Would you leave a sleeping baby home alone? Mom's post sparks heated debate online

A post on a popular parenting website has sparked a heated discussion over whether it's OK to leave a sleeping baby home alone.

According to the Daily Mail, the debate began May 12 when Mumsnet user Dakin1 asked fellow community members whether they would leave a sleeping 10-month-old alone at home for seven minutes.

>> Obsessed with coloring? Check out these events

"Baby reliably naps at the same time every day for at least an hour," she added. "The 7 minutes is going to a shop to collect something approx 50m away."

She later clarified, "For those who want to know what I collected, it was two boxes of clothes ordered online. ... We live in (a) flat with no lift, so my reasoning was it would be easier to get them while she was sleeping as I wouldn't have been able to carry her and the boxes up the stairs at the same time."

The initial post has received more than 850 responses – many along the lines of "absolutely not."

"I'm sure the baby would be fine for 7 mins in the cot, though 7 mins is a long time to scream and no one comes," HappyAsASandboy wrote. "The bigger danger is that something happens to you. If you get knocked down by a car and carted off to hospital, no one will know about the baby in your house on his own."
"No way!" added OiWithThePoodlesAlready. "I have anxiety dreams about thinking I'm nipping out for a minute and then things keep happening that stop me getting back home to the kids."
Others, however, admitted to doing the same and came to the original poster's defense.
"Yes – and have done, but learned never to mention it on Mumsnet," user Ragwort wrote.
Threescoopsundae added, "Yes, I absolutely would. I just wouldn't tell anybody about it, for precisely the responses above. You've got to live. You've got to get stuff done. It's a miniscule risk."


About the Author