Mom Debate: Would You Ever Leave A Napping Baby Home Alone For a Quick Errand?

By SheSpeaksTeam May 26, 2016

We all know that parenting styles differ, but there are some opinions that can cause seriously heated debates among moms. Recently, a British-based parenting site posed the following question: “Would you leave a peacefully sleeping 10m old home alone for 7 minutes?” The site lit up with those in favor and others who felt it was just too much of a risk.

Today reports about the debate that occured on Mumsnet that has a lot of moms up in arms.

One mom who admits she is often tempted to leave her baby for a short amount of time says, “Er, no. Even though it's super tempting, I quite often want to shift my car when it's parked 100 yards away and a space comes free next to the house. But I don't do it as it's just not worth it!!”

One mom who has in the past left her sleeping baby to run a quick errand said, “I went to the shop once, needed milk and he was asleep. He was in that deep sleep they have when they first nod off. I was 5 mins and don't need to cross any roads.. I did a risk assessment and summarised that it would be far riskier for him to wake in the night cross because of lack of milk!”

Others argued that moms run the risk of something happening to them outside, like getting hit by a car or falling down that would prevent them from returning home in 7 minutes. But in response to this argument one mom writes, “I would. You could take a 7 minute shower and not hear the baby and fall and be knocked unconscious.” Even moms who didn’t think it was that big of a risk still feared legal ramifications of neglect if anything did happen while they were away.

It seems here in the states we may have a different idea of what’s safe for baby. A Today reader’s poll shows that 93% of those surveyed believe it’s never okay to leave baby home alone while 7% think it’s okay.

What do you think?

Do you think it’s ever okay to leave baby home alone for a short time?

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Comments

by Pinky4you2007 | South bend, IN

Jul 09, 2016

Not ok!! You never know what could happen to yourself or the baby.

by Monique_504 | RACELAND, LA

Jun 20, 2016

No! I would never leave my child home alone. Not even for 5 minutes. Things happen so fast and i wouldn't chance something happening for any reason. So my vote would be no!

by Tammy97229 | Portland, OR

Jun 09, 2016

Never in a Million Years!! There is never ever a time when it's okay to leave a baby! It's as simple as that!

by aeholli | COOKEVILLE, TN

Jun 02, 2016

No, no, no. Things can happen so quickly. Something could go wrong at home in a short time, or something could happen to me to prevent my getting home quickly. Babies are so defenseless and I could never live with the pain or guilt if something were to happen.

by AngelsOpinion | FAYETTEVILLE, GA

May 30, 2016

Left some comments on twitter feed, but never would I consider such a thing. There are way too many possibilities for danger. Someone could break in , the baby could wake up and toddle out of the home, a fire could start..there are just way too many chances for danger. Not that important. If you can't take baby with you, don't go.

by AngelsOpinion | FAYETTEVILLE, GA

May 30, 2016

by BeautifulMary | MORA, MN

May 29, 2016

No way! That is neglect and horrible mothering!

by momof_4 | Oakland, OR

May 27, 2016

I would never, ever leave my child home alone! I don't even leave my 9 year old home alone. It is too scary, and too many things could go wrong. I would never feel right doing that!

by Linda4556 | MERRITT IS, FL

May 26, 2016

NO! NO! NO! How often do you hear about the children who died in a fire when a parent was out. Things happen and leaving your child alone in the house is just asking for trouble. I worked in radio and television and there were way too many stories about children being left alone either in a house or in a car. Fires happened when we least expect them. Car accidents happen. One of the saddest we reported on was a child left alone in a car who was fast asleep and so the parent went into the store and the child woke up, got himself or herself out of the car seat and tried to cross the road and was killed by a car.