[feelingreyt]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and defend the parents. Not for propping the bottle, but for not taking the child out of the carrier.
When my 4 yr old was born he was automatically considered "the Church Baby". He was cute, sweet, smelled delicious. Everyone wanted to hold him, touch him, feed him. It drove me nuts. To the point where I literally had panic attacks on the way to Church. Crazy, I know, but I think some of it was PPD. So anyway, someone suggested to me to just not get ds out of his carrier while at Church, that way, no one had the opportunity to come up and ask to hold him. Well, I tried that, but I wasn't a fan of bottle propping, plus he was spoiled and wanted to be held(not spoiled really, he was just VERY used to being cuddled and loved on ALL THE TIME). BUT maybe that is why these people kept the baby in the carrier.... To keep people from asking to hold her/him.
Of course as a mom we have the to right to tell anyone "NO, you can't hold my child", but who wants to appear rude and snobbish with people who are basically your family. My church was small, I knew everyone, loved everyone, it was just a weird phase I went through. Plus, my parents went there was well. I can just hear me now..."No Sis. Marie, you may not hold my son. I only allow 'certain" people to touch him. Please don't be offended". I would imagine she would have been VERY offended. Especially since my older child LOVED her. It wasn't about her anyway, it was me. So yeah, I have to defend these parents and say they very well could have had a reason to keep the child in the carrier. Who knows. But my goodness, as long as the child was happy, who are we to judge?

ETA: It also didn't help that my son was beyond friendly. He would reach for anyone that smiled at him. He is still a people person. He loves everyone! It still kinda drives me nuts, LOL