Reason New Mom Is Refusing to Take Baby to Meet Parents Cheered

A new mom has been commended on the internet for refusing to take her baby to visit his grandparents.

The new parent took to Reddit on Monday, posting under the handle u/kthrowaway244, to explain that she had decided not to make the trip to see her parents because it would involve spending 10 hours on a plane with her newborn.

"I hate flying in general but with a baby? I get anxious thinking about it," she wrote.

The presence of babies and young children on planes remains a source of some contention among Americans. In fact, an exclusive Newsweek poll conducted by Redfield and Wilton Strategies surveyed 1,500 U.S. adults and found 59 percent were in favor of the idea of having child-free zones on planes and trains, while just 27 percent opposed the idea and 14 percent said they were unsure.

This particular Redditor had her own concerns about the idea of taking her "fussy" baby on a plane. "I'm terrified of the reaction we might get since he does make a lot of noise," she wrote. "If it was a smaller flight I could make do but it would be over 10 hours. I'm exhausted just thinking about it."

As a result, she decided to tell her mom that they would not be coming to see them, who did not take the news very well. "She got very angry and kept ranting about my husband keeping us away from them," u/kthrowaway244 wrote. "She eventually said 'forget it, we don't want to see his child. Don't call us again.'"

The woman has been left feeling guilty as she knew her mom had been "so excited to see the baby," and her deciding not to go visit "crushed her."

Despite this, Diane Gottsman, a national etiquette expert from The Protocol School of Texas, felt the new mom was right to say no to the trip.

"It's always the mothers prerogative to do what's best for her child," she told Newsweek. "In this case, the stress of travel on both the baby and herself, outweighs her decision to see her parents at this moment."

Gottsman added: "It's unfortunate that there is so much controversy around crying babies on an airplane, but the reality is, an airplane is a very tight, public space, much like a restaurant, with no way out when there is a distraction of any kind."

She called on the grandparents to make the trip instead if they truly wanted to see their grandchild. Ultimately, though, Gottsman felt the attitudes and approaches of fellow passengers could help reduce some of the negative feeling surrounding the idea of having a baby on a plane.

"Fellow passengers can make it easier for the new parents by smiling and understanding that they were babies at one time as well, and displayed the same type of behavior," she said. "They also probably had children and have experienced the same type of discomfort. The baby is not crying to be intentionally controversial. There have been behaviors on an airplane by grown adults that far outway babies' tears."

Meanwhile, many commenting on Reddit concurred that it should be on the grandparents to come and visit instead.

"Your parents are acting very spoiled. Sounds like they need to come to you," one user wrote, with another commenting: "you've just had a baby and traveling with babies is a mission, it is far easier for your parents to come to you."

A third added: "Think of the stress to you and to the baby, and to everybody else in the plane cabin when your baby is screaming bloody murder over the flight."

Newsweek has contacted u/kthrowaway244 for comment.

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