This Mom Came Up With the Perfect Phrase To Say When You Don’t Want Someone To Hold Your Baby

Babies are a magnet for public attention. And we get it: they are so cute! At the same time, though, seeing a baby doesn’t automatically entitle you to touch or hold the baby — and for some reason, it’s challenging for parents to convey that in a polite way. One mom on TikTok nailed it though. She just shared the perfect phrase to use when you want someone to back off (respectfully) from your baby, and we are totally stealing this going forward.

TikToker Hannah King (@hanelaine) shared a video yesterday that already has 1.6 million views. “So I finally came up with the perfect phrase to say when somebody asks to hold your baby, and you don’t want them to,” she says in the clip.

King, who is a mom of three, shared that she was at a friend’s baby shower and her grandma “was obsessed with my baby.” Although it was “so sweet,” King felt uncomfortable when the grandma asked to hold the baby.

“It is so hard because, you know, people are going to feel differently, comfort levels are different. Me personally, I really struggle,” she explains. Because she was caught off guard (and “raised to be polite”), she said yes, although she didn’t really want to. After a few minutes, she told the woman, “I have two other daughters, and I never get time with just him, I’m gonna take him back. Thanks so much for holding him.” Nice, but still super awkward right?

After some “soul searching,” King came up with a better plan if and when this happens in the future (because it no doubt will). “I have come up with every possible alternative, and nothing gives a one-hundred percent success rate like this one does,” she shared.

The perfect phrase? A simple “No, thank you!”

“I usually just baby wear him. I don’t know, I was off my game yesterday,” she added.

The comments were full of support. “I was always told ‘no’ is a complete sentence & that’s SO hard to grasp as a recovering ppl pleaser,” one person wrote. Someone else said, “This is seriously the hardest part about having a newborn.”

Others offered suggestions. “I’ve been using: ‘Oh that’s okay, you’re so sweet though!’ Because I think a lot of people are trying to ‘help’ the mom too!” one person wrote.

“I can’t part with him yet but thanks for asking!” someone else suggested. Another wrote, “’I’m just going to keep her with me for now’ is my go to.”

It’s OK to be possessive when it comes to your baby. You don’t have to let anyone hold your bundle of joy — and you don’t owe anybody a reason why.