Needed the toilet while shopping with pram… was I unreasonable?

I was at a play centre place with my then 2 year old and I really needed a wee. It was quite far down a corridor and I didn't want to put his shoes on, squish into the tiny cubicle with him etc. I asked 2 mums who were there with their children if they'd watch him for 2 mins and it was fine. It was a 1 room place, if it had had different rooms etc I wouldn't have done it.

I understand how you feel, I questioned myself afterwards but knew it was fine. You can use common sense and risk assess in these situations.

I , personally, wouldn't have done that. Only because if something can go wrong, FOR ME it bloody well will. So I try my best to minimise the risk of things going wrong for me. I would have taken the baby out of the pram and take the baby with me. I have had to do this and it wasn't easy. However, the overwhleming majority on here have confirmed that what you did was fine, so I wouldn't sweat about it. As it has been proven, the odds are your baby will be fine in the circumstances you described.

It's normal around here to just leave a buggy with a baby in it outside a standard cubicle door, it's not seen as necessary to ask anyone to keep an eye on the baby for the minute or two you're in there. You'll see the buggy wheels under the door so no one is going to wheel the baby away, and you can chat/sing to baby so they know you're there.

You weren’t unreasonable if you were comfortable with it. I personally wouldn’t have done but I get anxious about these things.

I asked a table of older ladies to look after my tiny new son once, when I needed the loo. This is what women do. It was safe.

You did the right thing. Same as if your child (in future) became lost, asking for help from the staff is the answer.

Splash and dash scenario this....honestly you didn't do anything wrong. It was a few minutes!

A mother handed me her tiny baby to hold on a plane once as she was desperate for the loo. It was lovely.

Generally speaking, it is pretty safe to trust women in situations like this. That's why it is common to teach young children that if they get lost, the safest person to approach for help is a woman.
I was once in a busy shopping centre and saw a woman with a tiny baby in a lie-flat pram and a toddler - the toddler ran from her and went off up an escalator! I approached her and said 'I'll mind the pram while you go after him' - and she dashed off immediately to retrieve the toddler, leaving me (a total stranger) with her new baby. What else was she supposed to do? Sometimes you have to trust a stranger when you need help, and the risk you took was vanishingly small. I wouldn't have thought twice about doing the same.

I used to work at a visitor attraction and supervised lots prams with babies for a couple of minutes. Staff are hands down the safest people to ask his from - they're at work so very unlikely to run off!

I did a similar thing when my first was a baby and felt similarly shit about it. It was an older woman with her daughter and baby granddaughters at a baby class so it seemed 'safe' but I was so worried the whole time and still cringe thinking about it sometimes. I don't think either of us should feel guilty but I understand why you do.

Leave the baby take the handbag 😀

Really? She wasn’t going to abduct your baby. You’re being a bit nuts.

we went on a ride at butlins as a lady said she would look after my dd, i took my handbag!

You are over thinking this. People help each other, this lady helped you. That is all there is to it. Be gentle on yourself x

I voted the wrong way - of course it’s not unreasonable!

I had to wee and had my twins with me in Marks and Spencer and the buggy wouldn’t even go near the door where the toilets were, so I asked some ladies on the till if they could just keep an eye on them. I took longer than expected and came out to find LOADS of Nan types all cooing over them and one of them sitting on a chair bashing the buttons on the till! They said “can you do the same time next week when we are all on again?” 😍

This sounds like a completely safe appropriate decision to have made. I really can't imagine anyone saying or thinking this wasn't an inappropriate thing to do.

If I wanted to steal a baby, I would get a job in a large hospital. I would not run a café and hope that at some point in the next 20 years a mother would leave her baby with me for 3 minutes, so I could steal it, rush home in the middle of my shift, and hope nobody noticed.

Nothing wrong with what you did at all! in that moment you’re instincts would have told you /known all was fine it’s just you’re mind over thinking things now x

Most people would have done exactly the same.
There isn't danger around every corner.
You left a staff member to watch your baby for a couple.of minutes at the most. She was in a public place and perfectly safe
I think tiredness and hormones may have got the better of you.
Try and relax a little and be kinder to yourself

It takes a village to raise a child. You knew where she worked.

You could hear her talking to your baby, which is probably why she did it: to reassure you she and the baby were still there.

Hope you feel reassured by these responses op.
Just today I went to the toilet in a cafe and both toilets were occupied. The toilets are down a corridor and out of sight from the cafe.

As I waited a small boy came up and clearly needed a wee so I let him go first when the toilets opened.
But he didn't lock the door and I didn't want anyone walking in on him so I waited until he came out.
My point is that I don't have or want kids but most woman would care about the welfare of a child.

You can change your vote. Just click on the other option.

Oh no not the "dad faces" 😀