doctor is more likely to get sick from touching YOU if you shook his or her hand when you arrived at their office (assuming you don’t wash your hands as obsessively as your doctor).

This issue sparked a debate in the Mamamia office about kids and how adults blatantly ignore their personal boundaries.

I think that’s definitely an issue. For example, if a child doesn’t want to be hugged by Aunty Susan – then we shouldn’t make them. And similarly, nothing makes me more crazy than people who are sick or whose kids are sick but who still insist on visiting newborns in hospital.

But this is different. Isn’t it?  And this whole obsession we have with our kids never touching anything dirty is ridiculous. All that hand sanitizer becomes pointless when you catch your toddler licking the shopping trolley / the dog / the toilet brush.

That said, I do believe that in the end every mother must go with her gut instinct. So if this mother in the US is feeling uncomfortable about the Baby Kissing Doctor — she needs to say something. Or change doctors.  But I can’t help but think it’s a sad day when we get creeped out by a friendly paediatrician who was simply – and genuinely – being kind.

Do kids need personal space too?