Why can’t parents just put their hands on their baby’s mouth to stop them from making loud noises when crying in movie theatres and airplanes?

Question

I have always wondered this but never wanted to directly ask a parent as it could come off rude.

It makes sense to me though, like when people cover each other’s mouth’s in movies to muffle whatever sound they’re making.

Edit: I would just like to say that I would never try this, I was just curious!

In: Biology

Answer 1

Baby is crying for a reason. Putting your hand over their mouth does nothing to address the underlying reason and is more likely to make baby even more upset. This kind of approach would be significantly more mentally draining that parenting already is.