Calling the police to check on a crying baby

Well done OP. Too many people disregard children in distress,citing it isnt their business

Is that your word of the day 😂

Hyperbole

What is the relevance of that? Did the boy cry for 30 minutes and nobody reported it?
I have actually phoned the police on a couple of occasions btw but it was more than "raised voices" or just a baby crying for 30 minutes. While they did come eventually and made arrests, they certainly weren't that quick.

Double post

One of the worst “jobs” my husband had to do was take a 6 year old boy around a city looking for the “white” house a group of men had raped him in on numerous occasions. It nearly broke him.

But “colic” eh? Don’t phone in case you embarrass someone.

Wow it’s still rumbling on. I think you’re on a hiding to nothing here. In case anyone’s bothered there’s something in child protection world called The Paramountcy principle ( although I’m not sure I can spell it ) - it means The Child’s Welfare is Paramount. All the different departments within the police and all the relevant agencies must put the welfare of child above all other considerations. Even the Anti terrorism branch must put aside their core work if there is any suspicion of child abuse or danger to a child. Thats how important it is. Child protection officers work closely with other agencies and they share information all the time - it’s like putting a jigsaw together. All those snippets of information add up. The public don’t have to be sure they just have to suspect and the agencies will put their heads together and take a view. They hold the responsibility because they are the experts. If the police thought the OPs call was crap they wouldn’t go or they would go slow time. They wouldn’t tootle along to that while a murder was being committed.

Finally, abuse happens in all communities. Sometimes there’s a particular type of abuse favoured but it cuts across all demographics. I worked in one of the most expensive boroughs in London ( probably the U.K.) and abuse existed. My office dealt with… a step child living in a garage while the other children lived in a house, a physical abuse of a toddler with a knife by someone with diplomatic immunity, FGM also by someone with immunity. Sexual abuse of a child who had been left in the care of a housekeeper. And so it goes on.

I don’t know what the OP heard but there’s no criticism of people who act in good faith when the wellbeing of a child is concerned.

As someone involved in safe guarding, you did the right thing. Better to be safe than sorry. It’s always right to follow your gut. Considering baby Preston died recently and is all over the news, I think people need to applaud you personally and take note . Yes it could be completely innocent, and if so no harm done.

Ok so I say it is and then you repeat it isn't. I don't have the time or inclination to do this all night with you.

We won't agree.

Have a nice night.

It isn't hyperbole because I am sure that most babies gave cried for 30 minute at one time or another and most couples have raised their voices at one time or another.

Of course. And not just once but repeatedly.

No different to a medical professional dealing with sick people every day, they have a professional head and a mum head, the mum persona overthinks everything esp when severely sleep deprived and can’t think straight. The medical persona is methodical, thorough and does not second guess every decision! Similar to why medical professionals do not treat their family and friends, apart from the confidentiality part, emotions would get in the way of any decision making. As for that social worker saying that to her social worker friend, you realise people are just having conversations and being worried that someone who doesn’t know they are a social worker calls social services or the police.

There’s colicky babies and there’s babies who can scream relentlessly for 24hrs a day because they maybe have undiagnosed allergies as was the case for me. I was completely gas lit by all medical people from GPs to health visitors ‘oh it’s just colic’. Colic was not a patch on this. What I would have given for someone to pop by, a smiling reassuring face and offer me a break, to hold my screaming baby for just a few mins…..a knock on the door would’ve been amazing, calling the police not so much! some people don’t have a village and if they are new to the area they def won’t. Moving house, having a baby are pretty major life stressors on their own.

in our case it took some time to work things out which was done by saving to go private and have a paediatrician actually listen to us. I resent the gps who brushed it off as colic and me having PND, we were a very unhappy household for sometime but once we figured it out, it was like my baby had a personality transplant and we were all happier.

yes you are right to be concerned but calling the police for a baby crying for 30mins is a little extreme. Like previous posters have said, if police or social services turned up at my door when I was at my lowest point with an inconsolable baby, it might have actually tipped me into a PND. support is needed rather than being accused of child neglect.

Hyperbole

That’s the reason for health visitors.

I also think being investigated even briefly could break some people. One of my Dc had a safeguarding concern made about them years ago...they have sn and it was related to that. Nothing came of it, my Dc were well looked after ..and this was obvious but at the time I was an anxious mess over it, every time there was a knock at my door I genuinely was terrified my Dc were going to be taken away. It was truly horrendous. So I don't necessarily believe in the no harm done school of thought. Obviously I want people to be vigilant with regards to potential abuse and children are more important than potentially upsetting innocent parents...but no, it affected me hugely and for years after.

Exactly

There is a harm done if the police spend their entire time checking every single baby who cries though as they will not be saving babies who do need help. And I am not making it about me btw. I didn't have colicy babies who cried a lot. I know some do though and phoning the police because a baby has cried for 30 minutes seems ridiculous.

This is the thing isn't it... surely if we go by the better safe than sorry mantra, every single family should be investigated by social services..just in case.

So you do actually think all people with babies should be reported to the police "just in case"🤔

No, just ignore and wait for the death to appear in the news, the safety of a baby should be paramount.

There's a particular thing about MN where people take a situation such as this and make it about them. I really don't understand why people take things like possible child abuse and make it about their baby who had colic.

My second son was breast fed exclusively (as was the first but he loved his dummy too) and would, under no circumstances, accept a rubber teat.

This was back in the day when we got 18 weeks maternity leave.

My husband tried to give him a bottle of MY milk when I was due to return to work and you would have thought we were murdering him. My friend called in the middle of it, heard him, and got into a state saying we should take him to hospital as there was clearly something wrong. There wasn't. He just couldn't handle the rubber teat.

We eventually gave in, though didn't leave him crying for 30 minutes - couldn't handle it, and did find a solution, but if the police had came to my door that night I would have asked them in, explained the situation and that would have been that.

My husband worked in child protection and you have no idea what goes on. It's truly heartbreaking.

So, try not to make it personally.

If the child is a colicky baby, there would be no further action but I think a distressed baby with all the other things going on should be checked.

No harm done if it's just a bad night, but a child could be saved from abuse if it isn't.

Painful isn’t it? The whole behaviour of OP is odd! How are some people not seeing through this? The first post, all OP seemed to really care about was the volume and the length of time the crying was going on, someone with raised voices slamming a car door, now, she’s saying totally different things, some of what she is now claiming does appear to be quite bad, but I don’t believe it, because surely, a parent screaming at a tiny baby would be worth mentioning in the original post? Surely that is much more concerning than the length or time and volume? It’s all BS.

So why not report anyone with a baby to the police? I am sure that most babies have cried for 30 minutes on occasion and probably most couples have raised their voices on occasion. Who knows if there is abuse?