...to leave my 14 month old unsupervised in the bath while I do some jobs?

[Ilikegreenshoes]

Ok, before you all call SS, there was no water in the bath. She'd had her bath, I'd emptied it, but she didn't want to get out and was playing quite happily with her toys.
I could hear her from where I was, there was nothing within reach that could have been dangerous, but I still felt like it was a bad mummy thing to do.
Thoughts?

Don't do it. What you might think is not scalding might be for tiny baby skin. I know someone whose child fell into the bath as the hot water was running - major misunderstanding with her thinking toddler walked to her dh, him thinking she's with mom. Her head was directly under hot water, only for a minute or two, and her hair didn't grow there for years and years, despite lots of operations to stretch the skin with saline implants etc. I'm not sure if she's had implants now, but I know it was a horrible time in all of their lives.

I'd be really careful about your hot taps. Unless you have your immersion heater turned down or a thermostatic safety valve installed keeping your water at around 40 degrees your child can get burned. All new houses in Scotland post 2006 and in England & Wales post 2010 have these. Some housing association stock does too but not all.

The estimated time for a child to get 2nd degree burns with water at 50 degrees is only 45 seconds and 105 seconds for 3rd degree burns. At 60 degrees the times are scarily much much shorter (2nd degree = 0.7 seconds, 3rd degree = 1.5 seconds)

I've recently worked in a regional burns centre and saw far too many kids coming through with scalds from bathwater.

Don't risk it. Accidental usage of bath taps can seriously injure your child.

If you are renovating your bathroom and have children think very seriously about installing a thermostatic valves. It could save you a lot of heartache in the future.

WTF? You asked if people thought you were being unreasonable...people said yes, you say thanks but I did it anyway then brand people uptight/judgemental! WTF???!! Is there a coach trip or something today?

Utter rage

Yabu bathrooms are not safe for children alone plus wasn't she cold?
You would be better to buy a playpen than use the bath if you need time for housework.

Woah, woah, calm down. First of all, I don't think that if you ask people for their opinion you have to agree with what they say. Secondly, I didn't mean to imply that I felt everyone had been uptight and judgemental, just a few (sorry if that's the impression I gave). Thirdly, I have said thank you for those who have made their points politely and thoughtfully, even if I didn't feel all of their concerns applied to my specific situation. I am not an irresposible or careless parent, I made a risk assessment, then made a decision based on that which many other parents may not have made. (DD is fine, by the way) I take on board several points which maybe I hadn't considered, but still don't think it was that big a deal.

But I realise that this method of communicating with other parents is severely flawed as it is too open to misunderstanding.

Thanks again to those of you who gave sensible advice without speaking to me like I'm a total idiot.

Sorry to anyone who I've provoked to "utter rage". I genuinely didn't mean to.

greenshoes if you ask daft question.expect to be put straight.no point geting all huffy:( and im not posting again about it

its a fuckwitted thing to do.end of

welcome to mn op

it is a baptism of fire sometimes.

utter rage appeased. You are right, this way communication is flawed. The picture in my head of a child freezing in a dangerous environment probably was a bit of a knee jerk reaction. I do think though you might have thought it wasn't ok or you wouldn't be asking? The bit that was worrying me was the child falling backwards and banging it's head on the hard bath - I shall have nightmares!

I think the "what's the worst that can happen?" test is useful. If the worst is death or permanent injury (eg severe burns) then it's never a risk worth taking for convenience/fun alone. If the absolute worst that can happen is a trip to A&E, well that's horrible, but most children have it happen at some point in their childhood, so I'd class it as a judgement call and opinions can legitimately vary in what's reasonable. The strength required to turn the hot tap is the key fact here from that POV, assuming we can rule out drowning as a risk.

Couldnt you have done the jobs when she was in bed?

When your 14 month has finished her supervised bath I reckon it would be better for her to play somewhere else.
Tj

Then apply 'whats the worst can happen in the cot/playpen' and I will bet there are a lot less possibilities.

Probably not the safest place to play, but you know your child best so if you were confident that she would remain seated, could not turn the taps on and wouldn't try to climb out then the risks are probably smaller than many people would think. Unfortunatly it's virtually impossible to create a totally risk free environment for a toddler! Sometimes I think we are more careful when our children are left somewhere because we are so aware they are unsupervised and want to keep checking on them - my DS1 scalded himself on a cup of tea when both DH and I were sitting next to the table, probably because our false sense of security meant that we weren't paying proper attention to him.

I probably wouldn't leave my toddler playing in the bath while I got on with some jobs, but I would leave him watching cbeebies for example, thinking that was reasonably safe. The problem? - He can now climb the stairs and get into the bath in his clothes by himself and has been known to turn the taps on. So far the worst he's done is wasted all the hot water by turning on the taps in the sink! Yabu and Iabu for not having eyes in the backs of our heads! :o

"but still don't think it was that big a deal."

It is. You're wrong in this case. What's done is done, but please don't do it again. It doesn't matter that you think our risk assessments are mad. You just can't take the chance in this situation.

insane.

it takes seconds for a child to get into danger,never mind the fact she is only 14 months ,just nuts!!!

Why not just take her out of the bath and dress her and then get on with whatever is so important?

Yabu.

Green shoes - love green shoes too, even buy bags to go with them

Sorry you have had such a rush of negative responses, I would have thought you had left your child in a cold bathroom with the tap too easily turned on by many of them!

The thing about being a Mum is that we learn what works and what doesn't, sometimes the hard way.

If you think about it, many times every day we do something (or don't do) that may cause us or our children danger, but if we g round worrying about it life would be unbearable.

If you stop and think about it, we wouldn't drive our children in cats, let them walk by roads, ride a bike, play rugby.

Take the advice you want and ignore the rest. hope you post again on other topics