Bring a spray bottle and spray them if they even get close
Theres no more nice guy in 2025 respect boundaries or get the fuck away from my kid. Simple.
I wouldn’t worry about how the tone of you voicing your boundaries may come across. Say it however you feel then just say sorry…. (The reason the boundary is set) & call it a day. When you kind of ice things with trying to be nice people may take it as a joke or that it’s not a hard boundary if it comes off light. That’s just my opinion though. Hope that helps. I also tell people no kissing the baby anywhere on their body. Because unfortunately expressing the boundary people have tried to push back with a “oh what if I just kiss their hand”. No is a no
I made sure our family knew from the start that I didn't want anyone kissing our son for health reasons, and reiterated all the kinds of illnesses that can be passed via kissing. I think if you're polite but firm about it, most people will just accept it. Even now my boy's a toddler, I just tell him to high five people. He chooses to hug who he wants to hug!