To forget I have a baby for five (ten max) minutes in Sainsbury's

[Oscalito]

I was racing around Sainsbury's with my buggy, got to checkout, unloaded basket, raced off and got a few more things to reach £30 so I could use a money-off voucher they'd sent me, when I looked down and realised I'd somehow misplaced my buggy.

Sprinted around shop fearing the worst and was confronted in fruit and veg by a woman employee who told me very loudly they were just about to call social services and the police (and still might) and 'I should be very ?'

... at which point I interrupted and said 'I haven't slept in five months'. Slight exaggeration but definitely didn't get much sleep last night and DH has been around so have gotten used to having someone else looking out for baby over the last few days.

She said 'Don't speak to me like that madame' and I said 'I already feel bad enough' and left (this time with baby, obviously). A small crowd had gathered at this point. It could have turned quite nasty - she was ferocious - but I got out of there ASAP.

Was this a bit of an overreaction on her part? Or am I just too blase? I was panicking and fearing the worst as I ran around the shop, but when I saw the baby was OK I was just relieved. I am usually really careful, just slipped up once (won't do it again). Surely I'm not the first....?

My mil left her youngest son outside a shop in his pram and went home. The staff in the shop phoned her and let her know.

She had got home, sat down and had a cup of tea and still hadn't realised that she had forgotten about him.

Yep my mum left me in a pram at the front of Woolworths and left out the back door without me. Didn't remember until she was almost home.

Sounds like the woman was enjoying having an audience.

sybilbeddows that is fantastic! quite right to just make a swift exit.

Freudian, I wish I had been much ruder. But a crowd had gathered and I hate scenes....

I was about to thank her when she laid into me. If she really was concerned about the baby surely it would be better to take me aside...?

My mum left her baby at the checkout once and got all the way home before she realised.... when she got back they said, 'oh, we wondered when you'd return.'

Anyway these stories are making me feel much better. Still can't believe I got from fruit and veg to the checkout without realising though.

I haven't forgotten the baby, but once took baby out ( 3 months old or so) in his car seat, popped said car seat in back of car, then got into car and drove 20 minutes to Sainsbos. Went to get baby out of car and realised I had neither strapped car seat in, OR strapped baby in.

Also sleep deprivation.

I was so upset I had a massive panic attack, vomited and had to call Dh to leave work and come and get us.

I left DD2 in the car of the guy who picks us up from the airport on holiday in Lanzaroe...we unloaded bags, DD1 etc were wandering round looking at the villa after about 10 mins my mum goes where is DD2, I look at DH and he looks at me we both run out of the villa and luckily the guy is parked a bit further up the road stopping off at another villa, he hadn't even noticed he had DD2 in the back...apparently I was the talk of Puerto del Carmen, the lady who left her baby in the taxi [cblush] [cblush] [cblush]

My mum drove off in the car, leaving a 4mo me swaddled on the front doorstep.

Write in and complain. 20 years ago, that woman would have simply stood and rocked the pram till' the Mum showed up....now she thnks she has the right to berate you?

Stupid hag.

COMPLAIN!

It's a common thing for Mums to do....I was forgotten in a car park and was looked after by a gaggle of kids...who even then in the 70s knew to simply sit and wait and a Mother would turn up eventually.

They gave me ice lolly too.

[good old days emoticon]

I've done this in a supermarket. And I've known other women to leave without their babies; I also have known a dad to leave a baby in a car (it's not just mums). We all feel dreadful about it and that woman was awful to you!

sybilBeddows !

Once when I was very (very very) pregnant with DC1 I was at a busy tube station and I heard a baby start to cry so I went to pick it up to console it. Of course it was not my baby. Luckily I came to my senses just before I actually touched the child - but was standing there with arms outstretched & everything. I scarpered too.

See, the "I haven't slept in 5 months" thing would have got me in an instant, not matter how disapproving I might have been. I didn't sleep for a year with dd, last night I got a stonking 5 hours. I barely know my own name. That woman has obviously never been sleep deprived so she knows nothing of the pain.

i think i would have reacted like the lady that found the baby. You shouldn't be losing track of your baby in a supermarket, sleep deprived or not, they were very concerned and you were rude in return. Irresponsible. You clearly need help.
YABU.

what sort of help did you have in mind Theinet?

theinet it must be a great view from such a lofty height.

Not quite the same but a couple of weeks ago after my demon darling baby gave me a rough night I was holding a friends (very) newborn while she went to the loo. Newborn starts to cry and root so I, on autopilot, tried to stick my nipple in his mouth!

Luckily I realised and was all adjusted and fully clothed before my friend came back!

OP, I've lost my little sister before. Left her in a cafe and walked halfway home before I realised. Bad thing was that I realised I was missing my bag (hooked on the buggy) first!

theinet -we all live in a perfect world dont we [chmm]
like the other 30 or so other posters, it was an accident. And from the other responses it isnt an uncommon thing!

God no, don't complain. If she was thinking of calling social services don't supply her with your name and address!

You shouldn't be losing track of your baby in a supermarket, sleep deprived or not

Theres somebody who needs to polish their halo again.

the defensive, abusive, sweary posts say it all really.

I hate also how 'calling SS' can be used as such a threat nowadays. We briefly rented while some issues with our house was being sorted out, and had a major problem getting our deposit back. The LL screamed that she would call SS on us and say our baby was neglected if we did not drop the issue.

I was in the midst of post natal hysteria and completely flipped and so we did, indeed, drop the issue.

OP (ignoring the Practically Perfect one above), I've posted this before, but here you go anyway:

I once left my (vast, whingy-child-filled) double buggy near the front of a post office while I queued with a parcel, whole yards away, for, ooh, minutes.

Came back to find that the elderly ladies I'd assumed to be kindly entertaining the occupants were in fact waiting for me with very pursed lips to tell me that I was Neglecting These Children and that they Couldn't Understand the Attitude of Mothers These Days (their capitals, definitely).

It was baffling.

Especially as DH was standing next to the pram the whole time, idly gazing at bad postcards.

abuse and swearing? theinet.

I do not think so.

Both my mum and my Nana have both left babies outside of shops. I have managed not to do that, but I have lost dd1 quite a few times as she is prone to wandering off.

It was my youngest sister my mum left. We had a little green outside our house and the shop was over the other side of the green. My Dad watched her her through the window walk and leave the baby . When she got in he asked if she had forgotten anything, she replied "No, I only needed eggs and butter" , which is when he pointed out of the window to my 1yr old sister desperately trying to get out of her buggy.

My Nan worked in the shop she left her baby outside of, so they just brought the baby inside the shop and cooed over her until she came back for her.

It's very common I think. Stoopid woman obviously has no children and has never suffered the horrific lack of sleep they bring.