To feel sad seeing a 7 week old baby at DC's nursery today

[comfysketchers]

Dropping my 15 month old off at nursery today before work and there was another woman there at the same time handing over a 7 week old sleeping baby.

He was absolutely tiny and I just felt so sad looking at him thinking that he barely even knows he is out of the womb and his mum is dropping him off to spend all day with strangers in a noisy nursery environment.

I should also add that I live in a country that has excellent parental leave from the government plus most private companies pay at least 10 weeks of full pay on top of that, with many paying much more than that.

YABU - It’s perfectly normal for a 7 week old baby to spend 8 hours per day in a nursery.

YANBU - A 7 week old baby should be at home with its mum.

Because it is like 12 weeks maternity leave in the US?

She says she believes it's a form of neglect. I would feel judged if someone felt my child was neglected.

OP you keep banging on about how it’s our “collective responsibility” to do something about this.

What exactly would you have people do?

Do you want to ban women from using childcare settings at this age? What would you have them do instead?

I hope for your sake you never find yourself in this situation.

This is a vindictive, spiteful, hysterical and profoundly stupid post and I’m asking for it to be taken down.

Jesus wept. Are you always this melodramatic?
Some people on here are absolutely the most judgemental, batshit do gooders I've ever encountered.
Go preach your vitriol somewhere else, you and the OP have absolutely no idea of the circumstances why this baby is in a nursery nor should you have. Keep your nasty thoughts to yourself.

You are WAY out of order here.

as a childcare provider (of children under 7 weeks in many occasions) I will say that those babies are handed over to loving, stimulating expert caregivers by mothers doing their bloody best for everyone. They leave their babies in wonderful environments and set an amazing example to them about how important work is for mums. The babies are so so loved, and much easier to settle than any baby between 9-13 months. That's bloody traumatic for all involved. Starting as a baby is plain sailing.

keep your nose out and don't judge. If he has someone like me looking after him he will be very well cared for and absolutely adored until parents collect.

When they're older of course equality will benefit them...in terms of child development, equality means nothing to babies. Your previous posts seemed very centered on the woman's choices being the most important thing

Exactly you have no idea the circumstances.

It's very hard to qualify, I never have.

Welcome to the capitalist failed neo American nightmare we call the UK

I'm a childminder I've had a baby at 4 weeks because of a terminal illness you don't know why someone needs childcare.

Do you realise how normal that was only a generation ago? My youngest is 22 and I got 18 weeks maternity leave. Because I was ill during the pregnancy and hospitalised, they were left at nursery by the time they were 8 weeks.

I had to eat, and provide for them and their siblings. I had literally no choice.

It is and was anything but child abuse.

That's over stepping massively

You were brave to start this as replies are as expected. I do agree with you and that it’s so young for such a young baby to be in that setting.

I would find it sad too. Then I would go home and make my own choices and mind my own business.

Equality won't benefit them if change never happens.

Either you believe a woman should have a choice or you don't.

You are certainly all about women having choices on SAHM threads.

You have no idea how the other mum feels, what her life is like, or what she's going through.

Concentrate on your own baby.

I used to work in Child Protection and, even in the most extreme cases, eg. babies born to heroin addicts or mentally ill women, they would do anything they could to keep mum and baby together at this age - eg. mother and baby units or foster carers who take both mum and baby.

Maybe she is a single parent and the sole employee of her own business, and cannot close it down for 6 months or employ someone else to run it while she takes maternity leave. She might have no family to help out, or be fleeing an abusive relationship. You don't know.

Yes women should have a choice but that choice should also take into account what's best for the child. Like most parenting issues, it's a balancing act. Making every decision based on the "happy mum, happy baby" mantra is just selfish to me.

But it's fine for that's like you to shame the mother by accusing her of child abuse?

What about if mum is off for daily radiotherapy, to nurse a dying relative, to keep food and heat on as she's not entitled to anything, to go for counselling or rehabilitation, a community service order or perhaps knows it will save her mental health?

Why is it selfish? Should a profoundly depressed woman just get on with it? What about the dads? You only seem to be judging the mothers.

Then it's the least worst option and still incredibly sad and not ideal.

exactly.

I absolutely was NOT a child abuser. Nor was my mother, who left my brother at 6 weeks old in 1980. Because we had to eat.

Try to be less judgy, OP. You know nothing about the family's circumstances.