Leaving a baby alone to go to the shop

[Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm]

So my step dad was babysitting my baby a little while ago whilst I worked. He dropped her off and left her formula behind at his and my mums house, my mum was at work and I couldn't get hold of him. At 9.55pm I needed formula for the next feed, the shop shut at 10pm. WIBU to run over to get the milk without her? Obviously didn't have time to get her in pushchair or baby carrier. The shop is about 30 secs away and I tined myself at 3 mins. I was back by 2259. I even grabbed the formula, gave the shop assistant the money and waved the milk at her and said keep the change so I didn't need to queue. Still mad at myself for it.

In these sorts of threads the following are always HIGHLY likely -

1. The house spontaneously self-combusts.

1. The baby chokes in their sleep. Silently.

1. The parent dues tragically crossing the road by a speeding truck bring drunk driven at speed.

Dies. Not dues.

The spontaneous self combustion of house is the most likely option by the way.

That's not right!

@dododotheconga. You don’t need a textbook to tell you where you are least at risk - lying in bed, walking down stairs or crossing a road. Do you really think that stairs or roads are less likely to cause injury than lying sleeping in bed.

There may be certain potential dangers of leaving a child in a locked house for 3 minutes which could be catastrophic - fire or a burglar wanting to steal a child. The odds of either of those occurring unobserved in the few minutes that the OP is gone are negligible assuming she hasn’t left on a chip pan or something else equally stupid.

You are underplaying the more likely dangers and focusing on the ones which are incredibly unlikely to happen. Everything in life incurs certain risk. It’s being able to judge them correctly.

I’d agree with others that she should try to always have a spare in the house and not make a habit of leaving a child in the house however leaving them this one time for a couple of minutes carries very little risk.

@Holyrivolli you said "statistically". I assumed you were referring to statistics? I'm guessing not.

I grew up in a country where babies are left outside restaurants and cafe while you eat your meal so this wouldn’t bother me at all!

For the record @Holyrivolli "statistically" babies are much more likely to die in cots than when with a parent crossing a road.

@dododotheconga. But cot death rates don’t differ unless you are in the same room as them 24/7. Her being downstairs or in the shower is as risky as her being at the shop. Do you ever leave your child for 3 minutes to go for a shower or to the toilet?

First I'll repeat that I don't believe that it was 3 minutes. I do believe that the OP will have played down the time taken to lower the risk of criticism. I'll repeat my statement re going to the loo etc etc. There is a huge difference between being in the house and within earshot and leaving the house altogether. I'm amazed that I'm having to press that point to be honest.

What's done is done. No point questioning it now. Just make sure you are never in that position again. Always have a spare unopened tub of formula in the house. As one runs out you should have two in the cupboard unopened. Then when you open the next one you still have a spare. What would you have done if the shop didn't have any in?

@dododotheconga

For the record *@Holyrivolli* "statistically" babies are much more likely to die in cots than when with a parent crossing a road.

Statistically, babies spend much more time in bed than crossing the road.

[quote Holyrivolli]@dododotheconga. But cot death rates don’t differ unless you are in the same room as them 24/7. Her being downstairs or in the shower is as risky as her being at the shop. Do you ever leave your child for 3 minutes to go for a shower or to the toilet?[/quote]
But the safe sleeping guidelines state that baby must be in the same room as us 24/7 until six months old to reduce cot death (as you say) so that therefor lowers the risk?

9.55 and 22.59? That's over an hour. Assuming you mean 21.59. Could you not carry your baby in your arms the same as you would from one room in the house to another?