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AIBU?

or completely paranoid in keeping baby's window shut at night?

113 replies

Alphabetsy · 28/04/2011 20:49

House in safe and quiet area. 1 year old's room overlooks back garden with flat roof below it. Garden backs onto woodland with an alley to wood next to it. I know the chances are miniscule but can't help worrying someone could climb in and take or hurt baby without us hearing (we have baby monitor but don't always wake up unless proper crying) DC thinks I'm BU and bonkers to keep windows shut in nice weather!

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cubbie · 28/04/2011 21:10

YADNBU When DS! was a baby, he slept in a cot in our room and when it was a warm summer night like tonight, I'd leave the window open.

However, after Madeline (spelling?) McCann disappeared in whatever way it happened (don't want to start a discussion on it). I said to Dh that we couldn't hear what was going on upstairs at the back of the house where our room is, as were downstairs with the telly on.

I now have 2 DS, age 2 and 1/2, and 4 and I NEVER leave their windows open at night. Too bad if it gets a bit stuffy. I used to leave the window open at the top of the stairs but it's right outside their rooms, so I don't anymore.

I open their windows during the day to air their rooms. Yes, ideally, I'd have some fresh air at night, but their safety and my peace of mind is more important.

I recently got new window locks put on all the windows and the one at the top of the stairs has some kind of thing to limit how far it will open. I'm a fling the windows open wide all day long kind of person but I worry too much about them clambering up and falling out of a 2nd storey window.

DS1 fell out out of a window in a holiday lodge on our first day there, he was "trying to see the birdies". He broke his leg, that was last year and he still remembers. DH was with them and stepped out of the room for a second or 2.

So, no, YADNBU again. Do what makes YOU feel safe and never mind what anyone else thinks!

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Fryib · 28/04/2011 21:11

no worries magnolia. the company posted them very quickly and they were easy to fit.
peace of mind, especially as our windows r hip height to our children! and we have a flat roof behind the back bedroom!

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BsshBossh · 28/04/2011 21:12

With a flat roof and no safety catch on window then I'd worry about intruders, especially as your house backs onto woodland and alley way. Our windows have safety catches and our house has no flat roof, we're surrounded by residential gardens and no alleyways but I am still careful about open windows at night in DD's room as her room is at the back of the house.

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fluffles · 28/04/2011 21:14

i cannot sleep without an open window and i wake snuffly with air conditioning so i would not make my child sleep with a closed window. i would buy whatever required to keep the window safe but open - particulary as devices to keep windows open but secure are usually very very cheap and easy to apply.

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wannaBe · 28/04/2011 21:15

sorry but what is all this "trust your instincts" crap? Seriously - babies are not routinely snatched through first floor windows - in fact it is unheard of.

Burglars do gain access through windows and for that reason I would be inclined to not leave the window open at night (as well as this potentially invalidating your insurance if that was how a burglar got in), but the levels of paranoya on this thread are somewhat unhealthy imho.

As for animals getting in - this is England not deepest darkest africa where lions and leopards roam and herds of wildebeest sweep majestically across the plains. Just what kinds of wildlife are you expecting?

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HavePatience · 28/04/2011 21:17

Yanbu. I shut the window at night, too and we don't have a flat roof and would take some pretty determined climbing to get to it. The risk is tiny but I wouldn't sleep otherwise, so I make sure window is open other times and room aired out, but never at night.

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lynehamrose · 28/04/2011 21:18

I cant bear sleeping with windows shut, so I would not subject my children to it either

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suburbophobe · 28/04/2011 21:18

I always have the window open (on a window lock), oxygen and fresh air is preferable to breathing in stuffy air/carbon monocide(sp?)!

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HavePatience · 28/04/2011 21:19

Wannabe whatever makes people comfortable and sleep well.

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emsyj · 28/04/2011 21:19

YANBU. I leave DD's window open all day to air the room, but would never leave it open at night. Am utterly neurotic and pfb, but quite happy to be so.

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VajazzHands · 28/04/2011 21:19

I don't see what the issue is if you aren't comfortable with it- don't do it!

You don't want bugs/mosquitos or wildlife climbing in anyway!

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HavePatience · 28/04/2011 21:20

Air purifier at night :)

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hormonesnomore · 28/04/2011 21:21

I keep my windows shut at night in case wasps get in. I don't want to get stung in my sleep.

If anyone knows how to keep them out, please let me know, thanks.

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garlicbutter · 28/04/2011 21:22

PFB?
YABU. But it's not hurting anyone, so what the hey.

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wannaBe · 28/04/2011 21:25

but where does it end? if someone is that paranoid about theimaginary risks to their children in their own homes then surely that paranoya only becomes worse as those children go beyond the boundaries of their own homes. It is not healthy for children to be so over protected by over paranoid parents.

Intruders are of course a real risk, and for that reason I could see the argument for not leaving the windows open all the way, also as I said earlier there's a chance that doing so would invalidate an insurance claim. But the risk of a child being snatched is so tiny that it's unheard of. There are far greater risks, house fires for instance - do you turn off all plug sockets at night? turn off all plug-in air fresheners (since they are one of the biggest causes of house fires)? Far, far more children are killed in house fires every year compared to those snatched out of upstairs windows (none), yet I bet the op doesn't go to all those lengths to prevent fires (until perhaps now ).

This level of hysteria over children being snatched is just bizarre.

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TheSkiingGardener · 28/04/2011 21:31

Windows open, but 3 storeys up. Do what you feel comfortable with. It is a tiny, tiny risk and to be honest, you probably do other stuff that is riskier. However, we are not purely logical beings and if it will worry you, don't do it!

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maighdlin · 28/04/2011 21:31

I would be more worried about wildlife cats etc getting in than a random psychopath

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hogsback · 28/04/2011 21:32

hormone wasps are diurnal. They're fast asleep at the same time as you are. I'm a bit that people close their windows on warm nights. DS (6mo) has had his window open for the past couple of weeks as its been 20c+ in his room and he gets snuffly. We live in the sticks and about the scariest thing we ever get coming in the open windows are hornets, which look scary but are quite docile and easy to catch and eject.

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wannaBe · 28/04/2011 21:34

sorry but I am pmsl at the fear of wildlife.

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whosmindingthecorgis · 28/04/2011 21:37

Did you watch lady and the tramp? The rat crawling in the window.

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PorkChopSter · 28/04/2011 21:41

Not with a flat roof, sorry. My childhood bedroom had a flat roof outside and when I slept with the windows open there were all manner of cats and burgulars trying to climb in at various points.

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wannaBe · 28/04/2011 21:45

rat could easily be living under the floorboards though.

and somehow I don't think that lady and the tramp is a valid example of how wildlife could get in and harm a baby. And before someone (because I know someone will) brings up the incident of the twins being attacked by a fox - the fox came in through an open door or window downstairs.

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Alphabetsy · 28/04/2011 21:50

Thanks for posts and links to great window locks. Think they are the way forward to protect against all potential intruders / cats / rats & wasps without overheating baby!!

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SmethwickBelle · 28/04/2011 21:51

I'd definitely invest in some screwed in window bars, albeit ones that are safe in a fire - to give yourself the option of leaving the window open - with the warmer weather coming it will help to cool the room. And personally I think it is lovely if its a rainy night to leave the window open so they can hear the rain in their sleep insert sick-making blinkie here

Once your babe is in a bigger bed and mobile at night it would be safer for them anyway to have it secured.

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SmethwickBelle · 28/04/2011 21:53

Sorry - window locks would obv be better than bars - I was imagining a different sort of window!

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