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?

I'm being irrational but this makes me want to cram the five- and the seven-year-old into a pram and let them nap outside in sheer defiance. I did the outside napping and I'd do it again, we're not in Alaska with the odd hungry polar bear roaming the streets (realising that even in Alaska this must be a rare occurrence).

No moose wandered up to investigate my sleeping baby either SugarPlumTree most scary wild animals steer well clear of people and houses

I am from Russia and that's considered healthy too. Actively encouraged by doctors. DS1 was born in January and in 2 weeks time sleeping outside was introduced, starting with 10 min, then increased to 15, 20 etc. Up to 2 hours was fine for an older baby.

I live in Sweden
Mini skip gets taken out for a walk unless it's below -16 and windchill added on
Mini skip naps in his pram outside down to about -15
Other mums in our area do this too (and at colder temperatures.)
As long as they're warm and cosy, it's really good for them. All babies nap outdoors here and the kindergartens often do too.

We have a big down and wool pram bag, then wool hat and mitts and they're fine. As long as you're keeping an eye on them there's no problem at all

The advice from the lullaby trust about a baby's safe sleeping- "on their back, in a cot, in the same room as parent....." Applies to daytime naps as well as night time sleep.

My DD is 3. I still sometimes put her in the buggy, snooze shade on, and walk her to sleep and leave her in the garden.

She had/has severe reflux, and the angle of the buggy allows her respite. From 8 months, when we realised this, she went out in all weathers, as it was the only time she would actually sleep.

Glorious.

She went out in gales, heavy rain, and snow. As long as she was wrapped up and protected, and I could see her, out she went.

YANBU.

They sleep better outside.

I'm hopefully going to visit next year Natsku as DD probably moving over in the Autumn for a bit, it sounds lovely and I'm really looking forward to visiting. I was being a bit tongue in cheek about it just in case it didn't come across in my post.

Mine slept outside whenever we came back in from a walk and they were dozing and the weather was dry. Both slept well at night and I am sure the fresh air helped.

Can't understand people who keep small children indoors. Very unhealthy.

The only caution would be not to do it when they are poorly or in fog. My son caught pneumonia when he was 1. He hadn't been left outdoors to sleep, but I had taken him out with me for a dog walk (didn't really have a choice) when he had a very slight cold. The cold really was very slighthe was eating well, very cheerful and full of beans and we have photos of him the day before playing with his cousin and he looks 100%but in hindsight, we were out too long in the fog.

This thread has been mumsnet bingo gold!
OP YANBU.

Oo just remembered, after I split with DD's dad and he wouldn't give me her pram I would put her to nap outside in a wheelbarrow

Natsku

It really is rather lovely here SugarPlumFairy hope you have a nice visit here, watch out for the moose though! (To be fair, I once caught a reindeer trying to actually walk into my grandad's house up in Lapland, they are quite ridiculous creatures!)

My baby has been napping outside from birth. Mind, I am Norwegian. But when we moved to UK when he was 6 months old, he continued to nap in the enclosed garden we have.

Felicity there is no functional difference between a pram and a cot for a small baby. Think of it as a Moses basket on wheels. So in the garden next to the patio doors is probably better than upstairs anyway in that respect, unless you are claiming you sat next to your child's cot in their room for all their daytime naps?!

Prepared to bet, based on fire service stats, that some of the people up in arms about this don't have working smoke alarms. In which case they really would be safer in the garden, even accounting for marauding foxes and passing aliens

Did anyone think about hedgehogs?

I think there is quite a difference between a baby getting plenty of fresh air all year round and being unattended outside while sleeping.
The first is great, the second, less advisable.

zoe yes there is a difference. Temperature control and parental presence/ absence are the variables.

The advice from the lullaby trust about a baby's safe sleeping- "on their back, in a cot, in the same room as parent....." Applies to daytime naps as well as night time sleep.

So how does a parent manage if they have other children?

I'm not a know-it-all but I find that a very rigid structure that many parent might find hard to adhere to, I certainly would have.

Temperature control is neither here nor there. You wrap your baby up according to the conditions, whether that be 5 or 18 degrees. As for parental absence, so you did stay in your baby's room for every nap?! Most people don't. And in any case my babies were closer to me outside than upstairs. I sat/sit in the kitchen about 2m away.

I can't believe this has caused such a divide! I always used to leave DS in his buggy outside if he fell asleep on the way home. To me it seems a much better alternative than trying to get him out of his snowsuit and waking him or leaving him to sleep in a snowsuit indoors.

I remember reading this article when my ds was little and it seems it is a totally normal thing to do www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21537988

I am shocked that some social workers would think that this should prompt a visit!

My mother regularly put me outside in the early morning to get me back to sleep. That was the middle of the countryside in the 1960s.

The danger is cats. You need a net to stop them. A cat will lay on a small baby's face and suffocate it.

Feel free to ignore the advice, I was just letting you know what the experts say based on research.

My close friend is a child social worker. I rather suspect, given her case load, the kind of issues she actually does deal with, and the news that there will be 180 job losses in her department just to add to the mix, a well wrapped, sleeping baby, is not going to be top of her priority list

I sometime read Mumsnet and wonder if I have fallen into an alternative universe....

Many babies do seem to sleep better outside. There is also evidence to suggest that more children need glasses, as they do not spend enough time outside when very young.

If you have a cat net, I don't see the issue.