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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to leave my baby in the garden to sleep?

676 replies

SashaFierce99 · 14/02/2016 23:44

With three older siblings, it's difficult for baby to nap uninterrupted at the weekend/in holidays. She's just over a year old so still needs at least one long or two short naps per day. When her siblings are off we tend to walk/scoot/skate/bike to the park before her nap and she falls asleep in the pushchair on the way home. I then leave her in the front garden in front of the kitchen window and DCs and I paint/bake/draw in the kitchen so she's in sight at all times.

Today we did the above but there was a knock at the door ten minutes after we arrived home. It was a neighbour advising me that it's too cold and too dangerous to leave her unsupervised outside. I explained that I can see her and she's well wrapped up (full body vest, outfit on top plus jumper, double socks and full snow suit and hat) so she's fine but the neighbour kept saying I should take her inside. I politely declined and said I needed to get back to the other DC. She muttered about how I'll end up 'getting reported to someone'...!

AIBU to leave her outside?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
8
BertrandRussell · 15/02/2016 09:42

"Why do some of you think it's ok to openly laugh and take the piss out of people for having different views to you?"
In this case, when they stop telling the OP that she is a lazy, negligent parent who is likely to attract the attention of social services for doing something that is risk free and perfectly normal........

cleaty · 15/02/2016 09:42

Being wrapped up incredibly warm, and sleeping outside is lovely. It is why I have always liked winter camping. You feel like a snug bug in a rug.

BertrandRussell · 15/02/2016 09:43

"Some up thread have expressed their difference of opinion in a totally bitchy way that I find just hideous"
Yes. And the people accusing the OP of laziness and negligence were the first to pile in.

BertrandRussell · 15/02/2016 09:45

The OP posted. There were 5 posts politely disagreeing or agreeing. Then post 6 was "No please don't this isn't the 1950s. And what about foxes? So he rest of the family are having a riot indoors and the little one is literally left out in the cold"

Natsku · 15/02/2016 09:46

Nat it's still not really the point why would you want to leave your baby outside when you are inside I couldn't.

So that she'd sleep, of course. And its healthier. We are actively encouraged to put our babies to nap outside here, in the booklets we get from the government when we're pregnant, saying to put babies out to nap and preferably that they have all their daytime naps outside starting from two weeks old (for winter babies, summer babies from day one).

magpie17 · 15/02/2016 09:46

My DS's nursery puts the babies outside to sleep (in prams and wrapped up) all year round. It's quite an outdoor focused place and on private land but is also a council partnership nursery so I'd be amazed if social workers really consider this an issue. I quite like the idea and think all the fox scaremongering is ridiculous!

Quietlifenotonyournelly · 15/02/2016 09:49

I'd have no problem letting DS 12 months sleep outside in the pram, I don't though only because he has never fallen asleep anywhere other than the cot or in the car seat on trips during nap time.
It's all about sensibly assessing the risks involved in doing so. In the middle of a war zone, no. In the garden wrapped up well and in sight, yes.

Gracey79 · 15/02/2016 09:50

I don't see why people think the cold is an issue. It wouldn't be any less cold if the prConfusedam was being pushed which people do every day

maybebabybee · 15/02/2016 09:53

Once I find it more about offensive that people have such staggeringly skewed perceptions of risk from being suffocated by cats or eaten by foxes compared to other much more common risks.

The "cats suffocate babies" one really grinds my gears primarily because extensive googling has shown there hasn't been a single case where this has actually happened. The fox thing has happened once. In a house. Yet as pp have said everyone is perfectly happy to drive round in cars and sit in homes without working smoke detectors.

FelicityFunknickle · 15/02/2016 09:56

natsku no. It is not healthier for a baby to sleep in the garden than in their home.
Do as you please. But it is not healthier to sleep outside than inside.

Doublebubblebubble · 15/02/2016 09:57

I personally wouldn't (I cant I live in a first floor flat/no balcony) but I would if I could. My mum was born in Singapore, my dad in Norway (although both British Army brats..) this is entirely the culture for both. Babies like it cool. wrapped up obviously In the 80's when I was born my mum used to leave me outside the shop to go shopping (everyday) and as far as I'm aware I was never abducted and I was never attacked by a fox etc. (I'm sure they had ample opportunity - those foxes just love chunky baby meat apparently...smh) like pp I would definitely prefer it done in the back garden rather than the front.

potato that's an entirely entirely different situation imo.

Primaryteach87 · 15/02/2016 09:58

I think this is totally 100% fine. I wouldn't worry, but if I were you purely to avoid noisy busy-bodies I would plant a hedge or put up a fence!

StillStayingClassySanDiego · 15/02/2016 09:59

But it is not healthier to sleep outside than inside

That's your opinion as a Parent , there are others who believe that it is conducive to better sleeping.

merseyside · 15/02/2016 10:00

Felicity what's your reference for that statement? That it's not healthier? Genuinely interested.

ThisiswhatIwant · 15/02/2016 10:00

My nursery does this (DD has moved up several classes, I mean they do it for the babies up to 1 or just after).

They use the massive old prams, they do have straps in the prams so there is no way the baby can fall out.

They have them all in a row on the terrace, doesn't seem to do them any harm - though I can't remember tbh whether they did this in the very coldest weather.

cleaty · 15/02/2016 10:00

I would not say it is healthier, but many babies do sleep better outside.

Natsku · 15/02/2016 10:01

Look how lovely and snug she looks sleeping in a wheelbarrow Grin It was that or no nap at all because by the point this kid outright refused to nap indoors

Quietlifenotonyournelly · 15/02/2016 10:01

On a lighter note, just to add to the mumsnet bingo going on here........

What about the bees, wasps, earwigs and other creepy crawlies lurking about and most people don't put a net over a cot indoors but would happily leave a window open Grin

LoisWilkersonsLastNerve · 15/02/2016 10:01

It's common place where I live but im in semi rural Scotland, I left my dc in the back garden rather than the front though. It's up to parents to risk assess.

FelicityFunknickle · 15/02/2016 10:02

No. It is not my opinion as a parent
It is not healthier to sleep outside than it is to sleep inside.

LoisWilkersonsLastNerve · 15/02/2016 10:02

quiet I had a bug net Smile

Natsku · 15/02/2016 10:03

natsku no. It is not healthier for a baby to sleep in the garden than in their home.
Do as you please. But it is not healthier to sleep outside than inside.

I'd rather believe the child healthcare professionals in my country when it comes to what's healthy for baby. Fresh air is healthy, we all know that, sleep is very important, we all know that too, babies sleep better outside - some of us know that and then its quite easy to make the connection.

Doublebubblebubble · 15/02/2016 10:03

And once I get what you mean about being cautious. I haven't rtft but I hope people haven't laughed at you! I had pnd with my DD and would worry every day about my DD falling in the bathroom and smashing the back of her head on the sink etc... I think this situation is very very different though

Toughasoldboots · 15/02/2016 10:04

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

FelicityFunknickle · 15/02/2016 10:07

My reference?
I don't have just one reference. There are many.
I am not going to post a link as I am on an Ipad and I'm not interested in pandering to the faux expressions of people being "interested" in the research.
Feel free to do your own reesearch (much of which has been conveniently collated by the lullaby trust and packaged into helpful advice) and then you'll be fully aware.