Panic, hysteria and fear has we have said many times has gone crazy but the following just beats it all, it will not be long before we have to bring our children up in cages to 'protect them'.Talking to new babies is child abuse according to hospital staff

Calderdale Royal Hospital in Halifax has introduced a ban on admiring new babies and speaking to mothers about their new arrivals, claiming it is an abuse of their human rights.

Definitions of what constitutes child abuse reached a new extreme with the introduction of this ban, but the move was defended by Debbie Lawson, Neo-natal Manager at the hosptial's Special Care Baby Unit.

She claimed that 'cooing' at new babies "should be a thing of the past because these are little people with the same rights as you or me."

Ms Lawson went on to say that "people sometimes touch or talk about the baby like they would if they were examining tins in a supermarket and that should not happen."

As new born infants' communications skills are limited, it is difficult to see how people can show their admiration without 'cooing' at the baby or talking to the mum. Indeed, new mums are proud of their babies and it is hard to see how an expression of admiration could be offensive.

The impact of this move on the infants themselves must also be considered, as infants learn social skills from interacting with others, surely to restrict human contact is a far worse abuse of his/her rights than a smile and a few kind words.

29th September 2005