Hour old newborn abandoned

[SerendipityJane]

Hour old newborn abandoned in this weather. I have no words, only tears.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-68025769

Common sense would seem to indicate that there must have been a considerable degree of desperation to me. Can't see the point in punishing someone who's clearly in a very bad place. What's being punitive going to actually achieve? You think that she's going to have another and abandon it for the laughs?

What I’m saying is, all possibilities need to be considered, including an evil mother. Not all people are inherently good.

The baby will grow up to see how lucky it is it's not got to see her again.

No, she is very unlikely to grow up feeling this way. That's simply not how pre-verbal attachment trauma works.

What I’m saying is, all possibilities need to be considered, including an evil mother. Not all people are inherently good

Do agree with that, and there's more than enough child cruelty to prove what you say is true.

Going through 9 months pregnancy is pretty hard work though. I really can't think it's equally likely as desperation, especially in a highly multicultural area where cultural pressures can be extraordinarily strong.

I totally get empathising with the mum. But a helpless being outside in this weather with no clothes is nothing short of torture. The baby would have felt immense pain, and had she not been found, a slow and painful death.

When children die by abuse or neglect, we never use their trauma and situations as excuses. This was abuse. The baby could have been put anywhere, but a cold isolated park where death was likely was the only place she could find?

I empathise with the fear that was likely going through the mother. That doesn't excuse the near enough torture of a helpless newborn baby. Both can be true.

There is a very good chance this is a very young girl who is desperate. I really would urge posters to try to stop themselves being vicious until they understand the context. No one gives birth alone and abandons their baby without signficant reason.

I used to work in a hospital which covered this area. It isn't uncommon for young girls to get pregnant and live in denial/conceal the pregnancy out of fear and desperation at what will happen if the family finds out. Anyone who has ever worked in an East London A&E department won't have been surprised by this. My friend had a little 14yo come in with a baby she had given birth to in her bedroom wardrobe. Poor thing was stillborn and the girl didn't know what to do but come to hospital. She said her family would murder her if they found out.

Anyone who can write comments wishing horrible things on whoever left this baby, all I can say is that you must have had a priviledged life not seeing the desperate lives other people can have.

No one seems to have thought that it could have been taken by the baby's father / brother / grandparent and exposed, and the mother intimidated into silence.

Now there would be someone who should go to prison for a very long time.

I'm close to where this happened and my first thought was of the poor mother and baby, the mother must have been desperate and so fearful. I really hope she comes forward for medical attention and gets the support she should have got long ago and to those judging you don't know the circumstances its easy to sit up there high on your perch judging when you're not in that situation. At least the baby was found and is safe which is more than can be said for the mother.

I would say those around her have let her down, as clearly she didn't have a family or relationship where she felt unconditionally loved and could be honest without fearing judgement :(
Thank goodness the baby was okay! Hopefully the mother will get the support she needs too.

Goodness that's heartbreaking!
That poor young girl.I hope she was supported by social services after and removed from the risky environment she was clearly in for a better life :(

That poor little baby, I am so glad she was found. I hope she is adopted into a family who are wonderful.

I do feel sorry for the mother, but I also think she could have left the baby somewhere safer. I have read stories about women abandoning their babies at doors and ringing the bell. In the loo at a restaurant etc. I find it hard to understand leaving a tiny little baby in freezing conditions. If it was a young scared teenage father 'taking care' of their problem before parents found out would be so forgiving. Or what ever the case is

This with jingle bells on! Wtf is wrong with people to be so vile. Just watch what the people of East London do. I gurantee the hospital will get donations of clothes, milk nappies etc for that poor baby because that is the sort of people we are!

This happened in the town where I live many years ago. It turned out that the mother was a teenager in foster care, impregnated by her father. No one knew she was pregnant since she was overweight and wore large clothing. She had given birth at home, put baby in a park across the street and cleaned up. I know the details because a friend of a friend... small town. The pregnancy was missed by the foster family, teachers, friends. It was a dire situation and unfortunately the baby did not survive. The foster family was thoroughly investigated but no fault found.

The only reason I'm telling this is to show there are many people in dire circumstances unable to deal with whatever trauma life has brought to them. Yes, there is help available, but some people are emotionally unable to access it, which is a shame in this day and age.

Luckily the baby in the OP's post has survived, and hopefully a good placement will be found for it.

Where the baby was left is a largely conservative Muslim community. It’s likely the mother is from a background that would not be welcoming of this baby and her actions were due to absolute panic. There’s a lot of dog walkers and cyclists on that trail so she could have been fairly confident someone would come along quickly.

No one in their right mind would leave a baby in those conditions without knowing someone would find it.

Heard this news item briefly this morning, apparently the baby was found by a dog walker who stayed to keep baby warm until police arrived.

Hope the police take all the details they can from the person who found the baby, as they'll no doubt wish to thank this person when they're older.

This made me curious, I found articles from Sept 17, Feb 19 and now Jan 23, all Newham, all babies left in parks and 2 in shopping bags. Quite strange and very distressing to think it could be one mother. I would hope the professionals involved have noticed and might potentially dna test the 3?

The baby may not have been abandoned by her mother . It could have been another family member / acquaintance/ abuser that did this

@starsparkle08 Exactly! How do we know the baby wasn't forcibly taken away from her mother and abandoned by someone else. We don't know anything yet hopefully the mother will come forward and claim her baby and explain why.

It's not guaranteed that tje woman or girl who gave birth abandoned the baby. Perhaps the parent of a young girl who concealed a pregnancy has removed the child at birth and abandoned it? Too many possible scenarios to make assumptions.

@GTsundaydriver nice to see it is not just on my own thread that you've been making controversial comments. I'm not going to slate as you're entitled to your opinion. But do you really believe any mother would do this if they thought they had another choice.

So glad the baby was found safe. I won’t know why people are so quick to condem. All the possible traumatic reasons that a baby could be abandoned and people what to assume that the mother could be arsed with adoption so just chucked it out. How likely is that, come on!

If it's the same siblings they were interviewed on an Irish national radio station today. They appeared on Long Lost Family and the show found a third full sibling who'd also been left in a telephone box and they now believe a fourth sibling has been found.

I’m so glad the baby was found in time and was well.

I can’t imagine what state of mind she’d have to be in to leave the baby in a bag, but it can’t be sane. That mother could be a child herself. She might be a victim of rape. Fearing for her own safety if from a conservative home.

She might have birthed alone. No medical help or pain relief. I can’t imagine the kind of fear that would make me think that was a better option. But she does.

We don’t know her story.

I hope she forgives herself. I hope she is physically well and safe. I hope she receives the care she needs. I hope someone can help her fix whatever has driven this.

Actions like these are acts of desperation, not of malice, or lack of care. You do not know the circumstances, yet you sit in judgement. Nasty!