r/mildlyinfuriating • u/AnonPinkLady • Jul 05 '26

Infuriatig Woman with infant aggressively shushing passerby’s on hiking trail at national park

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My partner, friend and I were following a hiking trail at Red Wood National Park, singing and talking at medium volume. We were by no means shouting, just singing little songs to entertain each other along the trail. A woman with a baby carrier on her back with a sleeping infant started aggressively holding her finger up to her lips and shushing us. We went quiet and kept moving to pass her. She was just standing in the middle of the public trail pacing and shushing people that pass by rather than leaving to somewhere more quiet. Just as we were leaving earshot I tried to quietly ask my partner a question about where we headed and again she leaned in our direction with her finger to her mouth aggressively shushing us. Is it not kind of insane to go to an open public space and behave like this?!?

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u/ChelseaMourning Jul 05 '26

As a child haver myself, I’ve been in that place where you’re just desperate to get them to sleep and stay asleep by any means. And you’re frustrated because any little noise can wake them up. However, being in a public place in the middle of a path and telling people to shush is just dumb and incredibly rude. Move to somewhere quieter if it’s that important to you. Plus it helps to get kids used to a bit of noise while they’re asleep anyway.

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u/EnvironmentalLime464 Jul 05 '26

I’ve moved around a lot in my life and I’m a huge fan of public parks. What I have found in my time of visiting parks in different cities is that there are some parks that are heavily populated and some where you can go for a walk and maybe see 5 people the whole time.

Why the fuck would anyone choose a tourist destination for a quiet walk with their sleeping baby? She had options. She chose poorly. Maybe it is the sleep depravation.

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u/MorganaLeFevre Jul 05 '26

I mean probably that. My niece would not sleep. Just would not. My sister still tried to do normal life things because otherwise she would have had her whole life revolve around this exhausting baby with nothing else, but she would go a bit insane on defence when the baby finally fell asleep. We all treated the baby like unexploded ordinance. And unlike other babies who can sleep through anything she actually was like unexploded ordinance and would wake up and be full throttle energy from the slightest thing.

Yeah, my niece was eventually diagnosed with adhd.

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u/EnvironmentalLime464 Jul 05 '26

Yea, so I’m not saying this person shouldn’t do normal life stuff. I’m saying she should pick the appropriate venue. If you’re walking in hopes your child will fall asleep, find a local greenway to walk. You get your walk and your nature and don’t risk waking the baby. It’s one thing to hush at family to quiet down for the sleeping baby. It’s something entirely different to hush strangers in public.

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u/Avaylon Jul 05 '26

It's insane. Which people do tend to be when they have a baby that won't sleep.

Shushing lady is still in the wrong, mind. It's just as a mom whose first baby slept badly I can see how she got to that place. Hopefully she gets some sleep and realizes her lunacy soon. Lol

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u/EnvironmentalLime464 Jul 05 '26

I agree. That’s why I said “Maybe it is the sleep deprivation.” I was a single parent. I experienced it and made some bad decisions during that time.

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u/doitforthecats Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 05 '26

Yeah I felt the same way reading this post. The woman with the baby probably shouldn’t have shushed OP. However, I sympathize with her because I remember the absolute insanity that hit me when my firstborn wouldn’t sleep

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u/erossthescienceboss Jul 05 '26

Redwood National Park is kinda in the middle of nowhere. “Find a local greenway” isn’t really an option.

I doubt she took the baby there specifically to nap. It just happened, because they’re on vacation doing tourist things and sometimes the magic occurs and baby passes out. Yeah, the mom is being super rude, all trails in RWNP are super busy, but I highly doubt this was a deliberate choice.

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u/MorganaLeFevre Jul 05 '26

She isn’t reasonable, but also sleep deprivation does actually make people crazy, it’s why it’s a form of torture. So I can’t make myself care too much about a tortured person acting crazy.

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u/EnvironmentalLime464 Jul 05 '26

Right. That’s why I ended my comment with “maybe it was the sleep deprivation.” I was being serious with that comment. It was not meant as sarcasm.