Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
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 00:07

"Seriously though what about foxes? Does no one consider that a risk?"

What are they going to do- sell the baby drugs? Give her a bottle of coke? Sell her to white slavers?

Original poster
SashaFierce99 · 15/02/2016 00:08

So by the same token I shouldn't let her sleep in the pushchair when out at the park either as I wouldn't be sat right next to her staring at her as I'd be pushing other dc on the swings etc.

OP posts:
sykadelic · 15/02/2016 00:08

You said you'd been home 10 mins before there was a "knock at the door"... so you didn't see her coming or near your child?

Why does she need to be outside? Why can't she be in another room?

mummymeister · 15/02/2016 00:08

BetrandRussell - take a bit more water with it next time. you have descended this thread into farce with your comments.

what a shame.

PaulAnkaTheDog · 15/02/2016 00:09

babymamamama nope.

mummymeister · 15/02/2016 00:09

sykadelic good answer.

BertrandRussell · 15/02/2016 00:10

Mummymeister-are you saying a cat jumped into the pram and attached your baby? Because if you are- then I absolutely apologise, that must have been utterly awful.

mummymeister · 15/02/2016 00:11

OP - what you do is up to you. you asked for views. people have given them honestly. whether you listen or not is your choice.

Original poster
SashaFierce99 · 15/02/2016 00:11

The pushchair doesn't fit inside the house.

The garden is fenced and has high hedges so she must have been looking from her window.

I've never seen a fox in the 32 years I've lived in this town, I feel it's highly unlikely one is going to come along and hurt my baby on a winters afternoon.

OP posts:
PaulAnkaTheDog · 15/02/2016 00:12

Stop talking shite mummymeister. Bertrand has done nothing of the sort.

Babymamamama · 15/02/2016 00:14

Bertrand I don't know what you're on but there are instances of foxes snatching and occasionally killing babies. In urban areas particularly they have no fear of human beings. And they are predators. I'm no supporter of them being hunted even and they are beautiful but there's no way I would leave a baby outside on its own knowing they have access.

mummymeister · 15/02/2016 00:14

yes betrandrussell it did. I was totally shocked because in the first place I didn't even see the moggy wandering around the swings and secondly not being a cat owner, I actually didn't think cats did that sort of thing. dogs yes but not cats. I always used to keep a close eye on dogs around the pram or the toddlers but ever since have been very wary of cats.

no physical damage apart from some scratches to both of us and a bit of screaming - dc had been asleep.

FrasierCranium · 15/02/2016 00:15

My DDs nursery has big prams on the decking outside. That's where the children nap during the day.

They have cat nets, the kids are well wrapped, and are checked regularly. I think it's fab, means they're getting fresh air and DD sleeps for ages outside so clearly has no objections to it! The garden is secure so no one is getting in. If DD is under the weather or if it's a particularly cold day, I can request she sleeps inside, and she gets put down in a cot indoors instead.

I don't think you're unreasonable, OP. You simply don't need to stand over a baby as they sleep. It's fine to just keep an eye.

NanaNina · 15/02/2016 00:16

I am a retired social worker/manager with 30 years experience in children's services. I couldn't believe the social worker saying this would prompt a visit - ridiculous. I thought social workers were over whelmed with caseloads and dealing with real safeguarding issues that end up in court, not having time to bother about a baby asleep outside and well wrapped up.

I'm 72 and in the days when I my babies were young it was normal for babies to sleep outside in their pram in all weathers, obviously well wrapped up in the winter. Mine slept in the back garden and I couldn't always see them. We had a cat net over the pram to stop cats jumping on the pram as they love warm places. In fact the HV would frown upon you if baby wasn't fed, dressed and sleeping outside in the pram when she did an early morning call.

hellhasnofurylikeahungrywoman · 15/02/2016 00:16

YANBU at all. My son did some of his best sleeping as a baby under the willow tree we had in the garden.

BertrandRussell · 15/02/2016 00:16

"Bertrand I don't know what you're on but there are instances of foxes snatching and occasionally killing babies."

Really? Are you absolutely sure about that?

VertigoNun · 15/02/2016 00:16

I didn't leave mine outside. Each to their own.

PaulAnkaTheDog · 15/02/2016 00:17

If ever anyone wants an example of hysteria, this thread is gold.

Foxes. LOL.

Waypasttethersend · 15/02/2016 00:17

No problem with the temperature. No real issue with baby watched outside, I've done it out the back.

The only thing that bothers me is it seems she's out front onto the road? Not a secure garden? It can't be if your neighbour saw?

That would make me uneasy because you don't know if there could be a dog, stranger, kid scooting fast, sudden wind (seen it happen to my neighbour), car mounting the verge, anything really.

Probably massively unlikely to happen but seeing her through window doesn't mean watching her or getting to her instantly as there is glass and brick between you.

NanaNina · 15/02/2016 00:17

Oh just thought of something else, babies in the 1960s were left outside shops in their prams, so there would be a long line of prams outside Woolworths or Boots - never heard of one being "snatched" Grin

FrasierCranium · 15/02/2016 00:18

Thank goodness PaulAnka I thought it was just me...

Waypasttethersend · 15/02/2016 00:19

X post, secure front garden I retract my post. Get a cat net, carry on.

mummymeister · 15/02/2016 00:19

its not hysteria when it has happened to you though is it Paul.

I read all sorts of threads where people wont do things that I wouldn't give a second thought to because they have had a bad experience.

WhyCantIuseTheNameIWant · 15/02/2016 00:20

I would prefer it to be the back garden, as its quieter and more secure.

But if I could see the pram, I'd be happy. Cat or bug net over the top.

Appropriate clothing/blankets.

I used to leave ds asleep in the car. On my drive. When we lived in a bungalow... I sat on my bed, doing uni work. He was the other side of the window.

As long as the child is in sight, then make a choice you are comfortable with.

PaulAnkaTheDog · 15/02/2016 00:20

Being sensible Frasier? No, there are a few of us hidden away on mumsnet Grin

Swipe left for the next trending thread