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

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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?

Are you constantly watching then? Never take your eyes away? Don't boil the kettle, answer the door or the phone, watch TV, read a book...?

Well, we all stare in wonder, at our babies for periods of time but I don’t know anyone who stares at them for every single second they are asleep. That would be ludicrous.

Safer sleep guidance says to be in the same room as your baby for naps until 6 months.

^^ This is why it's not done anymore. Lullaby Trust, NHS SIDS guidance et al say baby must be in same room as caregiver as it helps them to regulate their breathing and prevents them falling into too deep a sleep. These great long naps allegedly brought about by outdoor sleeping are not considered physiologically safe for the baby.

Yes, but the advice will be completely changed in a couple of years when they work out that fabric conditioners and Febreze plug-ins are actually far more dangerous...

That would be ludicrous

DD already does this dazed expression when she wakes up, we call it her "wtf, where am I, what happened?" look. Imagine the look if she opened her eyes to find me staring at her like my 3yo does to me at 5am

I was born in December and I have seen photos of me outside in the pram with snow on the ground. I can’t stand sleeping in a warm room now. I love a cold room and to be covered with warm covers.

My babies slept outside as well. We have mountain lions, bald eagles, coyotes and other creatures here, but putting a big dog outside as an alarm worked.

I can't sleep if I'm warm, I need to be cold

Imagine the look if she opened her eyes to find me staring at her like my 3yo does to me at 5am

Like Beverly Goldberg?

Like Beverly Goldberg? grin

Exactly

Mine have done if I'm out in the garden working, but our front garden isn't secure, and it's too much faff to get the pram round the back to do it regularly.

Why would they need to sleep outside? Am baffled

Mine do.

But in fairness, I live in Australia where it's much more temperate, and the air is much cleaner. Can't imagine what benefit would be gained for your baby by leaving them to sleep outside in a densely populated, polluted or smoggy city.

When I was a baby (have pics) I was put in the pram in the back garden with a net over the pram to obv stop flies and wasps. My sister had the same.

Was the done thing then.

I think it is fear of abduction or animals now. But that is avoidable. Fresh air is great for babies.

Happens every day in Nordic countries. Mums meet for coffee and the babies are outside. Look it up.

We had train tracks at the bottom of the garden and I still remember the sound of the steam trains coming into the nearby station as I laid in my pram. The bird song, the breeze, the sound of far off children playing, dogs barking in the distance, it was heaven.

My baby naps in his pram. I wrap him up nice and cosy, pop him out (pram lives just outside the back door) and he's fast asleep within a few minutes. And then sleeps soundly for 2 hours or more. I usually wake him before he wakes by himself. I have a monitor so can hear him and peek out at him from time to time. He's not neglected in the slightest or cold or in any sort of danger.
If you have a great inside napper then sure there's no point. But my baby needs a lot of settling when he naps inside and then never sleeps longer than 45 minutes. So for us the benefits are huge. I get time to get things done or have a rest myself. He gets really restorative naps and is cheerful and ready to play and learn when he wakes up, as opposed to his slightly grizzly and much less patient self when he has to nap inside. So for him yes I do think it's good for his development.
And actually I'd love to get all bundled up and nap in a pram myself if they made them big enough. He looks so cosy and snuggly in there.

I live in Iceland where it's very much the done thing but I didn't do it with my eldest until she went to the childminder, who insisted on it. I thought it was pointless. I was an idiot.

I don't understand the benefits of sleeping outside. As a midwife we advise new parents to have the baby sleep in the same room as them for the first 6 months of life to lower the risks of SIDS so unless the parent is in the garden why would you put baby out there?

What age baby are we talking about here?? 6 months+ and within earshot/sight I can sort of understand... the whole thing about parking them at the end of the garden so you can't hear them cry sounds like one of the cruelest things you could do!! Ok so DS IS only 11 weeks and is definitely PFB but I feel guilty even putting him in his bouncy chair so I can drink a cup of coffee with two hands... he rarely gets put down!

Maybe I'm doing something wrong

I wouldn't object to a baby napping outside, but tbh it didn't really occur to me when mine were babies. They both got plenty of fresh air out and about, happily went for naps indoors and slept through from about 3 months. Not sure what other benefits they could have gained really.

No one on here has said they stick baby at the bottom of the garden and ignore them!

That might've happened half a century ago but not now.

Thank God. I almost panicked

Rousette - it wasn't as long as half a century ago. I'm late 30s and my mum said it was common advice and to ignore the crying!!! All part of a routine...

Op asked why it was less common and that practice died out.

What age baby are we talking about here?

Mine's 5 months, started going out to nap in his pram around 3 months, which is late for an Icelandic baby. We are not advised against this practice at all - it is encouraged if anything - though there are dos and don'ts.

We lived on a hill when I was a child. If my mum had put me in my prom at the end of the garden I’d have been back at the house before she was.

Crikey there is a lot of overthinking taking place. Take baby for a walk, baby falls asleep, leave them outside when you get back (where you can see them) so they stay asleep or else they wake when you bring them in.

My children are also forced outside with me when it’s raining and when it’s cold. Massive neglect on my part I’m sure but you know what 1) they love it 2) there’s not a chubby roll of fat insight.

titty

What age...
I think about 3 months to around 8 months in my case. We had a massive Silver Cross pram.

Because mine slept in a sling close to me where he was happiest for his first year and then transitioned to the bed as a toddler. Without any drama
I've had someone tell me he should be napping outside in our non existent silver cross pram in our non existent back garden as otherwise I'd be creating a rod for my own back yadda yadda