Calling the police to check on a crying baby

[summermumma2021]

Just had to call the police to check on a new neighbours baby. What would
you have done in this situation?
New neighbours live down our road around 100m away from us and could hear loud very distressed crying for over half an hour.

It sounded like a newborn or young baby crying and so I assumed they’d settle or some attempt to comfort them would be made but the crying stayed at the same level for ther period time. I could also hear raised voices and car doors slamming and I asked my husband if he’d heard it too (he was downstairs) and he said yeah he was worried as well.

Anyway in hoping it was nothing and the little one is fine but it just didn’t sit right and it sounded like no attempt to comfort them was being made at all.

i have no idea who the new neighbours are as it’s quite far from our bit of the road but for it to be that loud from this distance didn’t seem right. I have also had three colicky babies so I do know babies can cry for periods of time but as I said it sounded like no attempt to help them was being made.

Anyway police treating it as a priority case and checking things out. Just wanted to share really as worried.

Ringing the police is the way to get involved. Back in the good days that you refer to everyone kept their mouth shut that’s why child abuse was through the roof but no one said anything.

Mumsnet poster - some random new people moved in 100 yards away, I could hear their bloody newborn crying for over half an hour in the middle of the night when I’ve got to be up early tomorrow.
I assumed they’d make some attempt to comfort the kid but the crying just went on and on grrr. I could also hear shouting and car doors slamming and it was disturbing my husband too.
It sounded like no one could be bothered to get the baby to pipe down. Now I’m going to be tired all bloody day tomorrow.

Mumsnetters reply - You beast! You just don’t give a shit about these poor babies, you’re just like those child abusers aren’t you? People like you just don’t care, I’m glad I don’t have horrible neighbours like you 😡.

Me - ahh good old Mumsnet. Sometimes you just can’t win on here.

I don't think this story is true

What is this new thing? I’ve only seen it on here fairly recently. If OP wanted to make up something exciting I’m sure she could have invented a will dispute concerning her granddad and the floozy he just took up with before he ‘mysteriously’ and ‘suddenly’ died, or affair, an old flame back from his travels in the Mongolian desert, and she now has to confront the fact her oldest child looks exactly like him, or the secret compartment in her husbands desk that the cleaner found which contains love letters to her husband dated last year but she doesn’t know who they’re from, or any number of stories guaranteed to spill over into a second thread, or even a third if she plays her cards right.

This tale of a baby crying, adults shouting and banging doors sounds horribly real and I have no doubt it happened. And I’m thankful for people like OP and the others who called the police.

Actually, I might use that Mongolian desert/oldest child story, so don’t be getting any ideas please.

You are a bad parent to leave your baby who is absolutely dependent on you crying for 20-30 minutes so you could have a shower or get things done. HTH.

To all the idiots who think the OP was overreacting:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd6ex3dge8go

SAFEGUARDING IS EVERYBODY’S RESPONSIBILITY

Perhaps this child may have been saved if one her neighbours “overreacted” and called the police whilst she was being raped and murdered!!

There was a story in the news a while ago about a man who was travelling with his 6 year old daughter alone, and one of the hotel receptionists flagged it as possible child trafficking- he got arrested etc and obviously proved it was his daughter and everything was fine, but someone said to him after god you must have been raging, and he said no if a thousand situations like this get checked and it saves one 6 year old from that fate then it’s completely worth the other 999 men being put out. As a mother who has been through the absolute non stop screaming of a baby, I would still 100% take a welfare check if it meant in another 60 checks a baby who was in trouble got help. All that to say I think the OP was right

Replies like this are so depressing. @FromtheMouthsofDecadence some babies cry. All. The. Time.

I’d love to know how you expect mums like @hoxtonbabe to deal with one of those and get life done. Your comment is ridiculous and clearly you’ve never had a baby that cries continuously, or you wouldn’t have made it.

So now it’s gone to the baby being inside and some adults being outside. Admit it, OP, you didn’t know who those adults were because you’ve already said the baby lives in a row of 4 houses. In one house could have been a baby who was fast asleep, then woken up by their neighbours who were having an argument which spilled out on to the street.

The poor mum of the baby could have been doing her level best trying to get a fractious baby, who was now tired, hot and pissed off back to sleep while at the same time cursing the neighbours for waking it up. Then the poor woman would have had to deal with the police, on top, because you put two and two together and came up with five.

I could almost understand you calling the police if you didn’t live on a new build estate, so you’d definitely know where the noise is coming from but you didn’t. And, like I’ve said before, despite you living in a very safe area neither you nor your husband could be bothered to go for a little stroll past those 4 houses to see what was going on.

You might be wrong, and everything could be perfectly fine—there is little downside to that. However, if you are right, the baby is in desperate need of help. Doing nothing could have very serious consequences.

Spectacularly timed post. Scroll up not even half an hour and have a little read.

I thought that was a sympathetic post, acknowledging how hard it is to cope with a non-stop crying baby as well as other essential tasks.

I know what you are sayingcwhen you say the baby's cries sound "off", particularly given your experience with your own crying babies.

I was home one day and heard the neighbours dogs and one made a sound that didn't sound right. So much so I doubted what I'd heard. I couldn't bear if something had actually happened so called my neighbour and left a message suggesting she come home from work to check on the dogs, explained what I'd heard and apologised if I was over reacting. Well, she got home to blood everywhere. She had two greyhounds and one had torn open the side of the other - about 20-30 cm tear.

So yes, I think you do know when something sound "off". I think more people should call the police instead of not wanting to be involved.

So has there been some feedback from the police yet?

What OP did was more of a welfare check, (when the police stop by to ensure someone is okay). She didn't report her neighbours for committing a crime.

I don’t think OP would ever hear that, the police will just do whatever, refer to somewhere or not, and OP won’t know.

Disgusting comment.

That's insane! What reason did they give to the police for calling 🤣
Agree, I think I'd try to check first and if still unsure (or see a red flag) then police. But straight to police over crying?
I know it can be very difficult though, sometimes I hear heart breaking baby cry at the shops/out in public, baby & parents seem "ok", but always makes me wonder what the baby may be going through. They can't verbalize anything, could be easily abused in plain sight (think Star Hobson who was made to walk through town with broken leg + more abuse at home) 😥

Ignore those who say you didn't walk down the road to check... What exactly you were meant to see or do by doing that i have no idea. I do wonder about some people. Sadly babies are being neglected and m**dered more often so you definitely did the right thing. If they have nothing to hide then they will not mind the police coming to the door.

Heat also lowers the tolerance threshold of people. It is much easier to snap when you are fed up by the heat.

For once off I feel calling the police is too much to be honest. But if it s everyday then it’s a different story and I would have done the same.

Exactly!!

Complete and utter rubbish!! I have nothing to hide but would be mortified and upset to have someone call the police on me and would struggle to look my neighbours in the eye .., and I’m not a new mum with postnatal hormones to add in to that horrible situation.

It really wasn’t @MeTooOverHere. ‘HTH’ is passive aggressive, not sympathetic in the slightest.

You being mortified and upset is definitely more important than the welfare of a child. Definitely.

My first thought was thst you must have no idea of how far away 100 metres actually is..