To leave my baby in the car by herself to sleep

[margaritaproblems]

It feels like I am but I don't know 🤷‍♀️
We live in a very quiet cul de sac. Baby is 6 months old and was asleep when we got back so we have let her finish her sleep alone in the car.

Context
We also have a bouncy 4 yo that keeps disturbing her naps so she will nap better away from her.

The car is on the driveway, in full view.

I have left the drivers door wide open so I can hear her if she cries, I have my front windows and door wide open too. I am sat with dd inside, but tv is off while she is colouring in so I can hear.

Although baby is in the car she is only actually about 10ft away from where I am sat.

I can't actually see baby, but I can hear if she cries, and I can't actually see her having all of her nap inside if she was inside anyway as she naps in her pram bassinet so it's not that different, but it feels so alien,
I think because we have only lived here around a year and I could never have done this where we lived before, but if iabu then I won't do it again.

@ArgumentativeAardvaark

Exactly how is this funny?

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/11/27/two-year-old-girl-died-car-rolled-freezing-river-hand-brake/amp/

I’m surprised you are not terrified to step outside your own front door @violetswordfish.

@ShirleyPhallus because the OP is nowhere near a river so you are taking scaremongering and hysteria about this specific situation to a laughable extreme. And your language is verging on Viz-style parody- she’d do a damn sight more than “kick herself” if her baby died in some horrific accident!

Well clearly when I said a chink I meant something more than a cm or two! And to be fair, we get so few hot days here, the warm days were probably few and far between.

absolutely fine. I agree that having a handbag stolen is more likely from an unlocked car. The chances of the minute number of deranged adults who are wanting to steal a baby, happening on your quiet cul de sac in that short window of time are too small to calculate. Let baby sleep.

@ArgumentativeAardvaark it is hardly scaremongering to point out real life examples of what the OP is thinking of doing and how they haven’t ended up well. I also pointed out that she’s unlikely to be next to a river.

But the whole point is, that however unlikely these things are, they do happen. And to your point, if it did happen you’d do far more than “kick yourself” so why even take the chance?

Er no I wouldn't do it what a random thing to do.....might only be 10ft but think of how many cars get stolen in winter by leaving them open on the drive....you're inviting trouble..aside from being dangerous you won't be insured if the car does get nicked

I presume the person who said a wasp could get in the car must hover over their child 24 hours a day when they’re in the house etc. You do realise wasps can come in the house too

It's absolutely fine.

I’m surprised you are not terrified to step outside your own front door @violetswordfish**

Don't be daft. I worry about second hand smoke too because it's been shown that that's harmful, and I think most parents worry about second hand smoke too. Flame retardants are a similar thing, we just have very good lobbyists in this country and most people aren't as aware of them as they are second hand smoke. I choose to limit use of them rather than expose my baby to unnecessary chemicals, the same way I avoid bpa in plastic etc. I mean, decades ago people didn't think twice about smoking around children or lead paint, but we know better now. Flame retardants will go the same way. They already are in other countries.

@ShirleyPhallus the sad accident you referred to is in no way shape or form a real life example of what OP is thinking of doing! Suggesting that it is is the very definition of scaremongering.

This is one reason why I wouldn’t personally do this:

If you wouldn't leave your handbag don't leave the baby - that's my rule! I wouldn't.

Is it Sweden and Norway where it is common for parents to leave babies outside in prams in the middle of winter?

This is the other reason I wouldn’t personally do this:

www.nhs.uk/news/pregnancy-and-child/warning-over-babies-sleeping-in-car-seats/

@ArgumentativeAardvaark the OP is asking if it’s safe to leave her child in the car on her own. Giving examples of where that hasn’t worked out well is perfectly fine.

If the OP didn’t want to hear both sides of the coin I’m not sure why she posted

Shirley you’re never going to agree with me, but honestly OP’s decision is not going to be swayed by that story any more than I will choose not to get on a ship because the Titanic sank.

Takes seconds for baby to be snatched. You turn to watch your other child colouring the next seconds baby is gone

Very happy to agree to disagree @ArgumentativeAardvaark, at least we can agree that we hope these remote possibilities don’t affect OP and whatever she chooses to do results in a safe and happy child

You’re right @TriciaH87, there are so many Silent Invisible Goblin child snatchers roaming the cul-de-sacs of suburbia these days, why will nobody wake up to the danger?!!

I used to do this but Id lock the car and check often.

Yep we always do this, why wake them up if you don't need to

you cant really watch if you on mumsnet!
my ds used to do this.
older thant 6 months though.
i might carry them in in their car seat

One side of this thread will probably (hopefully) live their lives never being proved wrong that this is fine and won’t ever go wrong.

The other side will live our lives doing inconvenient things to eliminate statistically small but certainly possibly risky situations.

Neither is the right or wrong chouce, just different attitudes to risk.

Not sure why the OP is asking really if they fall into the first category. It’s a personal choice.

chouce = choice

My main concerns would be positional asphyxia and overheating. If you're comfortable that you've got both those risks covered, it doesn't strike me as inherently more risky than leaving a baby in a pram, within view, in a quiet cul-de-sac (which is a personal judgment call but one that most mothers I've met would be happy with).