>I got a freaky crank text from some guy (probably) today, claiming 
>to need lactation help.  Has this ever happened to anyone?  How did 
>you deal with it?  I'm tempted to hire a PI to help find this guy, 
>take his picture, and send it to the police with a report of what 
>happened.   Julie Tardos


Our breastfeeding line has occasional calls of this nature. 
Sometimes it's a man pretending to be a woman, sometimes they pretend 
to be calling on behalf of their partner. Sometimes, they're calls 
which are more sad than creepy - we had several calls from a girl who 
pretended to have a baby, and she got hold of the home number of the 
counsellor and persisted in calling her there. With that one, I 
called her with my manager's hat on, gave her the number of a mental 
health advocacy organisation, and said I would contact the police if 
she called us again.

We don't take text messages, but I expect we'd get them, too.

If it's a call, hang up. If it's a text don't respond.

We've never felt personally threatened, but of course we would take 
it to the police if we did.

Our experience is that the callers don't persist. You get the creep 
calls because men who want to frighten women know that a woman is 
likely to answer the phone.

Tip (which I got from watching an episode of female cop drama Cagney 
and Lacey!*): if you suspect someone does not actually have a baby, 
then simply ask the birthweight of the baby, and what the baby weighs 
now. Most people with a baby will not object to the questions and 
will be able to answer, at least the birthweight. Anyone without a 
baby will be wrong-footed and will be unable to come up with a 
sensible-sounding answers.

(*Mary-Beth Lacey was questioning a girl who claimed her baby had been stolen)

Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc, tutor, UK
-- 

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