Calling the police to check on a crying baby

How do you know that was the case? You don't. The police would rather check and find nothing wrong than ignore it and the worst happen.

Colicky babies can cry for hours. But at the same time, with the recent cases of abused and killed babies neighbours said they heard distressed crying but didn’t report it. I would always report it just in case after reading about those cases

You wouldn’t hear someone singing and soothing from 100m away.

We’ve got 2 newborns over the road, we hear the crying, we don’t hear anything else.

Well done op. Don't know why some people are calling you nosy. This is when children and women die because people don't want to get involved.
It was the right thing to do.

What an overreaction.

It’s boiling hot so the baby will be pissed off like the rest of us. The more it cries the hotter it gets, so the more pissed off it gets, and round it goes. You had no idea it wasn’t being consoled by an equally hot parent, who was making the baby hotter. The whole family probably haven’t slept for a week so everyone is bound to be at the end of their tether, so the parents raised their voices at each other. It’s not a big deal and it sounds like one of them took it out on the car. I feel really sorry for them.

Last night my very, placid laid back DGS (2.5) was in a foul mood. He screamed blue murder when he was told he was going for a shower and he’s never been like that before. He’s fed up of being too hot, you see, like the rest of us.

After the appalling cases of Preston and Isabelle recently, I don’t know why people are questioning the OP. Better to make an innocent mistake than another child neglected or worse.

My neighbours have a baby who seems to be struggling in the heat and crying a lot but I hear the parents soothing the baby and singing to him so I think that is the difference.

This response belongs in the 1970s when police wouldn't come out for "domestics" and women were beaten to death.

The baby wasn’t taken out in the car though, if they were the OP wouldn’t have been able to still hear the screaming.

Do you think baby Preston's neighbours heard crying?

Meh 🫤 baby hot, unsettled. Parents at the end of their tether. It’s probably been hard for all of them, all week. I remember weeks of fractiousness when my two were babies. I cried, they cried, we all were shells of human beings. Sounds like the parents were just trying to think of ways to settle baby - taking it out in the car and probably having an argument in the process. It’s no fun when it gets like that

she did. she phoned the police who went to investigate what was going on

you don't know - its possible there are adults who need the protection and assistance of the police there.

OP I think you did the right thing. Only you know what it sounded like and you wouldn’t have called unless something wasn’t right. The police would have triaged it and they obviously felt it was a concern.

hopefully (well you know what I mean) it’s just a colicky baby and stressed tired parents. But you never know.

are you able to know the outcome? I’m thinking not due to confidentiality. I had to make a call one day due to domestic violence very clearly happening nearby and they did call me back to do a sensitive update.

@summermumma2021

Newborn Dc1 cried inconsolably from about 4pm to 10pm every day for several weeks.

But I agree that there are different types of crying. So hard to judge. Plus it was very hot.

Shame that OP couldn’t get someone to at least talk to the next door neighbour to find out if things were
ok.

You did the right thing absolutely, and the fact that multiple calls were made about it to the police means that you're not overreacting and that there's at least a chance the child is in danger.

Shame on anyone who says otherwise.

You have to do what you think is right, and i agree that safeguarding children is everyone's responsibility. It could just be some distressed, struggling parents having their worst day, or a child welfare case, you have no way of knowing - all you can do is hand it over for the appropriate people to investigate.

I had a collegue who had the police called to his house for the same reason, his baby daughter wouldn't stop crying no matter what they did, he and his wife were distressed and losing their cool (nothing harmful), meanwhile their toddler decided to join in and started yelling blue murder (as they do). The police checked everything out, found no issue, comiserated with them, and left. When he came into work he was incredibly upset, felt like a failiure and terrible parent. It took me a while to reassure him and talk it through so he could go back home and support his wife. They weren't doing their children any harm (the kids are healthy, happy teenagers now), and the incident is long forgotten. This is the most likely scenario, but it could be something more serious.

You did the right thing. I had a colicky baby years ago but would have understood if the police had called. He was obviously colicky and police would have contacted the health visitor who would have confirmed how we were dealing with things.

My first child spent most of the first six months screaming. We would try everything to comfort him - carrying him, rocking him, rubbing him ..nothing settled him. I was trying to get help from doctors but they were very dismissive. Finally he was diagnosed with multiple severe but obscure allergies (passed on through my breast milk) and he transformed into a happy baby

I wouldn't have minded you calling the police though. It might have helped me get more help faster

Thank you! He improved massively from about 3 months and went on to become a very happy baby who is still a very happy and smiling toddler. Huge difference to his first few months.

We also had a toddler when he was a newborn, and having a small child with a newborn that cried for hours every day for no reason was so unbelievably tough. Yes DH and I argued as we were both stressed and I think having police called because they heard raised voices and a crying baby that wouldn’t settle would definitely have destroyed me. As PP said, a neighbour checking in to see if they can help is so much kinder than the immediate thought that there’s a safeguarding issue.

Have fun imagining! I'm so old now my now-grown baby was born on Old Mumsnet and they'd have been more likely to have 3 MNers drive there to physically knock the door than be ripping the piss out if it. There were many 'rescues in the night' back then. Would be so risky these days though, funny how things change, I'm nostalgic now.

You need retraining

You have a hundred per cent done the right thing. We seem to have a lot of people here who are either very brave or very naive. It could well be innocent but it could well be someone hurting a baby who would then turn that anger on you.
People being so dismissive is how cases like baby Preston end up happening - because everyone thinks ‘oh it’s none of my business.’ Safeguarding is everyone’s business and the first rule is that you pass everything on because it could be the one piece of the jigsaw that’s needed.

Social services are not an emergency service. If you have concerns about immediate safety then the police are the appropriate service. I cannot stress that enough.

You did right. One time I didnt and I regret it ever since.

Posters are going to come at you for daring to suggesting that parents get frustrated but your post is spot on.

I had up to 6 hours of non stop crying every single day for 3 months. Of course it made DH and I frustrated with each other. I’m sure there were raised voices. At no point was DS ever in harms way, but anyone who says they have not had moments of struggling with their partner in difficult moments is lying.