What age to leave child alone in the bath for a second?

[GwendolineMaryLacey]

I'm very strict about stairs and baths. Breaking necks and drowning worry me. DH is ovens and fires

Anyway, I'm dozing this morning, DH and DD (3.0yrs) are in the bath. She won't let him wash her hair so he comes in to ask me to do it. I went mad and told him to get back in the bathroom this minute etc. He looked at me like I was mad and said he thought that was while she was a baby/toddler. How much longer were we going to sit watching her in the bath? He was good natured about this btw not having a moan, just surprised.

So who is right? Is 3 old enough to be left for as long as it takes to get a towel/pyjamas whatever?

How many floors between the bathroom and your room?

I wandered in and out of the bathroom from about 2ish i think

I think 3 is just OK to pop for a second to grab a towel, but I wouldn't go and answer the door or anything like that.

Besides, DS doesn't shut up the whole time, so I'd know the instant something was up :)

Yes 3 is old enough for getting a towel and pjs or popping in to ask about hairwashing - about 5 for doing anything else but even then you have to check for silences obv.

Though not if you live in a mansion...

Depends on the layout of the house.

I'd fetch something form the bedroom when toddler-sized DD was in the bath in the en suite, because I was only going a few paces (and few seconds) and I could hear her the whole time. If the bathroom is the other end of a corridor, it would be different.

I can't remember what age I started leaving them for longer. But even now she's 6, I'll usually be no further than the adjacent bedroom.

DD is 3. I leave her in the bath to go and do things in the kitchen (downstairs bathroom). I leave both doors open and can see and hear her. But I do get on as normal.

She's 3 and knows to be careful. She gets in and out of the bath on her own and while I'm always 'around' and have an ear out for her, I don't sit and watch her.

i only leave ds2 to grab towel and pjs etc ..but he splashers so much i have a problem getting him out though :)

If I had to leave my ds was he was 2/3 I told him to keep singing while I was out the room so I would always be able to hear if he was OK

Well DH and I have popped out of the bathroom since DD was about 2, she's still only 2.6. It is literally for a few seconds as the layout of our flat means that pretty much every room is only a few steps away. and we can hear her the whole time.

However, I have a feeling I'm about to be flamed, having seen previous threads on this topic.

From about 3 I popped to get PJs from a room on the samr floor. I used to hold shouty conversations with DS, though, just to make sure he was still above water . He is 6 now, enormous and can swim. I leave him for a couple of minutes at a time (while drying off DD, for example), but I still do the 'are you OK, DS?' thing every 30 secs or so.

So DH is right . Bathroom is roughly 4 footsteps from our bedroom and about 6 footsteps from DD's bedroom. Sylvanian Families have bigger houses than me!

I'm not sure how much longer I would have watched the bathroom like a hawk, I guess till she was old enough to chuck me out...

i'll go against the theme here and just politely point out that on my child first aid course, we were advised NEVER to leave a child under 5 alone, even for a few seconds, in the bath.

It is due to the risk of what is called "dry ddrowning". If they go under even for a few seconds, swallow lots of water, and then pop up again, unobserved, you might think everything is fine. However, complications can arise a few hours later as the lungs struggle to deal with the absorbed water, and if you don't know that they have swallowed water, it can take ages to find the cause of their lethargy/temp/illness. this delay in diagnosing can be the difference between life and death in a small child. Dry drowning can be fatal, a 7 year old boy was in the news not long ago who very sadly passed away due to this, and a 2 year old in our area also died a year ago, his parents did not know he has gone under in the bath and did not get him to hospital in time.

don't want to be depressing or scaring anyone, just thought it was important info to pass on. my ds is 4.8, doing well at swimming lessons, but either me or dh stays in the bathroom with him the whole time - its only 20 mins, so hardly a trial to ensure our precious one's safety.

. Right, take back my last post. I never heard of that before.

But you would presumably know if your child had gone under water?

I was gonna say that I've probably been popping out of the room to fetch pyjamas etc since DD1 was about 18 months, and since about 2 I'll often potter about in the hallway hanging washing out etc while she's splashing about. The last post has now scared me though!

The cases cited by toomuch suggest it's possible to miss it.

I'm a bit confused about the dry drowning thing- and fully prepared to be educated! Does it mean that you should seek medical treatment if your DC has gone under water? When I think back to me and my sister going swimming, there was a lot of going under and coughing and spluttering going on. Or do you mean that if a DC became ill and the parent could immediately say 'Oh, she was swimming earlier/went under the water in the bath' then the medical staff would investigate it? Isn't it something that doctors would think to ask if they saw that pattern of symptoms? I'm just thinking that being in the room wouldn't prevent the DC from going under the water as that could happen so quickly, even if the parents were within reach.

just getting on this thread
although tbh we wash the DCs' hair last so if they'd gone under we'd know

"its only 20 mins, so hardly a trial to ensure our precious one's safety"

Now there's a loaded sentence if ever I heard one.

It's about acceptable risk. To me, leaving a 3yr old in the bath while I'm in the next room where I can see and hear her is completely acceptable.

NB: sitting with her is not a trial and I am not playing fast and loose with how precious she is.

Same here stealth - my DS doesn't get his face/hair wet unless I do it and I do that last because it's cold.

He would always tell me if he swallowed a load of water too.

Yes I'm interested in how it works too pozzled - sorry to put you on the spot toomuch!

I wash hair first so we get it out of the way and then she can play. Might have to rethink that.

I leave my 5 year old to get a towel but wouldn't leave a 3 year old. They are still so little and I have read of children up to 5 that have drowned in the bath.

I think almost 5 would be my answer. I would never consider leaving the room when DD is in the bath (she's almost 3).

I only started leaving my DS1 when he was 5 and don't leave my 3 year old at all.

But my 3 year old is daft and not to be trusted alone for any length of time, not even on dry land.

Dry drowning sounds scary. ds1 insists on going under water all the time. He is 9.

Girls are 5 & 6yrs old and pretty much bathe themselves now. A bit of a hand with hair washing, but everything else is down to them and we pop in and out.

DS is 3yo and we will pop and get his PJs/Towel but he is a noisy bather and splashes and sings and shouts the whole time. Usually we dont leave him until we have pulled the plug and he is playing in the remaining inch of water!