Why don’t parents let their babies sleep outside anymore?

[Busybusybust]

www.:boredomtherapy.com/cold-scandanavian-baby/?as=6d23842735449010537

All my four slept outside in the back garden during the day, suitably clothed for the time of year. I did have a big pram, but today’s prams are just as suitable. So why dont your babies sleep outside?

Mine did! They always slept better too. Dd is now 5 and ds is 18 months. They were both summer babies so for the first few months always slept in a nice shady part of the garden.

I’m part Scandi though so this could be why, my sister never did it, her dc was winter born and it’s not like we have nice crisp winters here!

*@itsbetterthanabox *

From a combination of google, and links posted in this thread...studies have shown

1. outside napping can result in babies developing Circadian (day/night) rhythms earlier.
2. babies sleep longer when outside
3. reduced risk of infection, particularly in nursery settings when there are lots of little ones in a combined space, but also in stuffy over insulated/ heated modern houses.

Anecdotally from this thread:
1)babies sleep longer outside
2) after a walk it is easier to leave them outside than risk waking them getting them over threshold into house, or stripping outdoor layers
4) nice background noises (birds, planes, distant cars etc)
3)sleeping outside is lovely, on the rare occasion you get to do it as an adult, so why not?!

From this thread what people are scared of regarding outdoor sleeping:

1. Cats, foxes, wasps and creepy crawlies!! 2)Child abduction
2. social services 4)not being able to see baby (windows are a fantastic invention, don't you think?)
3. they wouldn't like to sleep outside as adults so why would/should their baby
4. Pollution in urban areas
5. SIDS advice can be interpreted as not allowing outdoor sleeping even though it doesn't state it explicitly. ie, baby should be in same room as parent, therefore by virtue of being outside, they can't be in the same room as parent.

As for SIDS advice. Sections of UK SIDS advice is based on some very dubious and over simplistic interpretation of statistics...ie "Co sleeping is bad"...which is simply not true, lots countries with higher co sleeping rates have lower SIDS rates, the proper interpretation of the statistics would say co sleeping if either parent smokes whether in the house or not, or anyone smokes inside the house is so ridiculously dangerous you should never ever do it. If you separate out the cosleeping/ smoking deaths, the statistics change completely. Hence why SIDS advice is not the same in other countries.

DS1 did a lot of outdoor sleeping in his pram, but I was usually pushing him round at the time. I wouldn't have left him outside the house as a) round here, someone would nick the pram and leave him on the pavement and b) some busybody would scream at me for neglecting him (like a woman did when I left him outside a shop for ten seconds as his pram didn't fit through the door!

Even if I lived somewhere suitable there's no way I could have done this with DS2. He didn't nap full stop - think he worried I wouldn't be there when he woke up! He wouldn't ever sleep in his pram. He'd sleep in a sling but if I moved at all he'd be wide awake yelling in case I was thinking of taking him out at all. He's just the same at 5 bless him, loves school but is very disappointed I can't go in with him all day, wakes me at 2am as he misses me... He'd not like being left outside on his own!

Salsmum it wasn't Doctor Spock who advocated ignoring children; exactly the opposite. It was Truby King. He was the one who told mothers in the 30s to leave babies to cry in garden.

My mother was raised that way and did the same with me. It certainly wasnt universal in the 60s but my parents went with it. I was left to cry at the bottom of the garden. I have mental health issues thanks to the way I was brought up.

DM tried to put my winter/autumn babies in the garden in the 80s and was told in no uncertain terms that they were staying indoors. None have suffered from sleeping indoors.

I guess it's an indicator of the fact that MN generally attracts a more middle class readership tbh, most people seem to have houses with gardens whereas in the rest of society hundreds of thousands of people live in high rises without balconies.

You can’t seriously believe that just middle class people have gardens can you? Unless you’ve never ventured outside of London I can’t believe you’ve never seen working class areas with gardens on every house.

But doesn’t actually do anything.

sure.

Donny
It’s weird that you keep making sarcy comments but not actually saying anything.
What does it do?

My mother was of the Truby King generation, because I remember her telling me about him when I was pregnant. I don't think she followed his strict guidelines though. I still have my paperback Dr. Spoc

My mother told me about Truby King, though I don't think she followed his advice. I still have my paperback Dr. Spock (pub. 1961); he recommends 2-3 hours daily in the fresh air.

Don't know what happened there!!

Saying that everyone followed Truby King is like saying everyone followed Gina Ford or Deborah Jackson.....

Weasles- I've just read up on Truby King and although I was a 70s baby that's exactly what my mum was taught on the hospital!! It's scary looking back (and again the approach tallies with some of my mental health issues!)

It's very ex public school/patriarchal approach isn't it. It was my dad down to a tee (and still Is, don't pander to emotions, children are just to be endured, need to toughen up!)

The hospital I was born in closed and my brother was born elsewhere where it was v muxh dr spock and different approach altogether.

Mum's talked of how in the first 2 weeks after birth I was brought to mum at 4 hourly intervals and she was desperate to see me in between but it wasn't allowed. The matron ruled the wars. She's even said it might be why she found it hard bonding with me - you were just brought a baby every 4 hours who was crying, it hurt to breastfeed and you didn't see them again for 4 hours other than through the window in the nursery.

She didn't known about meconium or anything.

Itsbetterthanabox
Donny isn't being sarcy, the answer to your question is all in the thread... Read it, I can see why Donny is getting impatient with you. I have written a long reply this morning, attempting to summarise things and answer your question. Why not read that?!

Sort of Bertrand - but my mum says it truly was different to now - our approach to knowledge is different. We have the internet etc and don't necessarily trust all we hear.

For her and her friends having children younger than now, having to stay in a hospital where "experts told you what was good for your child and of course you wanted the right thing for your child.

I think mum's hospital was outdated in her time but it was certainly my grandparents approach and incredibly common to be thought of as the "correct" way to bring up babies.

What would be the point of me actually saying anything? You have a whole thread here full of explanations, people have directly addressed you and give their reasons, there is a link at the top of the thread and several throughout out it but you just keep repeating the same “so there are no reasons” response. Why would I go to the effort of explaining my reasons when you’re not actually interested in hearing them?

“Sort of Bertrand - but my mum says it truly was different to now - our approach to knowledge is different. We have the internet etc and don't necessarily trust all we hear“

As opposed to all those benighted ignorant souls in the past, eh?

My youngest has had most of her naps outside as she is a terrible napper and sleeps best in the pram.
However, I do bring her in when I get home due to SIDS risk.

Mine happily has a 2hr nap in garden after walk. (In pushchair!)

It's not ignorant BertrandRussell to only have access to limited information. We are enormously fortunate these days to be able to use the internet to do our own research. Trusting the advice of medical professionals when your only other source of info is hand me down advice from your family or the odd book (all of which say different things and could be written by anyone!) is the opposite of ignorant

Bertrand I didnt say everyone followed Truby King. I really hope it was a minority. Clearly some did, including my mother and grandmother.

I'm surprised at how few comments reference being unable to due to being in a flat though

We live in a flat. We're lucky enough to be ground floor with direct access to the garden (which is not private or secure - I still reckon I'd notice in the vanishingly unlikely scenario of someone trying to kidnap my sleeping baby). We did it in our old flat as well by using the balcony.

Never heard of Truby King

Don’t we all feel better if we have had some fresh air (ok it’s not always fresh but it’s better than being indoors all the time). Babies sleep far more than adults so even if you are out and about and your baby is asleep it’s the same as putting them in the garden for a nap

What are the benefits to them sleeping outside? I suppose if you’re in the countryside maybe the fresh air’s good but why would you stick a baby out in the polluted air of London for example?

Mine do sometimes. They’re in a double so if one falls asleep rather than making a massive racket getting we we go through the side and in the back door whilst the sleeper stays tucked up outside

Mine did in summer in an enclosed garden. I was either in the garden with them or had quickly nipped into kitchen overlooking garden to make a brew. I wouldn't have done it if they were out of sight/ earshot. Much better than leaving kids sleeping in car.

Around do you not feel better if you have spent sometime outside even if it’s in a city

It’s so easy to not get any fresh air or time outside - house to car to work/shopping centre/cinema/some other indoor activity

Even an hour spending time outside is better than nothing and young babies will sleep or often sleep in the day. I’m quite certain ds slept better because he got a lot of fresh air (even if it was london air) and wasn’t cooped up indoors all day