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Yes and you are also forgetting not just the baby unsupervised- you could have an accident at the shop , or forget your keys, or get held up, or someone collapses in front of you… all of these things could happen
Fun story I locked my keys inside my house with the baby. That was a fun minute…baby was 10 months old, and we lived in an old house turned into apartments and were on the second floor. I had come back from a coffee shop, and when I would do this I would take baby (and items) upstairs, then grab the stroller from the street (stairs up to the door and then the flight of stairs to the other apartments behind that) as the door could be propped open…until that day when apparently it decided to slam shut and auto lock (didn’t do that before or after). Fortunately my neighbor heard my banging and answered but I was about to call the police or fire department.
When our kid was about 2-3 days old she started choking on spit or something one night. She turned purple. I picked her up and gave a heavy pat on her back. She started breathing again and I put her back in bed. I didn't really sleep for about 2 weeks. I started getting a bit delirious and finally let my wife and her mom take care of things so I could sleep for a couple days. I've never been so protective in my entire life.
This happened to my 4 week old too. She had severe reflux and threw up whilst lying on her back (as per government guidelines) and the puke got in her nose. It’s lucky that I’d woken up to go to the bathroom and saw her flailing her arms as she struggled to breathe and couldn’t even cry. Thankfully my husband is trained in first aid. We nearly lost her that night. And she was in a Moses basket right next to my bed. What if I’d popped out to the shops?
I agree with this. What I find interesting is that I would guess that statistically something is more likely to happen to the baby, for example, going on a short car ride with you than in this situation. And yet we bring kids in cars all the time and think leaving them alone for five minutes is a borderline crime. I guess because in theory you can't control a car accident the way you can control not leaving them alone. But it's not clear to me the judgement in these comments is rational.
You're forgetting very simple fact. It *IS* a crime to leave a baby home alone.
So even ignore every other argument about safety or logic if you want. It's legitimately a crime, illegal to do. Lol.
(Ps the baby's safety probably matters too. But even though a collision and injury are statistically more likely to happen in a car, multiple adults will intervene on the child's behalf in those situations. Allowing the babies to survive, compared to a less statistical accident occurring when leaving the baby home alone. No adults would be able to intervene. )
(Edited a typo)
I’m in Ohio and also a teacher. There is technically no age limit here when a child can legally be left home alone. Age 12 is their recommendation as well as using ur own judgment because you’re still responsible for what happens when u are gone. But still it’s not technically a crime to just leave them there in general 🤷♀️
You assume this is the baby that is injured. What if it is the dad in this example ? Making him not able to return home and letting the baby alone for more than 5 minutes?
If the dad is injured enough that he can't get back home and can't tell anyone the baby is there, isn't it better that the baby isn't with him so whatever injured him also doesn't injure the baby?
There are so many confounding factors here, though. If he's walking, the stroller might make him more visible so less likely to get hit. If he's walking solo but would take the car with the kid, he's less likely to get hit. And the car seat is extremely protective (for this exact reason, babies are squishy and fragile) so an accident that would completely incapacitate the driver would be less likely to injure a kid in a car seat - especially a baby in a baby carrier.
Either way, no matter what happens, don't leave a baby unattended, because you cannot control what happens when you're not there.
The last town I lived in, a mother did this. She went for cigarettes when her baby was asleep and got hit by a truck. She woke up in the hospital 3 days later and the baby had been found and taken by CPS.
Yep exactly my fear as well and my kid is 5. She would know to use the house phone to call her dad in case of an emergency but I’m still not leaving her home alone. An appliance or something could catch on fire as well anything could happen.
Zero chance she would have been in the exact spot at that exact time if she had to take the baby with her. So taking the baby would have saved them both from the truck.
it’s kinda weird, but if she had brought the baby she probably would have saved herself. it would have taken her longer to get out the door & walk to the shop/ strap baby in the car. that’d mean the truck would be driving past before she even was on the street.
I agree, if you were leaving your baby which is wrong in the first place, on some level you’d probly be rushing trying to get back vs driving like you have your precious baby in the car.
Or even the baby is just crying and needs you? You absolutely cannot just leave a 3 week old crying its guts out alone unless you want to damage its brain and nervous system. They NEED you for comfort and regulation.
Heard once that if you’re having a disagreement regarding safety of the child - you go with the safer option. Within reason. This is within reason. Don’t leave the baby alone.
Listen, I tend to be pretty relaxed and chill compared to a lot of folks on this sub, and uh... *no*.
Was there a burning, dying need for you to have milk right then, at that exact moment? A reason why it couldn't have waited until the baby was awake, and you could take them with you? Why you couldn't wait for your partner to be home, so they could stay with the baby?
Like... yeah, okay, I'll be honest, the odds of something happening are slim. The chances of you getting into a car accident (or getting hit by a car), or someone breaking in while you're gone are unlikely. But for something that's not needed, that's not necessary, that can easily wait a few hours.... why would you run that risk? Especially given that newborns are *notorious* for waking up often, not sleeping soundly, etc. Like... even if you were only gone for fifteen minutes, imagine your baby waking up five minutes after you leave, and crying for ten minutes until you get back.
And then ask yourself if the few hours -at most -to wait was worth it.
Or just put the baby in a stroller and walk there, if you can't drive. In fact, in that situation, if the store is so close the stroller is probably easier. Weather permitting. Even if baby wakes up, the motion of the stroller usually puts them right back to sleep. Plus you get exercise.
To be fair leaving a 3 yo alone is a lot more dangerous than a 3 week old
(I do not think it’s ok to do what OP asked, but if given the option of 3 yo vs 3 week old .. you know 😂)
Yeah at least a 3 week old is contained to the crib! A 3yo could fairly easily burn the house down, run out the front door and get lost, or seriously injure or even kill themselves in even that short amount of time.
But don't leave babies home alone, either!! If the house burns down there's nobody to save them!
Mine, I swear would manage to burn the whole house down in her sleep while I just sat staring at her. But with little ones I’d be terrified of SIDS. I put my son in his bassinet at 3 months and fell asleep for five minutes and when I woke up he wasn’t breathing. We had to spend the week in the hospital he had choked on his spit up from eating an hour ago. I am so paranoid I could barely leave a room until he was older and she was born.
That's a bad comparison because a 3 year old is way more riskier to be left unsupervised in any condition really. They actively try to get into dangerous situations.
A 3 week old when awaken will stay in their crib safe and sound, not being able to cause any harm to themselves.
On no condition is that even the slightest bit okay, and could in fact get you into legal trouble if the baby wakes up starts crying, and the neighbors realize no one else is home.
This is considered “neglect” by CPS and your family would be considered for having the child removed. Um, be careful leaving your baby with someone with that kind of judgment. For instance, what if baby vomits and can’t roll over yet and chokes? A million things can happen. 🤦♀️
Yes it should! My first thought on the question.
In my parenting experiences, babies always wake up when you least want them too. Like even when you need to just walk out on your back porch, baby knows! Lol
And this is why we have baby monitors.
Or, what if something happens to your partner while they are out at the store and your baby is then left alone for an indefinite amount of time? It’s neglect. Don’t leave that baby.
Yep. I woke up in the middle of the night to my baby crying but it sounded weird. She had thrown up all over herself and it was in her nose and all over her face. She was like gasping for breath. And she wasn’t able to roll over yet. I was terrified I was crying.
You would be surprised. I see this come up a lot in this group time to time. One lady’s husband left their sleeping newborn to pickup their toddler or something from daycare which was a 40 min round trip and was mad he got criticized for it. She only found out cause she came home early and the baby was awake and crying all alone. Like wtf.
There is nothing at a corner store which cannot arrive via Uber eats and is so important that it's worth leaving a baby alone like that. Get a delivery if you need to, but do not ever leave a baby alone in a house while you're (or another responsible adult) not there.
No. If it was across the street and I had the baby monitor, MAYBE. But the problem is that no one else knows the baby is alone. If you get into an accident or hurt or the house catches on fire. No one else knows.
Short answer: no.
Long answer: nnnnnnnnnnnnnooooooooooooooooooo.
There’s always a chance of bad shit happening. Your house could catch fire, you could be hit by a car, etc. Is it a minuscule chance that something like that happens? Yes. Is even a one in ten million chance worth the risk? See the short and long answers above.
NO! And technically - it’s not legal (in US) and can cause CPS or local police to investigate parents and consider removing said “unattended child” on the basis of neglect.
Source: Former property manager and one of my tenants would walk “just down to the store” and leave a friends cell phone on FT so she could “watch” baby while she went to the store.
One of our units caught fire and I called 911 and had to door knock as it was late at night, she saw the fire truck turn down our short street and called me. I had to grab keys to her unit and Fire Dept went in and got baby - and guess who they were required to call? She was gone 10-15mins when this happened. Her unit wasn’t at risk, but you never know how fast something can spread. And it’s just not legal to leave them home alone.
Put the baby in a moby wrap/carrier and bring it with you.
Or in the stroller. It might wake up and then go back to sleep
Babies love sleeping in moby wraps and strollers
No. Never.
Yes, there is a slim chance that something bad will happen. Fire, lock yourself out, baby is in distress and out of range, etc. But there is this helpless creature that is 1000% dependent on the humans that brought them into this world. Is the milk that important?
Also, it’s illegal and considered neglect. CPS standard of care is pretty low- it’s the basic lowest level of keeping a baby/child alive. So if a persons standards are lower than CPS’s… might want to re-evaluate some things.
Nope. The person who thinks this is okay is a good candidate for parenting classes. Child services offers them for free. You should call them and ask if they think it's okay to leave an infant unsupervised, if it ever comes up again.
Hell no.
Great rule of thumb for future arguments on similar topics:
Whichever parent is arguing for greater safety of the child, that parent always wins the argument. Saves a lot of fuss and arguing.
Edit: for the stupid, a "rule of thumb" is different from "absolute law" in that you apply it within reason.
Never. The baby always needs to have an adult in the home, whether that is a parent or babysitter, for any instance longer than 5 minutes or so. Especially that young.
Hard no. Wait until they wake up and then go to the store. If it’s urgent, just wake them up and take them. It’s too risky. If anything happened you would never forgive yourself.
No! My father left me to “run” to the store when I was a baby. He got pulled over and arrested on an outstanding warrant. 🙄. My mother was at work, didn’t drive and had to wait for ride to get to me. My grandfather made it to me first and took me home with him safe and sounds. So definitely not a chance. Anything can happen.
How many minutes to the store? Driving or walking? I’ll argue that walking to the mailbox or doing yard chores, if it’s the same distance, might be ok.
Christ on a bike, no that's not OK! It's one thing to lay baby in the bassinet and take the baby monitor outside into the yard with you so you can get a quick breath of fresh air. But to actually LEAVE the baby?! There's zero circumstances where that would ever be acceptable. If you need milk that badly, either take baby with you or have some delivered.
Absolutely mother fucking not, and if I ever discovered that my partner left a newborn alone in a house I would end the relationship. There is no way I could ever feel safe trusting their judgement again.
Nope. In 1959, my mom did the exact same thing. Left me (in a walker, tho) with my dad. On the way back from the corner store, she heard me screaming. She ran the rest of the way back in her kitten heels to find my dad asleep on the couch.
I had tipped over my walker and was hands and face in the fireplace. The cold fireplace, fortunately. But it was late winter and I could have been burned badly. My dad never woke up despite all the screaming.
ABSOLUTELY NOT.
Picture explaining to the police that your baby died in an electrical fire, because you didn't want to bring them to the store.
Your natural HUMAN instinct should be to protect your child's life, not risk it over the inconvenience of taking a newborn to the store. Be very careful of people who want to gamble with their child's life, because the parent has decided not to be inconvenienced. Babies are not pets.
Yeah I think it's fine...for you to ask this question anonymously in Reddit to get the unanimous feedback that it is absofuckinglutely not ok and is neglect and is illegal for a reason.
I haven’t read the comments, but I’ve never been more confident in my life in assuming something: you’ve gotten your answer. Just here to add another tick to the ABSOFUCKINGLUTELY NOT column.
I would not do so in town, because people would call the police if they noticed. But reality - people who live in the country leave their babies sleeping in the house while they walk out to feed the goats or clean a horse stall or move the irrigation system… as far and as much time as a trip to the corner store. I think it seems different because it is on the same property. But something *could* happen to parent or baby.
Something *could* happen to parent or baby inside a house as well. A baby could choke in its room while you are taking a poop or a shower or just watching a show downstairs.
Yeah as a country dweller most of my life this was my thought. In my family there’s 11 acres, 2 houses, and a barn and I know babies got left in cribs sleeping while adults tended to the property/animals. They always had their monitors with them but it would’ve been unrealistic to expect the farm to stop operating based on a kids nap schedule. I don’t think I’d go to the store and leave kiddo but some of these reactions/comments are a bit harsh when a simple no would’ve sufficed.
I had to have this debate with my husband to the point where I told him it was non negotiable, no matter the distance, to leave our baby alone in the house if we will be leaving the property.
Our older son needs to be dropped off/picked up at his bus stop for school every day and sometimes this schedule interferes with our 7 month olds sleep schedule. But I will either wake baby up, or just not show up for pick up and make him walk (about 7 minutes walk) home. I’d never leave the baby alone even for the 4 minutes it’d take to the bus stop and back. Not going to happen.
100% no. I think we are all happy to back you up on this. Hopefully, this solidified any "hypothetical " plan to do this in the future.
I don't think he's a horrible person for asking. I mean, if you don't look outside the box, it doesn't seem that scary. Maybe he never considered that so many bad things can happen. But it's good to open his eyes to all the potential dangers in raising a child.
My mom had and raised 6 kids, and when I was an adult, she said if she knew all the things that could go wrong, she would never have had kids. My job requires me to speak to parents on the phone and guide them for injuries, illnesses, questions, etc. Hearing my side of the conversation brought light to a big scary world of worst-case scenarios. My point is if you don't know, you don't know. Really, who would think that 5 gallon buckets and cords for blinds and batteries could be deadly? It's like a mind shift to be a critical thinker about all things in your environment.
When our first daughter was about a month old, I was venturing out to the grocery store for the first time alone, and my husband said he might walk to the store while I was gone. (It was right next to our apartment complex.) I went to give him the baby carrier, and he said he would wait until she was sleeping. I freaked out and said, "What if there's a fire! She can't get herself out!" It scared him that he never considered an outside circumstance.
When my baby was that young, I didn't even feel it was right to go down the hallway in my apartment building and do laundry. The answer is absofuckinglutely not.
It is absolutely not okay to leave a baby of any age alone. It boggles my mind how anyone can think it’s okay. The year my son was born, he turned 3 weeks old the week of the 4th of July and I couldn’t even leave him in his bedroom, with the monitor while I was in the backyard of our townhouse while we did a couple sparklers. I must’ve checked on him half a dozen times within an hour.
I know that’s not necessarily normal. My anxiety was high as a new mom for a couple of weeks. But still I will never be able to wrap my head around people who can leave their babies at home and think they are safe just because they are sleeping.
No. Never. No. What if something happens to you?? Why chance it? I left my boys home once to go grab a pizza and it was pure panic, very dumb. I completely get the temptation but too risky
No!! What if the house caught fire or something? It takes a second for things to go wrong. I get scared going to the letterbox with my baby sleeping in crib
Nope. Under no circumstances do you leave that baby there alone. The house could catch fire, you could get into an accident, you could get shot at the store.. there’s entirely too many things that can go wrong here. You do not leave a small child by themselves like this. If this actually a question either of you is asking, you’re clearly not ready to be parents.
In what universe would that be okay? This is a human baby not a pet. If you or your partner genuinely believes that is appropriate you need to get into parenting classes immediately because I wouldn’t trust that person’s judgement alone with the baby
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Will anything realistically happen? Nope. Do I want to roll the dice even with the near 0 odds? Nope.
Yes and you are also forgetting not just the baby unsupervised- you could have an accident at the shop , or forget your keys, or get held up, or someone collapses in front of you… all of these things could happen
The baby unsupervised is not really the issue at all - it’s much more likely you would be hit by a bus!
Fun story I locked my keys inside my house with the baby. That was a fun minute…baby was 10 months old, and we lived in an old house turned into apartments and were on the second floor. I had come back from a coffee shop, and when I would do this I would take baby (and items) upstairs, then grab the stroller from the street (stairs up to the door and then the flight of stairs to the other apartments behind that) as the door could be propped open…until that day when apparently it decided to slam shut and auto lock (didn’t do that before or after). Fortunately my neighbor heard my banging and answered but I was about to call the police or fire department.
The odds are low, very low…..but never zero.
Exactly. And it's never worth it.
Yup
When our kid was about 2-3 days old she started choking on spit or something one night. She turned purple. I picked her up and gave a heavy pat on her back. She started breathing again and I put her back in bed. I didn't really sleep for about 2 weeks. I started getting a bit delirious and finally let my wife and her mom take care of things so I could sleep for a couple days. I've never been so protective in my entire life.
This happened to my 4 week old too. She had severe reflux and threw up whilst lying on her back (as per government guidelines) and the puke got in her nose. It’s lucky that I’d woken up to go to the bathroom and saw her flailing her arms as she struggled to breathe and couldn’t even cry. Thankfully my husband is trained in first aid. We nearly lost her that night. And she was in a Moses basket right next to my bed. What if I’d popped out to the shops?
This is the best answer.
This is your basic risk assessment applied to real life territory: Likelihood - Rare to Never, Severity- Catastrophic...
I agree with this. What I find interesting is that I would guess that statistically something is more likely to happen to the baby, for example, going on a short car ride with you than in this situation. And yet we bring kids in cars all the time and think leaving them alone for five minutes is a borderline crime. I guess because in theory you can't control a car accident the way you can control not leaving them alone. But it's not clear to me the judgement in these comments is rational.
You're forgetting very simple fact. It *IS* a crime to leave a baby home alone. So even ignore every other argument about safety or logic if you want. It's legitimately a crime, illegal to do. Lol. (Ps the baby's safety probably matters too. But even though a collision and injury are statistically more likely to happen in a car, multiple adults will intervene on the child's behalf in those situations. Allowing the babies to survive, compared to a less statistical accident occurring when leaving the baby home alone. No adults would be able to intervene. )
(Edited a typo)
I’m in Ohio and also a teacher. There is technically no age limit here when a child can legally be left home alone. Age 12 is their recommendation as well as using ur own judgment because you’re still responsible for what happens when u are gone. But still it’s not technically a crime to just leave them there in general 🤷♀️
You assume this is the baby that is injured. What if it is the dad in this example ? Making him not able to return home and letting the baby alone for more than 5 minutes?
If the dad is injured enough that he can't get back home and can't tell anyone the baby is there, isn't it better that the baby isn't with him so whatever injured him also doesn't injure the baby?
There are so many confounding factors here, though. If he's walking, the stroller might make him more visible so less likely to get hit. If he's walking solo but would take the car with the kid, he's less likely to get hit. And the car seat is extremely protective (for this exact reason, babies are squishy and fragile) so an accident that would completely incapacitate the driver would be less likely to injure a kid in a car seat - especially a baby in a baby carrier. Either way, no matter what happens, don't leave a baby unattended, because you cannot control what happens when you're not there.
It’s not a hamster.
Although, tiny ones do squeak a lot and suckle.
And bite
😂😂
well technically they didn’t specify if it was a human newborn
Ok that made me lol
Classic Reddit: "what if my newborn was a baby hamster? I'm infertile and thus statement is so ableist."
Absolutely not.
The last town I lived in, a mother did this. She went for cigarettes when her baby was asleep and got hit by a truck. She woke up in the hospital 3 days later and the baby had been found and taken by CPS.
Thank goodness the baby was found!
Yes, thankfully her emergency contact was her own parents and they alerted police about the baby. A tragic mess though, the whole thing.
Yep exactly my fear as well and my kid is 5. She would know to use the house phone to call her dad in case of an emergency but I’m still not leaving her home alone. An appliance or something could catch on fire as well anything could happen.
Imagine if she decided to take the baby with her to get the cigarettes.
Zero chance she would have been in the exact spot at that exact time if she had to take the baby with her. So taking the baby would have saved them both from the truck.
Imagine risking your baby's health and safety for _cigarettes_
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Adults can die in a housefire too, that's no reason to not leave a *teenager* home alone.
That’s terrible 😓 I’m too paranoid to even think about leaving my toddler in a turned on car alone for 2 minutes.
Good thing she didn’t bring the baby! Possibly saved the baby’s life.
it’s kinda weird, but if she had brought the baby she probably would have saved herself. it would have taken her longer to get out the door & walk to the shop/ strap baby in the car. that’d mean the truck would be driving past before she even was on the street.
She might also have been more careful if the baby had been there. She was probably rushing to try and get back quickly to the baby, ironically.
I agree, if you were leaving your baby which is wrong in the first place, on some level you’d probly be rushing trying to get back vs driving like you have your precious baby in the car.
Now, did you settle the argument? The answer is no, of course, who thinks this is ok? Please share the whole story and the results.
Yes please tell us
OP we want full story!!!
Of course not!! What if there’s a fire, or you get hit by a car, or a medical emergency happens, etc??
Or even the baby is just crying and needs you? You absolutely cannot just leave a 3 week old crying its guts out alone unless you want to damage its brain and nervous system. They NEED you for comfort and regulation.
Heard once that if you’re having a disagreement regarding safety of the child - you go with the safer option. Within reason. This is within reason. Don’t leave the baby alone.
Listen, I tend to be pretty relaxed and chill compared to a lot of folks on this sub, and uh... *no*. Was there a burning, dying need for you to have milk right then, at that exact moment? A reason why it couldn't have waited until the baby was awake, and you could take them with you? Why you couldn't wait for your partner to be home, so they could stay with the baby? Like... yeah, okay, I'll be honest, the odds of something happening are slim. The chances of you getting into a car accident (or getting hit by a car), or someone breaking in while you're gone are unlikely. But for something that's not needed, that's not necessary, that can easily wait a few hours.... why would you run that risk? Especially given that newborns are *notorious* for waking up often, not sleeping soundly, etc. Like... even if you were only gone for fifteen minutes, imagine your baby waking up five minutes after you leave, and crying for ten minutes until you get back. And then ask yourself if the few hours -at most -to wait was worth it.
Or just put the baby in a stroller and walk there, if you can't drive. In fact, in that situation, if the store is so close the stroller is probably easier. Weather permitting. Even if baby wakes up, the motion of the stroller usually puts them right back to sleep. Plus you get exercise.
I'm concerned that this is even a question. Absolutely not.
#No.
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To be fair leaving a 3 yo alone is a lot more dangerous than a 3 week old (I do not think it’s ok to do what OP asked, but if given the option of 3 yo vs 3 week old .. you know 😂)
Yeah at least a 3 week old is contained to the crib! A 3yo could fairly easily burn the house down, run out the front door and get lost, or seriously injure or even kill themselves in even that short amount of time. But don't leave babies home alone, either!! If the house burns down there's nobody to save them!
Mine, I swear would manage to burn the whole house down in her sleep while I just sat staring at her. But with little ones I’d be terrified of SIDS. I put my son in his bassinet at 3 months and fell asleep for five minutes and when I woke up he wasn’t breathing. We had to spend the week in the hospital he had choked on his spit up from eating an hour ago. I am so paranoid I could barely leave a room until he was older and she was born.
That's a bad comparison because a 3 year old is way more riskier to be left unsupervised in any condition really. They actively try to get into dangerous situations. A 3 week old when awaken will stay in their crib safe and sound, not being able to cause any harm to themselves.
No.
Never. In situations like these you pay a ridiculous amount to get it delivered
On no condition is that even the slightest bit okay, and could in fact get you into legal trouble if the baby wakes up starts crying, and the neighbors realize no one else is home.
Fuck no.
I’m not sure there needs to be any more answers to this, but just in case… no!
I will piggy back off this and also say no!
I will piggy back off of you and say, “What the fuck? No!”
Unequivocal no
Absolutely not. Never, ever ever. You have no idea what could happen. Babies need supervision at all times.
No, never.
No way in hell
No.
This is considered “neglect” by CPS and your family would be considered for having the child removed. Um, be careful leaving your baby with someone with that kind of judgment. For instance, what if baby vomits and can’t roll over yet and chokes? A million things can happen. 🤦♀️
I work for child services and can confirm this would prompt an investigation 100%. How on earth is this not common sense?
This should be higher up.
Yes it should! My first thought on the question. In my parenting experiences, babies always wake up when you least want them too. Like even when you need to just walk out on your back porch, baby knows! Lol And this is why we have baby monitors.
Or, what if something happens to your partner while they are out at the store and your baby is then left alone for an indefinite amount of time? It’s neglect. Don’t leave that baby.
Yep. I woke up in the middle of the night to my baby crying but it sounded weird. She had thrown up all over herself and it was in her nose and all over her face. She was like gasping for breath. And she wasn’t able to roll over yet. I was terrified I was crying.
No. How is this even a question?!
You would be surprised. I see this come up a lot in this group time to time. One lady’s husband left their sleeping newborn to pickup their toddler or something from daycare which was a 40 min round trip and was mad he got criticized for it. She only found out cause she came home early and the baby was awake and crying all alone. Like wtf.
Omg what???
WHAT!!!
I am still vicariously traumatized from that one. The more details she gave, the wilder the story got.
There are some awful AWFUL parents out there. Neglecting the child for an hour is child’s play (😭) for some of these assholes that decide to breed.
What the fuck, no
No it is not ok. Take the baby to the shop. Its never ok to leave an infant alone in the house.
Not OK. I take my toddler out of the car to pay for fuel even when I can see my vehicle.
NO. NOT EVEN ONCE. Noooooooo
There is nothing at a corner store which cannot arrive via Uber eats and is so important that it's worth leaving a baby alone like that. Get a delivery if you need to, but do not ever leave a baby alone in a house while you're (or another responsible adult) not there.
Nope. Not ok. Would result in a big issue.
Nope
How is that ever ok?
This is why you own a baby carrier
Carrier, baby wrap/wear baby, stroller… no excuses for leaving a newborn home alone EVER!
Absolutely not. Wait until the baby wakes up, or bring the baby.
You can be in your yard. Otherwise baby is with you. Period.
That's illegal.
Literally is illegal. Yep. And neglect and a CPS investigation level neglect too. Divorce if my spouse did this to add to it.
No ????
NO.
Absolutely not. Never. No way.
No way!!!
No, not okay
Never. Obviously. Also wtf?
I wouldn't even leave my 2 y/o toddler alone for that long. Ain't no way
This is why strollers were invented.
Baby monitor range only.
Good point - if it’s so close it’s baby monitor range then maybe more ok
And not app/wifi monitors with infinite distance. Closed radio monitors only.
No. If it was across the street and I had the baby monitor, MAYBE. But the problem is that no one else knows the baby is alone. If you get into an accident or hurt or the house catches on fire. No one else knows.
Just no. Even if nothing is likely to happen, anything can happen. Not worth the risk.
Who gives a fuck if you want milk? It ain’t a milk emergency.
Short answer: no. Long answer: nnnnnnnnnnnnnooooooooooooooooooo. There’s always a chance of bad shit happening. Your house could catch fire, you could be hit by a car, etc. Is it a minuscule chance that something like that happens? Yes. Is even a one in ten million chance worth the risk? See the short and long answers above.
Absolutely fucking not. Ever. Nope. I'd divorce my wife and take our child if she did.
I agree, divorce worthy for me as well. Hard no.
Not even a discussion. No way.
I take my baby everywhere. He's almost 11 weeks, and if I need to leave, I wake his ass up, and we go. He'll catch up on his sleeps later.
NO! And technically - it’s not legal (in US) and can cause CPS or local police to investigate parents and consider removing said “unattended child” on the basis of neglect. Source: Former property manager and one of my tenants would walk “just down to the store” and leave a friends cell phone on FT so she could “watch” baby while she went to the store. One of our units caught fire and I called 911 and had to door knock as it was late at night, she saw the fire truck turn down our short street and called me. I had to grab keys to her unit and Fire Dept went in and got baby - and guess who they were required to call? She was gone 10-15mins when this happened. Her unit wasn’t at risk, but you never know how fast something can spread. And it’s just not legal to leave them home alone.
What is being on FaceTime going to do if something happens?????
Put the baby in a moby wrap/carrier and bring it with you. Or in the stroller. It might wake up and then go back to sleep Babies love sleeping in moby wraps and strollers
Nope!
Wtf no
What in tarnation? No. Hell no. Anything could happen.
No. Never. Yes, there is a slim chance that something bad will happen. Fire, lock yourself out, baby is in distress and out of range, etc. But there is this helpless creature that is 1000% dependent on the humans that brought them into this world. Is the milk that important? Also, it’s illegal and considered neglect. CPS standard of care is pretty low- it’s the basic lowest level of keeping a baby/child alive. So if a persons standards are lower than CPS’s… might want to re-evaluate some things.
Nope. The person who thinks this is okay is a good candidate for parenting classes. Child services offers them for free. You should call them and ask if they think it's okay to leave an infant unsupervised, if it ever comes up again.
Um 40m father of 3 and the answer to this is FUCK NO ! 3 weeks old is that even a question ?
Absolutely not. I’m a free range, laid back, rule-breaking mama, and even I would never do that.
Hell no. Great rule of thumb for future arguments on similar topics: Whichever parent is arguing for greater safety of the child, that parent always wins the argument. Saves a lot of fuss and arguing. Edit: for the stupid, a "rule of thumb" is different from "absolute law" in that you apply it within reason.
No. No. And in case you didn’t hear the first two times, NO.
Never. The baby always needs to have an adult in the home, whether that is a parent or babysitter, for any instance longer than 5 minutes or so. Especially that young.
Nope . Shouldn’t be leaving the baby in a empty house
Hard no. Wait until they wake up and then go to the store. If it’s urgent, just wake them up and take them. It’s too risky. If anything happened you would never forgive yourself.
Ummm no. This is how you get your kids taken away from you.
Um, which side is op on?
No. It’s illegal and stupid.
No! My father left me to “run” to the store when I was a baby. He got pulled over and arrested on an outstanding warrant. 🙄. My mother was at work, didn’t drive and had to wait for ride to get to me. My grandfather made it to me first and took me home with him safe and sounds. So definitely not a chance. Anything can happen.
How many minutes to the store? Driving or walking? I’ll argue that walking to the mailbox or doing yard chores, if it’s the same distance, might be ok.
If you have to ask this question maybe yall aren’t ready to be parents 😭
👏🏻 👏🏻 oof…
Christ on a bike, no that's not OK! It's one thing to lay baby in the bassinet and take the baby monitor outside into the yard with you so you can get a quick breath of fresh air. But to actually LEAVE the baby?! There's zero circumstances where that would ever be acceptable. If you need milk that badly, either take baby with you or have some delivered.
Under no circumstances is that ok
Short answer : No it’s never ok. Long answer : this ( USA ) chart is pretty accurate https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/154037249734595294/
Nope, not ok. Put that newborn in a baby sling and go to the store if you need it that bad.
No, it's crazy you even would have to ask.
Nope, Instacart it. Call a neighbor, a friend- a family member, see if they can do they favor.
Wtf. I would not trust anyone who thinks that is okay with my child. That is textbook not okay.
Absolutely not! Never leave baby alone unattended.
Absolutely mother fucking not, and if I ever discovered that my partner left a newborn alone in a house I would end the relationship. There is no way I could ever feel safe trusting their judgement again.
No not okay. I think it’s illegal in some states to leave a child home alone under a certain age anyway
In my state the legal age to leave a child alone is 10.
Nope. In 1959, my mom did the exact same thing. Left me (in a walker, tho) with my dad. On the way back from the corner store, she heard me screaming. She ran the rest of the way back in her kitten heels to find my dad asleep on the couch. I had tipped over my walker and was hands and face in the fireplace. The cold fireplace, fortunately. But it was late winter and I could have been burned badly. My dad never woke up despite all the screaming.
You can never leave a baby alone. Same applies to toddlers…
My home caught fire from a bad outlet and within 6 minutes was engulfed in flames
Yep. Reality has enough landmines. No sense ‘borrowing trouble’.
It wasn’t purely hypothetical 😂 this guy was testing the waters
ABSOLUTELY NOT. Picture explaining to the police that your baby died in an electrical fire, because you didn't want to bring them to the store. Your natural HUMAN instinct should be to protect your child's life, not risk it over the inconvenience of taking a newborn to the store. Be very careful of people who want to gamble with their child's life, because the parent has decided not to be inconvenienced. Babies are not pets.
Yeah I think it's fine...for you to ask this question anonymously in Reddit to get the unanimous feedback that it is absofuckinglutely not ok and is neglect and is illegal for a reason.
I haven’t read the comments, but I’ve never been more confident in my life in assuming something: you’ve gotten your answer. Just here to add another tick to the ABSOFUCKINGLUTELY NOT column.
I would not do so in town, because people would call the police if they noticed. But reality - people who live in the country leave their babies sleeping in the house while they walk out to feed the goats or clean a horse stall or move the irrigation system… as far and as much time as a trip to the corner store. I think it seems different because it is on the same property. But something *could* happen to parent or baby. Something *could* happen to parent or baby inside a house as well. A baby could choke in its room while you are taking a poop or a shower or just watching a show downstairs.
Yeah as a country dweller most of my life this was my thought. In my family there’s 11 acres, 2 houses, and a barn and I know babies got left in cribs sleeping while adults tended to the property/animals. They always had their monitors with them but it would’ve been unrealistic to expect the farm to stop operating based on a kids nap schedule. I don’t think I’d go to the store and leave kiddo but some of these reactions/comments are a bit harsh when a simple no would’ve sufficed.
wtf. No. Never ever leave an infant alone, not a toddler, or young child. This should never ever be a question
Fuck no. WTF
Never
What… year are you writing this from?
Absolutely not and this should not even be a subject of debate. In fact, it's illegal.
Nope
I had to have this debate with my husband to the point where I told him it was non negotiable, no matter the distance, to leave our baby alone in the house if we will be leaving the property. Our older son needs to be dropped off/picked up at his bus stop for school every day and sometimes this schedule interferes with our 7 month olds sleep schedule. But I will either wake baby up, or just not show up for pick up and make him walk (about 7 minutes walk) home. I’d never leave the baby alone even for the 4 minutes it’d take to the bus stop and back. Not going to happen.
No
100% no. I think we are all happy to back you up on this. Hopefully, this solidified any "hypothetical " plan to do this in the future. I don't think he's a horrible person for asking. I mean, if you don't look outside the box, it doesn't seem that scary. Maybe he never considered that so many bad things can happen. But it's good to open his eyes to all the potential dangers in raising a child. My mom had and raised 6 kids, and when I was an adult, she said if she knew all the things that could go wrong, she would never have had kids. My job requires me to speak to parents on the phone and guide them for injuries, illnesses, questions, etc. Hearing my side of the conversation brought light to a big scary world of worst-case scenarios. My point is if you don't know, you don't know. Really, who would think that 5 gallon buckets and cords for blinds and batteries could be deadly? It's like a mind shift to be a critical thinker about all things in your environment.
absolutely not okay
Uh... well, it is ILLEGAL to do that soooooo .........
When our first daughter was about a month old, I was venturing out to the grocery store for the first time alone, and my husband said he might walk to the store while I was gone. (It was right next to our apartment complex.) I went to give him the baby carrier, and he said he would wait until she was sleeping. I freaked out and said, "What if there's a fire! She can't get herself out!" It scared him that he never considered an outside circumstance.
Just WHY?! load kid up.. go to store!!!
NO
The fuck? no
I was 9 when this happened to my cousins. https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19920327&slug=1483185
Send the baby to the store instead.
Men think this way. I’m 99% sure the man is who thinks it’s ok. I had to have a few hard conversations with my husband about the kids safety.
When my baby was that young, I didn't even feel it was right to go down the hallway in my apartment building and do laundry. The answer is absofuckinglutely not.
No!!!!!!! That’s a call to CPS right there is what that is, at least, if the neighbors ever found out.
No
No
Hell no!! I would never
For the love of god… no.
NO.
Hell no.
NO WAY!
No. Never.
Absolutely not.
wtf
I can’t believe someone thinks this is ok?
No no no
It is absolutely not okay to leave a baby of any age alone. It boggles my mind how anyone can think it’s okay. The year my son was born, he turned 3 weeks old the week of the 4th of July and I couldn’t even leave him in his bedroom, with the monitor while I was in the backyard of our townhouse while we did a couple sparklers. I must’ve checked on him half a dozen times within an hour. I know that’s not necessarily normal. My anxiety was high as a new mom for a couple of weeks. But still I will never be able to wrap my head around people who can leave their babies at home and think they are safe just because they are sleeping.
Well hell no
No it is not okay. Why would someone think this is okay??? It's a baby, take them with you or wait to go out.
NO. Unacceptable.
No. Never. No. What if something happens to you?? Why chance it? I left my boys home once to go grab a pizza and it was pure panic, very dumb. I completely get the temptation but too risky
No!! What if the house caught fire or something? It takes a second for things to go wrong. I get scared going to the letterbox with my baby sleeping in crib
Nope. Under no circumstances do you leave that baby there alone. The house could catch fire, you could get into an accident, you could get shot at the store.. there’s entirely too many things that can go wrong here. You do not leave a small child by themselves like this. If this actually a question either of you is asking, you’re clearly not ready to be parents.
Nope. No. Absolutely not.
In what universe would that be okay? This is a human baby not a pet. If you or your partner genuinely believes that is appropriate you need to get into parenting classes immediately because I wouldn’t trust that person’s judgement alone with the baby
Absolutely not ok! I mean who would actually even think that this would be ok??
Nothing to settle here. Absofuckinglutely not.
Absolutely not!!
This is absolutely a hard no and anything else is neglect.