Would you leave your baby outside?

[paintedpanda]

So my twin boys do not sleep unless they’re in the car or pram being moved. The minute it stops, they’re awake. This morning I have walked for over an hour to the shops and back, and they fell asleep for the last 15 minutes until I walked inside the house. I have ordered a Rockit from vinted. I’m hoping it will arrive soon and I am praying it will work because otherwise I have no clue what to do. The lack of sleep is making everyone miserable, including the boys themselves.

I have a large window at the front of my house and we live in a quiet cul de sac. Very few people walk by and are almost always neighbours. I can see outside from my couch and I can easily open the window and listen out for them if they cry. I also have a next door neighbour I trust who has a similarly placed window. And a ring doorbell.

Would it be insane of me to leave my boys outside in their pram with the Rockit on? Just to give us all a moment of rest? I wouldn’t dream of moving an inch if they were outside so I would have my eyes on them all the time.
Please be gentle, from a burnt out mum!

I do this! I've got a bench in the garden so I'll often sit there or on the doorstep with a cuppa, but I will pop inside to the loo or whatever and sometimes stay inside with the window open so I can see/hear.

Also, the Rockit was an absolute game changer for me so I hope it is for you too!

I had exactly the same, but just with one so I can only guess how exhausted you are. No judgement at all.

I wouldn’t leave them alone, but I would park up outside and sit there on a deckchair or something. You might look a bit mad, but it will be so, so worth it.

Do you have a garden that nobody could access, that would be better.

I used to park on the road outside my kitchen window and regularly went in and got a cup of tea which I did then go and drink in the car purely due to judgy neighbours and my paranoia. If my twins were asleep I didn’t wake them!

I always have but I parked them at the front door or back door with the door open. Make a cuppa/lunch and sat within ear or eye sight of them. The rocket is a game changer!

Really hard to make a judgement without seeing your house / street, I’d definitely prefer them to be round the back then out front, but equals depends on your space.
If you can 100% say you can see & hear them and won’t get distracted, then I don’t really see a problem.

I used to sit on our steps and read or doomscroll.

Babies sleep amazingly outside, if you judge it to be safe then do it. I left my daughter in her pram out the back all the time, including on the depths of winter but it was an enclosed garden. I would have judged it safe to leave her outside the front window too.

Sorry… to elaborate. I wonder if the entering the house is waking them because it’s a wide pram and there is a lot of bashing around. I tried to keep rocking them when I got inside today but the damage was already done.

I’ve just checked the ring. It was actually an hour and a half I walked for, and they slept for 15 mins!! Unless I go out again today in the car or pram that will be it for the day. They are only 6 months old.

I could get into the back garden but I would need a new gate for that really. Our gate has dropped and it’s almost impossible for me to open and close it without husband’s help. It locks from the inside of the garden, so I’d have to run inside, unlock everything, then wheel them through. i also wouldn’t be able to see them from there, but would be able to hear them with a window open.

Can you not bring them inside and have the Rockit inside? I had a similar baby and managed to get her up the 1 step to our house without her waking up.

I’m not judging but just thinking your solution may not work too well if it’s raining hard plus if they are inside you can relax/snooze and don’t have to remain watching them.

I always did the same, you can see/hear them I don't see the issue

Sorry cross posted, I see about the bashing waking them. What buggy do you have ? Hugely recommend the 360 nipper double, it fits well through a standard doorway and second hand is readily available. So easy to push too.

I used to do this. I'd leave the pram/buggy outside the window, in full view of me. Two dogs used to bark like mad if anyone came near. We live in a quiet rural area. My two loved being outside in their prams and there are interesting things to watch when they are old enough to pay more attention: birds, trees, clouds, etc.

In the back garden yes absolutely always did this.

We have a tandem. The problem is the normal sized front door is restricted because the million coats behind it (which I need to sort!), a narrow porch, a normal sized internal door, then a really tight turn. I just haven’t got it mastered yet.

Sounds tricky! If you got the coats moved would you be able to leave them just inside the front door?

Just as an alternative as you said they sleep in the car, I kept my kindle in the car and spent a small fortune in drive thrus. I felt a bit guilty about leaving the engine running but just try to make up for it in other ways.

It's a no brainer, just do it! We lived in a cul de sac when my children were babies and I regularly did this.Rest is vital for your wellbeing! X

I used to do this every day but luckily we have a back garden with a side gate so I'd leave her there. I think I would do it in your situation, maybe sit outside though, now the weather is better.

My DD used to fall asleep in the car seat. I used to open all the car doors and left her. I was in the lounge. This was nearly 30 years ago and there were not warnings about sleeping in a car seat. I checked the car temperature often.

I used to park mine under a tree in the garden. It was the back garden though.

Replace the gate with one that can be opened easily using a key from either side, and sort the coats out. The second will make your life better right now, and the first will make your life better as soon as it's done because you can wheel your pram into the back garden after a walk, and also years into the future when the kids get old enough to want to take their bikes from the back garden to the street.

My dd was very similar in terms of being easy to wake. To much horror, we dropped to one nap a day at aprox 5 months old and it was an absolute game changer - she'd get a much better long nap than 2/crappy ones.

Being able to drop a nap would be perfect, but the boys sleep so little that there is no nap to drop. They’re still awake now. So from 8am when they woke up they’ve had 15 minutes sleep.

DH made a very good point that if I left them at the front door with it open I wouldn’t even be that far away, maybe around 3 metres. They’d be more in my eye line than if they were by the window. I think I will start doing that.
Thank you for all the comments making me feel like I’m not a completely negligent mum for even thinking about it!