to leave my baby in the garden to sleep?

[SashaFierce99]

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?

Intuitively I think because we are warmer when we are moving you think the baby will be too. I see this all the time where the parent is dressed for walking and the toddler in the buggy is too.....even though they aren't moving and they look frozen.

I don't think it's a smog issue Bertrand because we didn't really have smog up here in the rural sticks of Scotland.

I think it was to do with dampness - or something!

Reported attack on baby in Bromley in 2013 (not outside) but clearly the fox was a risk.

More have been reported in London, don't know if they are unfounded, does anyone else?

Rare? Yes. Does that warrant disregarding peoples fears? No.

OTOH I do not think it is unreasonable to leave your child, wrapped up and covered in a pram outside.

Can you clarify why my fog post was funny Peyia?

I'm genuinely curious!

Probably is a hangover from the smog days, but I think cold, damp hanging air (fog) does feel unhealthy and it probably does stop pollutants from escaping further up the atmosphere.

I found it funny how it was written, like it was a disclaimer. Not dismissing advice you were given. Sounds perfectly reasonable that as a parent you would take precautions. I wasn't laughing at your decision.

I personally didn't think you had to justify it. Sorry if you took it the wrong way.

MrsD

I often wonder if it is not them really thinking it is harder to keep the kids safe but that people and services are quicker to judge lapses and we have more intervention for forms of abuse previously pretty much ignored.

So it contributes to a perception of more danger

Have you watched those American adverts with a minute of speed talking disclaimers? It just reminded me of that. My humour is off, clearly!

Salmotrutta
Was it because your were saying 'I leave them near the window where I can see them. So they don't go outside in fog'..? That's how I read it and it was funny!

Peyia, how many reports have there been in recent years on alien abductions? Is it worth disregarding the fears of people who won't let their children outside in case of that?

Ah! Okay, no worries

Sparechange might have got my bad humour. You put it better, thanks. That's exactly how I read it and thought it was intended to be funny.

Regarding aliens, now I've watched X-Files and it all seems plausible to me. Not an expert though, give me run of the mill concerns and I can give my two pence worth!

I learnt something today! I didn't know the health reasons for not leaving baby outside in fog. Tick that off my list, next.

pram invisible because of dense grey fog outside window

I've googled reasons for babies not going out in the fog and there don't seem to be any- except an Old Husband's Tale about it giving them croup. Which is clearly not true.

So put them out in the fog if you want to. You won't be able to see the alien space ship approaching, though!

A bit off topic but I am curious now:
Some people have said that they leave the baby in the pram in the garden as it prevents needing to wake them to remove layers etc. What do you do if you arrive home in the car and your baby is sleeping? I always bring him in in the infant carrier seat and then take off his warm layers and put him in the travel cot. I don't like waking him but the risk of leaving a very young child sleeping in a cat seat is too great for me (either in the car unsupervised or in the house). I get that baby has been sleeping in the car whilst I am driving but I dont want to prolong that risk by leaving him sleeping in his seat for any longer than necessary.

No offence taken by the way!

BertrandRussel don't worry they use fog lights too.

When my son was seriously ill with pneumonia, followed by bronchiolitis, which has left him with another serious health issue, one of the sisters on the ward told me they always had a lot of babies, particularly boys, in with chest problems during periods of dense freezing fog. I felt awful as he had been out in the fog with me on a dog walk with a slight cold, as mentioned above. Something to do with the air not being fresh?

I then had to contend with my MIL who wanted to take him out after his discharge on a very icy day. The doctor had told me that the sensation of the cold air on his damaged tissue lungs would be equivalent to surgical spirit being put on them. So he only went out for very short bursts.

This was a child who had slept outside pretty well every day of his life, either on a dog walk, or afterwards when we had come into the garden and I had left the pram out with him sleeping. I left my daughter out, too, when she was born,. But never in fog for more than a short time. You tend to caution when you have had a very sick child with damaged lungs.

Fair enough that people report to social services if they are worried about a child's safety (even if their reasoning turns out to be bonkers as it sounds like in the case of OP's neighbour). People should trust their instincts.

Its also not a problem if a social worker pays a visit after being called. In an ideal world if the resources were there, what's the objection to following up calls to see if there is any context, if there are any issues.

The shocking thing about Junosmum's post is that she would go on to advise OP not to do it again. I can't believe that's right or following any kind of correct protocol.

Come back and explain yourself please Junosmum!

or just bring the buggy In - letting them sleep indoors with all their sweaters and snowsuits is certainly not advisable.

I think I missed the answer to the question about responsible napping. Always in the same room, yes? Neither of my kids agreed to nap anywhere but outside, or in ther dark, silent bedrooms from about 3 months of age.

OK with DC1 I could have, in theory, sat next to the cot for the duration of the nap. But what was I supposed to do with DC2, to be a responsible parent, like some others here? Leave toddler DC1 alone for 2 hours while I was sitting in the bedroom, staring at the baby? I'm pretty sure that would have been a lot more risky.

If people are now saying that they did, in fact, leave babies to nap in the bedroom and checked on them periodically - what's the difference between checking on them in the house, versus checking on them in the garden?

In our house it is easier to check out of the kitchen window than run upstairs.

kathaeina my baby naps downstairs in the travel cot. I did the same with my older children. I like to keep the upstairs cot for nighttime sleeping to try and help baby distinguish the difference between night and day (no idea if it helps). So the going upstairs to check on him isnt something that I have experienced. Obviously at nighttime when I am sleeping I am not constantly watching him but we currently have him in a bedside crib so he is as close as safely possible.

All of mine slept in their prams in the garden,can't say I ever obsessively watched them either. I knew roughly when they would wake up so would leave them sleeping. Garden is secure so they were safe unless someone climbed over the fence and then climbed back over the fence with them. I'd have told the neighbour to mind her own business tbh,I'd think any SW turned up to investigate any report made had too much time on their hands as well.