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?

yanbu but maybe consider a net to protect baby from cats/foxes.

I would be more concerned about cats roaming buggers than foxes

2 social workers on this thread have given conflicting opinions - Juno and Nina. Which means average poster is now confused.
I'm saddened that this would prompt a SS visit, but not surprised because I think society is a bit over zealous and over cautious these days.

stillsaying surely it depends in what the person reporting actually says when they make the report.
As I said earlier: she leaves the baby outside in the cold unsupervised for hours and I can hear him crying is very different from: she leaves the baby well wrapped up in his pram in the garden and keeps a regular eye on him.
Because the social worker has no way of knowing if the first scenario is accurate based on a phone call a visit might be necessary just to rule out any neglect.
A lot of visits from social services are made based on either malicious or exaggerated reports and they get left at a one off visit and case closed. I personally think it is better that social services of a basic check up visit following any concerning reports than just be totally dismissive and perhaps miss the one in many cases where neglect might actually be an issue.

Sorry about typos.

To be fair a social worker should visit if some reports a child being left out for hours in the cold in the wrong clothes or crying for hours. I'm. Sure it is a flag for abuse.
A snuggled up sleeping baby, no.

I sleep trained my eldest in the garden a bit when he was transitioning nap times. I was always in the garden pottering and popping over to rock the pram, hush baby. It worked very well.

cross post 😄

Our would always fall asleep in the pram and we'd RACE to get home & pop them out in the back garden to sleep. If in town, it would need to be a cafe where they could stay outside etc. If you changed then temp they'd wake up hot immediately.

Once a woman in a cafe absolutely lit into me when I put the children outside ( insanely well wrapped up, temp hovering around 3C). It was so stressful and I think it was the first thread I ever started on here. She was vile and Mumsnet was ace.

If a call came to children's services expressing concern that a child is being left outside then yes I would expect it to be followed up. A SW would need to see the context. Lots of variables to consider.

I personally don't think it's wrong to leave a child outside in a pram, asleep and have done it occasionally. In a locked back garden, directly outside the patio doors where I could see him.

YANBU! I live in Finland - my baby was napping outside in the garden at -20C. It was great, she would sleep so well out there whereas inside she wouldn't nap more than 45 mins. Hood up and rain cover and mosquito net (obviously not for the mosquitoes but as an extra breathable protection against snow/wind) on to keep the snow off (pretty sure that'll deter those pesky foxes too) and I put a baby monitor in the pram with her so I could hear her wake up.

What a amazingly gloriously bonkers thread. I have three kids and they never napped in the house. I'm assuming all the people worrying about fox attack never get in a car? The skewed risk perception on display here would be funny if it weren't so ignorant. There has never, not once, been a baby killed by a fox in the pram in the garden. ONCE in recorded recent history has a fox attacked a child IN A HOUSE! So not in the garden at all. And how many children do you think are currently in picu because of car accidents? Start concerning yourself with actual, genuine risks to your kids (like the fact 75% of car seats are fitted wrong), rather than dreaming up entirely ridiculous imaginary ones.

Mine have all been left outside for naps, my dd positively preferred it. Really don't understand all the danger scenarios, compared to risk of car accident for example the dangers are unbelievably minimal.. Foxes during the day attacking babies in Prams, really?!

OP, I think that your neighbour is a busy body with too much time on their hands, I'd swiftly tell them to wind their neck in and leave.

As for the cold, if you were out walking with your baby fever an hour or more the baby would be in the same conditions as laying in a parked pram in your garden, no difference so as long as baby is wrapped up and you've said they are, I don't see a problem.

As for the fox lunatics worriers, I can't remember the last time I saw a fox in daylight, let alone with the balls to walk through streets and pounce on prams, I wouldn't worry about that.

Cats jumping on prams? Probably not unheard of but I've not heard of or witnesses anything like it so it wouldn't stop me.

Being distracted by other children is a possibility, but you could say the same for other situations in the home, OP used her judgement.

My biggest worry would be baby being snatched, but I think I am particularly neurotic about this.

I am not surprised a social worker has said that they'd investigate, in my experience they do more harm than good more than half of the time and are quite irrational, that's just my experience.

I love how scandinavian countries have different parenting ways to us and think that they have good ideas/ways of going about things.

Hawks

Junosmum - would a social worker really call round to investigate something like that, just on a neighbour's phone call, assuming no other history? About a year ago I tried to report what I felt was a very serious case, a young girl living alone with a well known drug addict/alcoholic male and no one was interested ......... I was pushed around from department to department. The whole episode was shocking.

I honestly can't believe a social worker would have the time to pop round to check on a baby left outside to sleep - and yes, I happily left my baby to sleep outside when he was young.

For the sake of balance I grew up in the countryside and the first time I ever saw a fox was when I moved to Manchester.

My God didn't I miss all the fun...

Foxes, cats, social workers and kidnappers.

I must live in a made believe world cos not one of those instances would cross my mind if I left my son out to sleep.

However I don't do it as my awkward baby will only nap in his swing

I never understand why scandanavian= good on MN. Who is to say they know what they're doing? It's also v common to leave babies outside in Russia (even colder!) where my family is from yet the average Russian grandparent has parenting ideas that would make your head roll, in my limited experience.

Aside from that I do love the naps outside business and my mum of course did it for me, as did most British mothers in the 70s. But, they sold cat nets with prams and there was a whole campaign around cats suffocating babies so people were v aware of it (like the back to sleep campaign) I also wouldn't do it in the front garden as I wouldn't want to get a reputation with the neighbours of being a crap mum, because I'm aware lots of people don't get it.

I was left outside to sleep as a baby and would occasionally do so with mine if they fell asleep in the pram. I'm not keen on front garden idea though can't rationally say why.

We have a Finnish guest at the moment who has been telling us about the wildlife in the countryside there - wolves, bears and moose, though he has never seen any himself. That's a whole new level of worry compared to foxes, cats , hawks and squirrels.

Oh and I lived in the middle of a huge forest when my baby was napping outside - no foxes, wolves or bears jumped on her pram, nor did a bird of prey swoop down to peck out her eyes. However she did consistently nap for three marvellous hours every day!

Haven't rtft but can't you take all the dcs for a walk or to the part together? That way you all get fresh air.