How long , if at all, do you leave your 23 month old alone?

[cleoteacher]

Dh did a stupid thing and left pills within reach of ds , I hadn't realised they were there, when ds was alone and we were upstairs.

Rung nhs direct and was given a long lecture from the nurse about leaning ds on his own for this period of time. She stated he was too young to be on his own for this length of time and made me feel very guilty and like a bad parent.

I am due dd in feb and I must admit I have purposely been leaving ds on his own for slightly longer periods to get him used to being more independent and used to it so that come feb I am able to change dd nappy or put her to bed/nap with some quiet whilst ds plays nicely downstairs and I know he is happy on his own. Or just to go to the toilet and do some jobs upstairs during the day.

So my question is. How long do others leave their nearly 2 year old alone for? How long is an acceptable period of time to leave him?

I should add he is not just left , he is checked on, I call downstairs to check he's ok regularly and listen out for him and if it goes silent tend to go downstairs to see what's going on.

I've left mine for as long as they were happy at that age. (Probably not all that long in reality.)
I would think that they're either safe or they aren't. They could find pills in a couple of minutes.

I zone off areas of the house but still don't leave DS 27 months unattended for more than a couple of mins.
He is a nightmare though for climbing and escaping and general mischief.

He can climb over baby gates no problem and climb up the bookshelves etc.

My one respite is peppa pig - if that's on I could leave the front door wide open and he still wouldn't budge off the sofa.

Like others have said, don't beat yourself up about it, learn from it and move on. Lots of luck with your new baby

If he's not a climber, yet he reached the pills, where were they left? DH needs to be more careful...but you know that!
I can't think why two of you were upstairs so long with him downstairs. I've also taken my toddlers to the same floor as me and have often showered etc with them in their bedroom, playing with toys. I'd have left bathroom door open so they can find me if necessary. I'm afraid you'll need to step up the supervision as a newborn and toddler can be a risk together, even with lovely, kind personalities. My sister left her toddler and newborn for a couple of minutes and popped back to find my toddler nephew giving the baby a biscuit!!

It is hard, but you need to adapt. I say that as someone who has been a SAHM to a 2.5 and newborn and now I have a son with disabilities who needs watching like a hawk. I'm afraid you need to rethink how you do things...