Parents Overhear NICU Nurse Referring To Baby Patient As "Her Little Monkey" And Request Change Of Nurse

Having pet names is not uncommon but it is something that needs to be paid attention to.

Daphnie

• Published in Interesting
• July 6, 2023

Welcome back to another Reddit post today that we'll be looking at. This post is from the AITA thread, which is a thread that we often cover because of how interesting they can be and just how much traction they can get.

These threads are great for people looking for advice from people who are unbiased and can be transparent about their actions. So with this being said, today we're looking at a post that was submitted by a woman, who is a NICU nurse, called a baby she was caring for her "little monkey" as a pet name or nickname.

However, the mother overheard this and asked them not to allow OP to care for her baby anymore because she took it as a racial slur. OP wants to know if she's in the wrong or if it's just a slight misunderstanding, and people have a lot to say in the comments.

There were a lot of different perspectives given in this scenario, so you'll have just to read the post yourself and get an idea of what everyone is saying. Without further ado, let's dive in and show you the full post from OP and some of the best comments that were left on the post.

OP starts off her post talking about who she is and what she usually does with her patients. Then she says that the mom didn't want her caring for her baby anymore.

She wants to know if she's TA for using pet names casually and with her patients as she still wants them to know that she cares.

This person told OP that there was NAH because of her lack of knowledge on it but also the mother's right to feel the way she feels.

This person is taking the stance with the mom because of the fact that she should've known not to do this.

This person is calling her out on the fact that she seems like she's looking for empathy and validation in her favor by the way she's phrasing it.

This is absolutely true and really she should maybe just not do the pet names anyway because it is a professional environment that she's working in.

This is something she definitely should have known from the start as a nurse, regardless of who she's a nurse for.

People are correcting her and letting her know the safest way to navigate this situation. Hopefully OP understands the mother's perspective.

The lesson here is that in a place of profession and in a doctor's or nurse's position you probably should skip the pet names all together.

People were also telling her that they would've done the same thing as the mother did. Many people would take it the way the mom did.

This situation got a lot of feedback because many people took it in a different way and had different opinions. They were pretty split about the situation, but many of the comments suggested that OP stop using these pet names altogether, and we have to agree with them.

Daphnie