Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4

Original poster

Sleeping Baby/Child in Car

99 replies

QueenSconetta · 06/02/2011 15:12

Before I start can I just caveat this by saying I HAVEN'T done this as was very unsure but...

What do you think about leaving child (14.5 months in this case but not really relevant) sleeping in the car:

In the driveway at home
WITH A BATTERY POWERED BABY MONITOR (that bit v important)
Wrapped up nice and warm so they won't be cold
Quiet cul-de-sac street with very little passing traffic
Very nosey neighbours across the road

while you going inside (with the other half of the monitor) rather than sitting in the car with them.

Car to house transfer not really an option as will almost certainly wake up and really need the nap.

Thoughts please and thank you.

(Posted in parenting as well then thought this poss better home)

OP posts:

BertieBotts · 06/02/2011 15:14

I would.

gordyslovesheep · 06/02/2011 15:14

I wouldn;t do it - I'm not going to done my judgy knickers on those who would but I would worry too much (NB drive way is at the back of the house so I wouldn;t see the car)

LilQueenie · 06/02/2011 15:15

no way. Still a risk of overheating and not easy to reach.

GwendolineMaryLacey · 06/02/2011 15:17

I would but I'd stay in the front room or wherever I could see the car clearly.

We don't have a driveway so I've spent many an hour sitting in the car outside with dd.

waffleanddaub · 06/02/2011 15:18

I would do it, but then I could easily see my car, on our driveway right outside our house. If I couldnt see the car I probably wouldn't.

Knackeredmother · 06/02/2011 15:18

My nanny was doing this with my dc and I was horrified. Not on a drive though but on the street outside my house.
I know plenty of sensible people that do this though but not for me.

taintedpaint · 06/02/2011 15:20

I wouldn't do it. The overheating risk would be the main reason, and there's no way to get around it since you can't leave the doors/windows open for risk of the car being stolen with sleeping child in it.

Depending on how long the nap was likely to last, I may get a book out and sit in the with the child if I was that desperate for the sleep to continue.

JustcallmeMummyPig · 06/02/2011 15:20

I would and have many times, we live in a tiny town, in a road with 4 houses, we have a driveway so car right by my front door.

Car was always locked, front door left open and i was always in view of car. I used to sit on our stairs and read a book in peace for a bit, or make phone calls etc..

MrsPresley · 06/02/2011 15:21

No way! Would it really matter if the wee one woke up?

Original poster

QueenSconetta · 06/02/2011 15:22

I meant at the moment rather than in the summer just for clarity!

OP posts:

OADCB · 06/02/2011 15:23

I have rang in, stuck kettle on, gone loo, made a cuppa and returned to read magazine in car before on numerous occasions when I knew he would wake if moved. 5 mins tops. Wouldn't have left him longer

Onetoomanycornettos · 06/02/2011 15:23

Not for me, have sat in the car many a time with mine, either reading the paper or even having a little doze myself (let the car seat down). Otherwise I would carry them in, car seat and all, and put them straight in the cot. If they sleep, lucky, if they don't, I would just get on with it.

deliakate · 06/02/2011 15:24

I have done this, but our house very well set back from the road. It was summer though, so I'd leave front door open and just potter about until I heard him wake up.

OADCB · 06/02/2011 15:25

Top tip i learnt was to face car away from neighbours so you don't get the nosey one coming over for chat!

fluffles · 06/02/2011 15:25

i'd go inside and get a book and come back out again and be grateful of the 'enforced' reading break

mutznutz · 06/02/2011 15:28

I wouldn't. I'd find another way of getting baby back to sleep or try to time the trip a bit better.

Original poster

QueenSconetta · 06/02/2011 15:29

Oadcb She wouldn't anyway, she's funny in that she will curtain twitch all day long, or even openly stare out of the window at you but if you wave to her she darts inside and pretends she hasn't seen you!!

I'm lucky that our wireless internet reaches the driveway as I'm currently sitting the car Mumsnetting much to DPs annoyance as he thinks I should just have put the BM in an come inside!

Sorry if that classes as drip feed - it wasn't meant to be!, x.

OP posts:

GruffalosGirl · 06/02/2011 15:29

I have done this loads of times with DS but we live on a quiet cul de sac with a drive that takes 4 cars so it is really far from the road. I open the car window but lock the door and open the living room window and sit looking at the car. I've never needed a baby monitor.

However, I read posts on here the last time this was brought up about cars going on fire, which is something I had never considered, so I might not do it when the next one is little (I'm pregnant at the moment) without looking into it a bit more.

greensnail · 06/02/2011 15:32

I do this all the time. I'm lucky in my new house that I can reverse the car right up to the living room window so I can sit on my sofa and keep an eye on her. Used to do it in my old house too though although would be more likely to sit by the front door to watch when we were there.

Slightlyreluctantexpat · 06/02/2011 15:33

I would do it. I did do it a lot when DCs were small. Can't really see what the problem is tbh.

kampakat · 06/02/2011 15:37

My mum used to do this with us and we came to no harm...
Saying that, if she was doing noisy housework she used to leave my brother in his pram in the garden ... when it rained she put him in the shed...

TattyDevine · 06/02/2011 15:43

I do this. Not in summer. But in winter. Car is not on a street though, you have to drive a long way from the road so unless a delivery man came or something there is nobody else around. Can see the car.

I really think things like this depend on the individual circumstances of where you live, how old your child is, the temperature, whether you can see them, etc etc along with your own internal risk assessment you do as a parent.

waffleanddaub · 06/02/2011 15:43

Wow, cars going on fire just sitting on a driveway! How likely is that? Better not sit in cars any more, never mind let babies sleep in them! In fact, better not go out at all, that's safest isn't it? Oh no, there's all the hazards inside too!! AArrrgh.

altinkum · 06/02/2011 15:46

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MollieO · 06/02/2011 15:49

No. I always made sure I had a book in the car for when this happened.

Flip

1 2 3 4