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?

Won't somebody think of the foxes.

Mumsnet hysteria at its finest.

Why do people find it so bizarre that a social worker might visit somebody for leaving a baby sleeping outside?
I imagine the person contacting social services is more likely to say that their neighbour leaves the baby outside in the cold unsupervised for hours rather than their neighbour leaves a well wrapped baby in the pram and keeps a close eye on her. The social worker wouldn't know that the mother was watching the baby and that the baby was actually well cared for until she visited.

Totally normal here in Sweden to temps of -15 as a PP said. I personally would be much less inclined to do it with a front garden though. That said, a lot of friends here use a baby monitor when their baby is asleep outside. The ikea one is cordless and holds battery well so is great for this.

Potato I'm surmising that this....

'anyone who has never met a caring social worker is usually the type of person who is being investigated and think they have done nothing wrong....its not only poor uneducated people who are inept parents...affluent educated parents can be inept too...'

....was aimed at me? [Given it was me who wrote 'I've yet to meet one of those btw, a lovely caring SW' - although I very definitely did NOT write that children in desperate need of help who are somehow miraculously contained to just one strata of soceity....hmm]]

You could not be further from the truth oh keyboard warrior with a very narrow take on things.

To aid you, and for clear avoidance of doubt; I was that child that desperately needed their help.. and I was roundly ignored. Perhaps you'd like to suggest that was my fault too somehow, that I was an 'inept' child? As given the reality of my situation and your response to my comment, that would be the logical outcome of that thought process...

Maybe widen your mind a tad as to all scenarios before leaping to conclusions with the narrowest possible view or contemplation of what you're responding to? Just a thought.

Here, you welcome to my - I'm not a neglected, abused, and often starving child any more, so you are welcome to it.

I'm confused - surely we don't all watch our napping 1 year olds like a hawk?

Being wrapped up, strapped in a pram, in a secure garden is no different (to me) than being upstairs in a cot?

I can't recall the last time I heard a baby was eaten by a fox / had its eyes pecked out by a bird / was dragged off by a werewolf from the garden

My three Ds's are now 20,18 and 16.

They always slept outside in the pram for daytime naps in a secure garden , dressed for the weather and all was fine.

They didn't sleep outside if it was raining heavily or foggy.

Surely this is dependent on so many varying factors (regardless of temp as the OP has said that the baby is well wrapped-up): how secure/exposed the front garden is, how old the other kids are and how much attention they therefore need, whether foxes are common in the area (bearing in mind that they are incredibly unlikely to attack), whether a cat net is being used, what kind of area the OP lives in etc etc.

I don't think anyone can say that leaving a baby outside to nap is categorically right or wrong - IMO it just depends on the circumstances.

FWIW, I do think that in some situations it could be indicative of wider problems in the home/family, and would have thought that if a neighbour reported such concerns, social services would have a duty to go out and make checks. Whether these checks are warranted in every single case is another matter, but surely they can't know that until they check?!

Outside was the only way I could get my one year old to nap for first few months. Saved both our sanity! As long as well wrapped up and visible, no problem with it at all. Go for it OP. you've got to do what works for you x

If my twins fell asleep in the buggy on the way home i'd leave them outside in the (back) garden to carry on sleeping whilst I sat in the kitchen with them in view. I never mastered the art of getting them out of the buggy and into their cot still asleep and I figured it was better to let them sleep rather than interrupt them. They were always suitably dressed for the weather and I felt that they'd wake up if they were cold. Sometimes they would have a couple of hours outside. I never thought anything of it - it's not like it would be seen as a problem if they fell asleep whilst you were pushing them outside, they were just sleeping outside but not moving. They're 2 now and will only nap in their cots or in the car and I miss the ease of just wheeling them into the garden to sleep.

Back garden, no problem, I did that a lot. I would be more reluctant to leave them out front

I used to leave mine in the back garden to sleep.garden is fenced with a gate that has a slide bolt. I kept an eye on them-could see and hear them from the kitchen but occasionally would pop upstairs for 5 minutes or whatever- where I could hear, but not see them at all times.I didn't consider it to be that much of a risk to be honest. Nothing ever happened to them and I had neither a cat net or a fox repelling force field.I get that there has been the odd incident with a cat or a fox but surely they are massively outnumbered by incidents of SIDS or car accidents and no one is advocating that parents stand over their kids at all times whilst they are asleep or never take them in a moving vehicle.
Why do people keep saying they would be happier if it were a back garden? OP can see the baby from her front window-if it were the back garden presumably she couldn't. And she has said the garden is fenced in so it sounds like it doesn't go straight on to a road or whatever.
I think it's fine OP and as healthy for the baby as sleeping indoors. As long as the kid isn't too cold-and surely the baby would wake up if it were, at which point you would go out and fetch it in.

I moved from the UK to rural Sweden last year. I walk past Dagis (nursery) to collect my children. On Fridays all schools finish early and it makes me laugh to see all the prams lined up outside with sleeping babies and not a peep. On Friday it was -7. Just add that the staff do come out and peer into each of the prams. Also don't think there is anything wrong with it.

It's fine. I used to do this with mine all the time (they're now 6 & 4, so not too long ago). She wouldn't stay asleep if she was cold and uncomfortable.

"And what about foxes?" 😆

Being outside wouldn't bother me, but leaving in front garden would make me uneasy. I used to let mine nap in back garden in full view of window, with locked big gate and new view from road.

"I'm a social worker. If someone reported this to us you may well get a visit (could be indicative of other issues). On visiting and seeing no other issues we'd advise you not to do it again. You just never know what might happen (e.g. one of the other kids gets paint in their eye, you turn your back to tend to them, baby is snatched/ attacked by dog, wakes up and falls out/ wanders off). I understand your reasoning but I wouldn't do it again personally. Obviously it's your neighbourhood, your home and your child."

Concerning that you're a social worker with such poor judgement and such an attitude. Disappointing.

You're mad.

Very dangerous.

Our baby was a terrible sleeper and one day he fell asleep on the way home from a day out. We left our 10 month old asleep in our locked car outside our house once. Private courtyard. Fully visible from house at all times. Car locked. Alarm on so his movement would trigger it if he woke up.

Our neighbour who didn't like us, a police officer, reported us to the police. Police attended, saw that everything was fine (he was in the house by this point) and charged our neighbour with Wasting Police Time. He was subsequently convicted of it. Among other things.

Surely it's much safer to leave them outside than to bring them into a warm house with all their outdoor clothing on? If it's between leaving outside in a safe place where you can see them and waking a sleeping baby stripping them off I'd vote outside every time.

Really wish there was an edit function on here.

Aren't social workers looking after the more neglected and at risk children.?

If ss received a call along the lines of ' Sasha lets her baby sleep outside in the pram' would they really send someone in to investigate?

Mine slept outside in the garden. I had a down snow suit, sheepskin and blankets. It is no different to them falling asleep on a walk or at the park.

If you plan for them to sleep outside buy good warm suits and a sheepskin and a warm pram/ cosy toes. A Scandinavian pram is not a MacLaren it's designed for outside sleeping.

My MIL was having a breakdown when she visited and one of them was asleep on the otherside of the French doors. Whilst we sat on a sofa on the otherside. ( we laughed at her)

"If ss received a call along the lines of ' Sasha lets her baby sleep outside in the pram' would they really send someone in to investigate?"

They certainly would not. At worst, the would contact local police and ask them to attend and take a look. So the post from the social worker on here is a bit of a worry.