Sleeping babies outside in buggies

[popsycal]

A serious query
PLEASE don't lets get into a debate.....

What are your views on leaving babies outside in this weather (10 degrees but dry and sunny) outside in their buggy, sleeping for over an hour with your front door closed though you can see buggy from your living room window?

I know it was common place when I was a baby (and I am fine....).

THe reason I ask is my neighbour is a child minder and the child she looks after is the son of one of my best friends. Baby is 6 months old, wearing a hat and coat and has cosy toes on. Been there over an hour. Front door closed.

What do you think? Am I being over protective?

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE lets keep this nice

20 weeks.....started with high bp with ds at about 30 weeks then induced at 37....so rather worrying

sorrying for hijacking thread
actually since i started the thread i guess it doesnt really matter lol

I'd be more worried about the security than the cold (PROVIDED the kid was really well wrapped up of course). I certainly wouldn't be happy about my childminder doing this.

Poppsycal - hope the retail therapy was good and the bp goes down soon.

Ooooh, Popsy - allowing a 4yo to play alone in a cul-de-sac! > You might as well let a 4yo play alone on the M40! I cannot believe she watches at the window for an hour, and even if she checks it every 10 minutes, 10 minutes is a long time for a baby to wake up feeling as if there's no one around. And, as others have said, the security thing. Glad you've made your mind up! How are you, btw?

when I had high BP when pregnant I was told that being in a swimming pool helped - not necessarily swimming - just lolling about.

Have you got wee sticks (from the midwife) to check protein yourself, and maybe a blood pressure monitor ? I found it much less stressful to keep an eye on things myself rather than waiting for midwife appointments.

Well I hope the bp does go down soon too, popsy

i am about to find an aquanatal class (loved it with ds)
havent got wee sticks - got to go to see her again at the end of the week
after doing nothing in between!

My children has always slept outside for several hours a day when babies. My dd is 3 months and sleeps outside for up to 4 hours a day. She is wearing a hat and a blanket so she is warm. She will only sleep outside and fresh air is good for her. I will obviously hear her if she cries. Mine sleeps outside in sub-zero temperatures too. I only take them in when it hits -10 (we are talking Sweden here). British children spend far too little time outdoors in the fresh air.

But do you supervise your babies? That is the main issue I think.......

They would be in the garden so it's not like someone will steal them. I don't sit and stare at the pram, but I obviously keep an eye.

haven't read any others- just the original post- personally I wouldn't leave dd anywhere on her own- it's not the weather it's the lack of supervision. If I saw this happening I'd phone my friend to tell her straight away and sod any consequences- no use shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted IMO

Exactly fairymum - this is in a garden but it is open, without a gate or fence onto the pavement and then a road

ds would only ever sleep during the day if he was either:
a - in his carseat, with the car moving
or
b- in a buggy, and outside.

So the being outside wouldn't bother me (I'm another believer in lots of fresh air) - but the being out at the front, instead of the back might do.

However....

Is this a regular thing? Is there easy access from front to back? Do you know the child well enough to know if he's a good sleeper? If they'd just got back from an outing, and he'd fallen asleep, but there was no easy way to get the buggy around to the back, then I'd probably do the same in the circumstances, knowing how hard it has always been to get ds to sleep.

The baby is a really good sleeper and at home they even lift him from his buggy/car seat into his cot!

This is the third day i have been off work and he has been out there every day....

No access to back garden at al except through the house

If i was your friend i'd want to know. personally i'd be devastated if you didn't tell me and let me make the judgement call on my child. personally i wouldn't be happy with anyone leaving my child unsupervised- that's up to the mother to decide though not the childminder- be a good friend and phone her up

I have decided I will let him (friend is a he) know tonight. He will pop in when he picks the kids up at tea time.

Thanks for your advice ladies - just confirmed my own feelings on this really!

Just to update....

I spoke to mate and he said he had asked the childminder lots of times not to do this but she has insisted that fresh air is good for the baby. He asked me to keepan I for the next week,

Yesterday, he told me his little one had a really bad cold and chest - so I said tell XXXX to stop leaving him outside then. He asked more specifically when and for how long - so I told him. He wasn;t happy.

Need to have a proper chat though as this was over texts.

How would you feel if your childminder still did this when you had asked her not to, and she fully admits to doing it? She is a family friend of the baby's grannie btw

keepan i
crikey
keep a eye

I'd feel very upset if the childminder was disregarding my wishes as a parent and I'd worry about the security aspect too. But I'm with the fresh air fiends on this one. I'd wheel the buggy through the house and pop the pushchair in a sunny corner of the garden, positioned so no sunlight direct on baby's face. I agree that British children spend too little time in the fresh air generally, and that homes (ours included!) are often too dry and warm. Dd and ds before her slept like tops in still, dry conditions outdoors provided they were snugly wrapped.
I also think cool fresh air is beneficial to children with colds, again, provided they are well dressed. I always feel a bit sad when I see children in buggies covered with rainhoods when it is not raining, just quite cool.
I think you were right to raise it with your friend Popsycal and I hope they manage to sort it with the childminder.
Hope your BP stabilises and you feel better soon.

I'm with the fresh air fiends on this one. I actually leave ds2 outside in the front garden - he's out there now! But we have no back garden, and to get to our front garden you have to go off a road, through a car park, down a path ... we don't get a lot of foot traffic, to put it mildly. And ds2 is 3.5 weeks, so not likely to wake up and go for a stroll.

I do open a window when he's out there, or put a monitor out, so I can get him if he howls. I don't worry at all about security with him out there, but then I don't really worry about stranger danger in general.

But what really matters in this case is, does she have the parents permission to leave the child out there. And clearly she doesn't.

I'd be really cross if a childminder did this with DS. Not so much the cold issue, but I do find that even wrapped up and with cosytoes on, DS does get colder when he's asleep in the buggy - if he ever falls asleep in it anyway (he's 28 weeks and has always kept himself awake a remarkable length of time - dammit!).

I'd be worried somebody would go off with him - our front garden is tiny so it wouldn't take much to walk a few steps, grab the buggy and run off. So I'd have my nose glued to the window anyway - as it is, I wheel the buggy inside and unzip the cosy toes.

If she has a 14-month-old to look after too, there is no way she can be supervising the baby properly. I think you were right to tell your friend and if she's this careless with his baby in public (and 4 year olds in the road - wrong wrong wrong!), what's she like in private?!

I left both DSs outside to sleep in pram in the back garden - I think it's great if you are able to do it but this childminder sounds like she's nopt doing what she's asked which is a different kettle of fish anyway - don't envy you popsy!