Do you leave your baby home alone?

In view of various other debates & posts about whether or not to leave your child home alone, just had a question.

If i were to go to a neighbours house for a meal/drink (taking my baby monitor & plugging it in at their house)but leaving by baby asleep in his own bed (checking in on him every 1/2hour or so) is this considered home alone? & is it illegal? I have done it a few times, but since the whole Maddi thing, i'm wondereing whether i should do it again. I live in a terraced cottage, so my neighbour is attached to our house & the monitor works fully & i can hear my lo perfectly. Comments/views please.

Hi Cathy, I have just answered this more or less on AK! IMO this is ok and kind of the point of baby monitors, I guess it depends on the age of the kid a bit. I would leave a baby in a cot as they cannot get out to cause trouble and you would hear if they woke up and needed you. I probably wouldn't leave an older toddler in a bed because of the amount of very queit trouble they could potentially get into!

Personally I would never leave my children home alone whatever the circumstances - supposing a fire was to start during the half hour you werent checking??

As for the legalities - you might be surprised to learn that there is no legal age for a child to be left alone!! Very frightening imo

Yeah bedhead i saw your post thanks, just wanted to get other views from the girlies on here, they seem to tell it "how it is" usually. 🙂

alis378 said:
Personally I would never leave my children home alone whatever the circumstances - supposing a fire was to start during the half hour you werent checking??

As for the legalities - you might be surprised to learn that there is no legal age for a child to be left alone!! Very frightening imo

Fair point, although hopefully i would hear the smoke alarms go off.

CathyG said:

alis378 said:
Personally I would never leave my children home alone whatever the circumstances - supposing a fire was to start during the half hour you werent checking??

As for the legalities - you might be surprised to learn that there is no legal age for a child to be left alone!! Very frightening imo

Fair point, although hopefully i would hear the smoke alarms go off.

yeah hun but what i think alias is trying to say is that a fire can take over a house in seconds - the time it would take u to get bk into ur house!! i used to leave dd in the cabin on holiday and take my monitor into MILs cabin which were always next to eachother but i wont ever be doing this now!

Must admit I wasn't thinking fires, more abduction risk. TBH in my case the situation wouldn't arise, don't know the neighbours that well and my own garden is so tiny I could probably hear Millie without the monitor 😀 (make that definately hear her if she was at full pitch!)

but then im also worried as it would only take a second for a baby to stop breathing but could take ages for u to realise on the monitor so i def wouldnt leave dd or ds alone anymore

Just looked up the info on the Met Police website their advice is as follows. I have highlighted what I think is the most important part of their advice...

There are no legal guidelines as to what age a child can be left at home alone. Common sense must apply, and the child must be capable of looking after itself. If in doubt then don't leave your child alone. If you contact the Citizens Advice Bureau they may be able to assist.

If more specific information is required, or you wish to tell someone about a child being left at home alone, contact your local police station.

It really is hard to know what to do for the best given what has happened to Madeline. I don't go anywhere without my baby monitor, even if baby is taking a nap & i go into the garden to hang washing out or have a cup of tea in the sunshine, i take the monitor with me & plug in it outside. Also if we are having an evening meal or BBQ outside i would always take the monitor. My garden is fairly large but you can always see the house. Is going into your own largeish garden leaving them alone in the house? Again a fire could start, they could stop breathing, someone might break in & steal them! OMG 😲

hunni i am sorry for maddies parents and i respect everyones point but if u lived your life by what ifs u r gonna spend half of your life stressing about something that might never happen if a fire is gonna break oput it will if ur there or not if a baby stops breathing it still gonna be if ur there or not i no there is more chance of a possative out come if u r there but dont saty cos u have to bit i am not saying leave them alone either just what ever your decision make it one u r comfortable with
good luck hunni
xxx

personaly i would never leave my babies alone with or without a monitor but if you think and feel your baby is safe it is up to you what you do. but i do agree with the fire comments as my 2 yr old god son died in a fire last year along with 2 other children and his babysitter that was caused by a dryer his babysitter who was 27 was in the garden talking to her boyfriend when she heard the smoke alarms go of she ran in the house but it was to late the children was trapped upstairs and died and she died with 95 percent burns trying to get them out. it was the worst time of my life going back to that house to lay flowers and teddies for them all.

chez said:
personaly i would never leave my babies alone with or without a monitor but if you think and feel your baby is safe it is up to you what you do. but i do agree with the fire comments as my 2 yr old god son died in a fire last year along with 2 other children and his babysitter that was caused by a dryer his babysitter who was 27 was in the garden talking to her boyfriend when she heard the smoke alarms go of she ran in the house but it was to late the children was trapped upstairs and died and she died with 95 percent burns trying to get them out. it was the worst time of my life going back to that house to lay flowers and teddies for them all.

Hi Chez

Just wanted to pass on my condolences for the losses you suffered last year - must have been a truly awful time for everybody 😘
x

chez said:
personaly i would never leave my babies alone with or without a monitor but if you think and feel your baby is safe it is up to you what you do. but i do agree with the fire comments as my 2 yr old god son died in a fire last year along with 2 other children and his babysitter that was caused by a dryer his babysitter who was 27 was in the garden talking to her boyfriend when she heard the smoke alarms go of she ran in the house but it was to late the children was trapped upstairs and died and she died with 95 percent burns trying to get them out. it was the worst time of my life going back to that house to lay flowers and teddies for them all.

ah hunni i am so sorry that must have been a night mare for u i cant even imagine what u were and probably are still going through thats awful and i feel so bad for saying what i did please forgive me
thinking of u and your family
xxxx

Sending you some ((((big hugs)))) Chez. xxx

I can't imagine leaving my LO, I even hate taking him up to his cot at night and leaving him alone whilst we're just downstairs listening intently to the monitor. I'm so afraid I'll lose him it makes me terrified, I think my over cautiousness may have something to do with my PND though.

I think everyone has to make the choices that work best for them. We live in a small house, but I'm sure there are people who live in larger houses who are further away from their child whilst indoors than if I were to stand at the bottom of my garden with Ethan upstairs. Would I be bad for being outdoors? Is the other baby safer because the parents are indoors?

This really is an emotive debate.

xxx

I live in a flat and we go up to our neighbours frequently. I have often concidered putting ds in his cot for a nap and going back upstairs but something has always stopped me. I wouldn't feel right about it but you know best about your own baby and your own environment

I think you should follow your instincts, there's so much that 'could' go wrong even if you are there. Someone mentioned that LO could stop breathing and you wouldn't know but that goes for if your just downstairs or even in the same room really. Its even the same for fires so if your child and house are secure how much extra risk is there really? 🤔

Oh and if it helps I for one have gone to my neighbours aswell and i'm pretty sure that we're not alone 🤔

I've stood out at my gate or fence talking to my neighbour while the boys have been in bed as my portable monitor is in my pocket and its right outside our back door but i've never left them alone in a locked house.

Its up to each individual parent to choose. My SIL used to leave her 4 boys in the house when she went next door to her mums...they had taken the fence down so they had 1 giant garden.

I personally wouldn't do it either.

Personally I wouldn't ever leave my younger two children at home alone under any circumstances. My eldest child is 12 and I even have trouble leaving him on his own.

Even before the abduction of little Maddie I wouldn't have left them alone and now I make sure all the doors are locked at all times and if I'm out I don't take my eyes off of them for a second.

It's not just abduction that you have to worry about but as someone else mentioned there's fires, choking, illness.

IMO it's far too risky to leave children alone just so that you can go out for dinner. Far better to leave them with someone responsible.