Sudbury mother is tired of strangers touching her infant’s face

A Sudbury mother’s plea for strangers to stop touching her young children in public is going viral.

However well-meaning they may be, a mother in Sudbury says she’s had enough of people trying to touch her young children’s faces.

In particular, Danielle Christiansen said her young son has a peanut allergy and she fears he’ll have a reaction if he encounters someone who recently touched peanuts.

Christiansen said she was shopping at a big box store in Sudbury on Monday when three strangers tried to touch her 15-month-old.

While none of the attempts were nefarious, Christiansen said they were unwelcome.

“An elderly woman approached us and she tried to touch Dawson, and I gently said, like, please don’t touch him -- he’s allergic to peanuts,” she said.

“She immediately was like, so sorry (and) backed off and kept interacting with him, which is totally fine.”

Christiansen said that when they arrived at the food court, a husband and wife began interacting with Dawson and her three-year-old daughter, Daisy.

‘It happened so fast’

“They were being absolutely lovely until he touched Dawson’s face,” she said.

“It happened so fast that I couldn’t even get the words out of my mouth. And I said, ‘Oh, he is allergic to nuts, please don’t touch him.’ To which the wife responded, ‘Oh, our kids have allergies, too.’”

Christiansen then took the children to the bathroom, where the third incident took place.

“As I’m changing him, (a woman) came out of the stall, came up behind me and grabbed his face, to which I responded, ‘Hey, he’s allergic, to not please don’t touch him,’” she said.

“And she’s like, ‘Well, he’s just so cute.’”

Christiansen said she appreciates that people adore cute children, but touching them crosses a line – especially with her son’s allergy.

“I love when people interact with my kids. I love when you give them a smile or wave play peekaboo,” she said.

“My intention isn’t that I want you to stop interacting with them. I just want you to keep your hands to yourself.”

She shares her experience on social media and said she has received a lot of feedback.

“I had a really positive response,” Christiansen said.

“I’ve had a few comments where people are telling me that my child is bubble wrapped, or that he needs to eat more dirt, or all of those things … I had a lot of moms reach out saying that they’ve had the same experience and that they’re fearful of bringing their infants out to the stores.”

She wants to keep her children healthy, Christiansen added.

Cold and flu season

“This shouldn’t be happening,” she said.

“We shouldn’t be afraid to bring our kids in public because somebody they don’t know or we don’t know is going to touch them and potentially cause harm with RSV, colds or the flu. Like, you just don’t know what other people have going on.”

Officials with Public Health Sudbury and District said everyone has a role to play in limiting the spread of viruses in the community, including getting vaccinated.

“The flu and COVID-19 vaccines are now available in the community for everyone above six months of age,” said Afzaa Rajabali, health promoter with Public Health.

“The RSV vaccine is also available for eligible individuals. Cover your coughs and sneezes with a tissue and immediately discard the tissue in the garbage and wash your hands.”

Rajabali said the health unit has a respiratory illness surveillance dashboard that tracks cases, hospital and outbreak activity when it comes to COVID-19, influenza and RSV.

Christiansen said she wanted to share her story to raise awareness.

“There are so many things that you don’t know what’s going on,” she said.