Would anyone else leave a sleeping baby home alone - or am I overreacting?

mirrorimage0

no way is this acceptable at all, anything could happen, ie learn to climb, choke when being sick, fire in the house and simaliry when she is out she could have an accident and no one would know baby is home alone, 20 min round trip omg its not even as if the shop is next door. ive just started popping to the garage if i need milk or bread and my eldest is 12 and its 5 doors away, (actually cant do that anymore as i have a new addition ) at 11 months he is more than likely in a routine unless its a very difficult baby so she should be able to time her shopping trips with him asleep if thats what she wants.

CH27

No way is it acceptable.

wannabehermit

Absolutely no way whatsoever. What if he wakes up? What if he's sick in his sleep and starts choking? What if there's a fire? What if someone breaks in? There are loads of what ifs, you could go on forever, it's just wrong. I wouldn't even pop into my next door neighbours for 2 minutes leaving my children in the house.

And being a single parent is no excuse at all. I was a single parent for a couple of years and never would I have left either of my boys on their own while I went to the shops. Now DH works full time so I'm at home all day on my own with DD. If I need something I put her in her pushchair and take her with me. It's not difficult.

Actually, just to add, I'm shocked that anyone you've spoken to thinks that this is ok.

zzzLazyDaisy

When my sister was a baby (before baby alarms were invented) she was asleep in her cot and my dad was outside working in the garden. He went in to check on her and found that she had woken and had somehow managed to get the neck of her top caught on the corner post of the cot and was hanging by her neck.

Fortunately she was okay, but if she'd been left on her own it could have been a very different story. With children things can happen in the blink of an eye.

Having said that, it can be incredibly difficult to do everything perfectly when you have no OH or family to support you. Maybe OP could be-friend her, or point her in the direction of any local organisations that provide support (there used to be an organisation called sure start for families with children under 5, but I don't know if it still exists)

duchy

I'm surprised too. I lived in a flat when my son was small and if I'm honest once or twice I did run down to the car to get something -was probably gone 3 minutes tops and even then felt (rightly) guilty . It isn't just that something might happen to him -as already mentioned-choking, fire etc but also what if something happened to HER when she was out-car accident etc and as a single parent no-one would know he was home alone for possibly a very long time.

I think the woman is crazy and at the very least I'd be mentioning it to her health visitor (if you know which doctors she uses and if you don't is easy to find out in a non obvious way) if you feel it's stupidity rather than genuine neglect.

Surestart is still around and is an excelent idea -or you could offer to pick things up for her or have her baby whilst she goes to the shops for an hour -if she's a single Mum with little support.

Lotus-eater

I think MM isn't really a reason to worry, but anything happening in the babies sleep is.

I certainly have never gone out of baby monitor range, although that includes my garden to work and next door briefly.

But to the shops, good grief, no.

peachyprice

Jeez, has the woman not got a pushchair?

Completely irresponsible. No way, no how would I ever have been 20 mins away from my babies at any time. 20 mins there, 20 mins back, 40 mins alone not even taking into account the time it takes to do the shopping she's going to do, anything can happen in an hour.

I occasionally leave my 10yo with the 16yo's for half an hour, but I wouldn't even leave her alone for shops that far away.

Kandboys

Absolutely no way!! There are so many what-ifs that could happen. To her and to him. Breaks my heart that he may wake and cry for his Mummy and nobody comes

peachyprice

Kandboys wrote: »

Breaks my heart that he may wake and cry for his Mummy and nobody comes

Like that baby on the NSPCC advert

daska

If she's doing it because she feels she has no option then she might be open to the suggestion of HomeStart but if she genuinely doesn't see the danger then the chances are that any gentle suggestions will fall on deaf ears or be met with outrage.