A mother on Mumsnet has asked others if it’s ever OK to leave a young baby home alone, in order to run errands.
Taking to the message board, the mum – calling herself Dakin1 – wrote: “Would you leave a peacefully sleeping 10m old home alone for 7 minutes?
“Baby reliably naps at the same time every day for at least an hour. The 7 minutes is going to a shop to collect something approx. 50m away.”
The post understandably attracted plenty of comments from both sides, with many mums saying they would “never” leave their baby alone like this, and that “it’s just not worth the risk.”
HappyAsASandboy wrote: “No, 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.
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. If your car gets bashed and you have to sort out details with the other driver then you’ll be loads longer than 7 mins. If your tumble drier sets the house on fire then 7 mins will kill your baby.
Just not worth the risk. Either wake the baby and take him or ask a neighbour to sit with baby/run the errand.”
But others downplayed the risk, telling the mum the chance of something happening while she was out was tiny.
ElinoristhenewEnid wrote: “Definitely yes! Risk assessment of something bad happening miniscule.”
Others had more practical suggestions, like getting a neighbour to watch the baby while she popped out, or waiting until they were awake.
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