OMG, I hope he's joking, but....

[squishy]

DH, who in a few months will be a SAHD to our unborn baby, has just asked me if he can leave the baby alone for half an hour to go for a bike ride (or 10 mins to go to the shops). My answer was a (very shocked and resounding) NO but apart from knowing this is something you just don't do, I don't know why! He keeps saying how could it be any worse (assuming LO is settled and asleep) than him falling asleep downstairs for a couple of hours.....

Any help, please ?!?!

chip kid, I really don't think that the CP team would put a child on the CP register for being left alone for a couple of minutes - besides, something would have to go wrong for that to happen (I also work in social care). Scooby - As has already been mentioned, it isn't illegal to leave your child alone.

intergalactic, VVV and satine, I hope and think you're right. Having just discussed it at length, it seems that he was just wondering about the why's of it all (very much like the thread that NCQ linked to). Just took me back a bit to hear him question it and more so when I couldn't come up with a really valid reason that he couldn't counter (other than "you just don't!").

How about, a small defenceless, helpless little being is brought into this world because you wanted it, and therefore should take responsibility in caring for the baby in any circumstance including not leaving the baby's safety to chance for the sake of an half hour cycle. He will have enough time to cycle when you are at home to look after the defenceless little baby. (That will be feeding every 2-3 hours for the first 3 months anyway, and will need winding and changing, leaving only about half an hour before the next feed anyway)

By the way, I asked my dh (who usually could sleep through a bomb explosion about his senses now that we have a baby, he replied that for some or other reason when ds just whimpers at night he's wide awake and up to check.)

squishy-I agree, leaving the child alone for a couple of minutes would not lead to registration-however the initial question suggested leaving the baby alone for half an hour to go for a bike ride and ten minutes to go to the shop. I am a child care barrister-I have seen children entered on the CPR for being repeatedly left unsupervised whilst parents go out to the shops etc.

Ask him would he be able to live with himself if some thing happened.

tbh it sounds to me as if your dh is just playing devils advokat here. Sounds like the kind of thing my dh would have asked, and yet he would have been horrified if anyone actually did it.

While i could never even entertain the idea of leaving ds in the house asleep while I went off and did something, I do think a lot of the fears we express can be somewhat irassional.

"what if there was a fire". yes it could happen but it's unlikely, what if there was a fire that started in the baby's bedroom while baby was asleep up there and the person downstairs was unable to get in to save the child. Again, highly unlikely but it could just as easily happen while an adult was in the house. "what if your dh fell off his bike and bumped his head, no-one would know the baby was home on his own". what if your dh fell down the stairs and bumped his head, no-one would know that there was a person in the house and a young baby. Again, highly unlikely, but it's possible. Fact is we just can't guard against every eventuality, and while I don't advocate leaving a child alone to go cycling, I do think that some of the arguments against are slightly irassional. Similarly the argument against leaving a sleeping child in a car "what if there was a fire or an explosion". again, highly highly unlikely, but it is something I've heard people say.

I think the best argument for not leaving a baby at home on its own is that you just don't do it, you don't have to justify why, you just don't.

I agree, wannabe, and think he was just playing devil's advocate. He has a lot of good reasoning but I don't think he'd do it now, let alone when the LO arrives, it just shocked the sh!t out of me to hear him say it!!!!

Ok so what if it's not illegal but it's a bloody stupid & irrisposible thing to even think about doing.

Thanks for that open and non-judgemental comment, Scooby!!!!!!