Would you leave your baby unattended in their buggy

[noblegiraffe]

...while you use the loo?

On another thread I mentioned not being able to get a buggy into a small cubicle and the suggestion was to leave baby outside.

Would I be overly precious in thinking 'No, I wouldn't do that'?

[GetYourSocksOff]

Bugger, it just ate my reply and things have moved on. Anyway...

Hopalongon Because I don't want to wee with the door open. And because if I was going to nick a baby, I wouldn't mess around with buckles. Not that I've given it a great deal of thought And because this shit happens. Not often, because we are far more aware of potential, tiny risks. But if it did, I would never get over it. And because it's not just that, like someone else said, I don't want them to be scared if I can help it.

It's not a big deal, and if you've spotted someone you trust or you're at a toddler group, that's making a sensible risk assessment. But as a general rule, no, I wouldn't want people to feel they HAD to leave their baby if they wanted to go to the toilet. Which doesn't always take 30 seconds.

[maja00]

Yes, don't really see the risk

[sparechange]

Just out of interest, what do the 'no' camp think of this practice - babies left outside cafes to sleep while parents have coffee inside:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21537988

[RawCoconutMacaroon]

Hopalong, read what I actually said - the hanged children had been left to sleep in buggies. But it only takes about 8 seconds of strangulation pressure on a child's neck for them to lose consciousness. People are fairly alert to the danger of window cords, not so much to other strangulation risks. The above may be rare, but less rare than being snatched and murdered by a stranger... Why run the risk of either though?

[FannyFifer]

I feel like mumsnet is some sort of parallel universe sometimes.

If I need a wee & child in buggy, I go into the ladies, park buggy beside cubicle I'm going into, do a wee & come back out. No big deal.

[ifyourehoppyandyouknowit]

You know what's really common? Children being killed in car accidents. But we make hundreds of unnecessary journeys every year. How many children were snatched from outside toilets in the last year?

[sparklingstars]

No. I'd wait until I got home or use the disabled toilet, though I'd most likely just wait.

[Meglet]

No. I used the disabled loo, especially when I was pregnant as I could hardly get into a normal cubicle.

How could anyone go to the toilet with the door open, with strangers walking past .

[usualsuspect]

I always left mine outside the cubicles in their buggies when I went for a wee.

I thought everyone did.

[BlingBang]

Jedward, don't know it was a different country and I imagine she wanted to speak to him or hold him as he really stood out. She just walked on while I was busy trying to catch him.

[usualsuspect]

Mind you I'm constantly amazed at the things I think are normal that are frowned upon on MN.

[HorryIsUpduffed]

::memories resurface of sudden and explosive diarrhoea when pushing baby DS2 in pram and 3yo DS1 trotting along behind, poo flooding my knickers and trickling down my leg, and being monumentally thankful that the ladies' cubicle at the park was also the disabled cubicle, with space for the pram and the toddler and me, since it took ten minutes to subside and then another ten to clean up enough to walk the ten minutes home::

Not all loo stops are thirty seconds.

[Emilythornesbff]

MN really is great.
It's one place where you can be sure of ridicule for having any kind of protective feelings or cautiousness about your baby.

From other mothers.

[usualsuspect]

In ye olden days my mum left us outside shops. I won't mention the time she left my sister outside a shop and went home without her.

[chattychattyboomba]

I have actually used the loo with the buggy outside the cubicle with the door open for all the world to see, i didn't give a monkey's bum- because the idiot toilet attendant refused to unlock the accessible loos for me (not disabled)... Really riles me up- but I thought well- when you gotta go you gotta go!

[GetYourSocksOff]

Hopalongon You see that's true. But at least I can see them....

I'm interested now. Because I've never seen somebody leave their baby outside in RL, maybe I've just not been looking, but it's never been an issue. Either the nappy change has been in disabled so I go too, or there's a family room, or more often than not I'm with somebody, or I hold it, or.... It's just not something I've ever done. And once they're a bit older they just come in with you so it's not an issue for long.

But I wouldn't feel comfortable in a lot of places, I'd rather find an alternative to leaving them outside. I guess it's a personal thing.

[noblegiraffe]

Fanjo, no, I wasn't aiming for any more with this thread than to find out whether other mums leave their babies. It's not a thread about a thread (which I carefully considered) because I said nothing about disabled facilities, which was the subject of the other thread. It was merely something which came up on that thread tangentially. To make the other thread about this subject would be to derail it.

No sinister motive, just genuine curiosity.

[LtGreggs]

I often did this. Am astounded that so many people say they would definitely not.

I've also asked other people to keep an eye on buggy while I go. And have often offered to keep an eye on other people's buggy / trolley / kids for similar reasons. I thought that was a normal part of everyday give & take.

(NB - this is in London & central Scotland. Not some rural idyll!)

[themaltesefalcon]

Agree with emily.

I also enjoy the competitive neglect threads. [:D]

[usualsuspect]

Neglect now is it?

Do you feel sorry for my children?

[RoastedCouchPotatoes]

I leave outside as there will be usually a lot of other people in there and my baby would scream although dd2 would probably hold up her arms for a hug and I would, if necessary, as the toilets were quite empty, take baby in and leave pushchair out. I wouldn't use a disabled toilet unless it had a baby changing facility in it and I needed to change the baby, then I'd go at the same time as it would take a few seconds at most, but otherwise no.

[fanjoforthemammaries7850]

This thread proves one thing.

So many people would "just pop into the disabled toilet".

If everyone with kids did this it would always be full.

Would be a nightmare trying to change my DD.

It isn't just one person "popping in for a minute".

It would be thousands of people.

The reason it isn't always full is that many people hold back.

[GetYourSocksOff]

Has anyone said that? People have said they'd use the baby changing facilities and go quickly at the same time.

[insanityscratching]

Usual I left pfb outside the shop and went home without him when he was ten days old It only clicked I had forgotten something when I flicked on the kettle and saw the baby milk in the cupboard next to the teabags.