Treating someone in an overly protective, gentle, or indulgent way, as if they were a baby; pampering excessively.
From baby (used as a verb) plus the present participle suffix -ing. The verb form developed to describe the action of treating someone like a baby.
Babying someone is definitely considered negative—there's a whole cultural anxiety about not wanting to babify kids or adults, but every generation thinks the next one is being babied too much by their parents!
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