Kudos to the flight attendant.  I have not formulated an opinion of the parents yet but it's going to be a doozy.

Can't be many things more stressful than having a crying bay on a plane.

The flight attendant did the right thing, whether she 'offered to hold the baby' or 'took the baby from the mother' the result was the same.  She removed the baby from harm's way and calmed it down - probably giving the distraught parents an opportunity to calm down as well. 

So what happehs to this baby when there's no "flight attendant" around  to calm down the distraught parents.

We've all had our moments, but I can't say I've ever thought to slap a baby in the face to make them stop crying.

AND this baby had a black eye? And the parents reason was accepted without follow up?

Hopefully this child doesn't become "clumsy" when he/she  grows up and" continuously bruise her/his self" on the kitchen cupboard doors or is forever "falling down the stairs".

Sounds like a pretty stressful situation for lots of people.  Good move by the flight attendant. 

waterfall - I was thinking of the flight attendant and her response at the time - not a long time solution to what might be an ongoing problem.  I agree that if this has been observed as the parents reaction to the stress of raising a child, then the family should be monitored.  But I don't think that is the flight attendant's responsibility.  I would guess that once they left the plane there was little she could do except perhaps fill in a report on the incident. 

 Reading about this I can almost understand the parents reactions.  You hear all the time that crying babies can drive you crazy and sometimes you need to just set them down somewhere safe and walk away for a few minutes - difficult to do on the plane!  Depending on what else happened that day, stressful security, medication for the flight, sleep deprivation, I could see where things might have escalated to something that normally wouldn't have happened.

That said, I'm sure if I saw it happen I would be shocked and would think about how horrible the mother must be.

The flight attendant did the right thing, especially if the mother willingly handed over the toddler as the story suggests.  Hopefully this is an isolated incident and that the dog story wasn't a cover up.  It sounds like it might be a good idea for a visit by a social worker, but I don't know all the details.

i think this flight attendant should get nothing but praise for her response.  well done.

i have flown with babies, and at one point i had a crying child while we sat in a hot plane on a runway waiting to take off for about 20 minutes.  stressful doesn't begin to describe how i felt.  i did the best i could, though, and survived without having to hit her.  i remember that after we landed, about 2 or 3 people came up to me and said they understood how stressful that was for me and for her, and told me that they were sympathetic, not angry at us.  that made me feel better.

well bless their woolly socks off.  Only those who have been there can understand.