ABOUT US

It was July 2004 when my first baby was born. I was happy and blessed to have received so many visitors at the hospital and at home. However, each time a person came close to my baby, I felt like saying, “please don’t touch.” I did not want to expose my newborn to any germs as I observed each visitor coming from outside, with no thought of washing their hands first, walked straight towards the baby, with admiration, touched him. I placed a huge bottle of sanitizer nearby to give a hint. That was not effective. Afraid to offend anyone, I just kept quiet and wiped my baby’s hands continuously as he would constantly take his tiny little hands to put in his little mouth.

Overall, I noticed that people love to touch ‘the hands’. Many times, I would stand like a statue not knowing what to say as I watched them reach out to touch his hands. I did not like that, yet I did not want to offend family, friends or strangers. When I went out to do errands, I began to give the ‘look’ that says ‘don’t even think of coming near my baby’.

To me, it was just obvious that a baby’s hands should not be touched, nor his face. I could not understand how people could not think of that. Isn’t it common sense? If I sneezed and covered my mouth with my hand, you would not like me to shake your hands after that. What if I just got home and decided to make you a sandwich without washing my hands first? You have no idea what I touched when I was outside. So how much more, for a delicate baby, brand new, to be exposed to people touching her or him all the time. We have no idea who the strangers are, where their hands have been, are their hands clean, are they sick? It is not wise to let strangers touch our baby. They are not a public exhibit. It is very annoying. Am I right, moms and dads?

After countless experiences with people touching my baby’s hands, I had it. I never had peace going grocery shopping because people wanted to ‘touch’ all the time: The hands, the hair, the chin, or the cheeks. They were pushing a grocery cart too (full of germs), and who knows where else their hands have been. In one particular incident, there was this acquaintance who would always, always, and always rubbed and rubbed and rubbed my baby’s hand whenever we’d see her. Then one day, we told her not to, she insisted to continue the rubbing. I used five wipes, one after the other. I thought perhaps she did not hear. Then before she left, she grabbed a nasty, wrinkled tissue paper from her pocket and wiped her nose. THAT DID IT! I began sharing with my friends, who were also new moms, how I felt about people touching my baby’s hands. They also felt the same way. That is when I began designing the Stop! Do Not Touch Baby!™ sign. I wanted to help parents including myself, mainly to guard their babies against the strangers’ touch.

As lions watch over their cubs, so must we watch over ours. For nine months we have carried this child and now we cannot let the innocent infant be exposed to touches of people we do not know. Even more so, if your child was born prematurely. Pediatricians always talk about the importance of hand hygiene while handling babies. It is an extremely important matter. It is not a ‘phobia’ or ‘overreacting’ matter. It is wisdom. When babies become ill, they are unable to talk and tell us how they feel, mama gets very concerned and so does daddy. We do not like taking our little infant to the hospital in the middle of the night with high fever or other scary symptoms. We, as parents, do not like to see our children suffer. So let us guard our babies. Put your sign up and tell people STOP! DO NOT TOUCH BABY!™ or CAUTION KEEPING BABY HEALTHY™ in a non-offensive manner. 

Sincerely,