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What's your opinion on this?

I went over to see my friend today who has two lo's. Her eldest os 4 and her youngest is 18 months. Anyway when I arrived her son (the eldest) was there but her other lo wasn't. When I asked where he was she told me he was asleep in the car. I had walked by it but never even noticed.
Now at first I was a little bit surprised and even a bit unsure if it was right but after chatting with her I realised it wasn't actually that bad.
For a start her driveway is quite long so no-one would venture down it unless coming specifically to the door and secondly the car doors are locked and the alarm is set so as soon as lo moves, the car alarm sounds so she knows he's awake. She can also see the car from her window so can see him.
Like I say I didn't really see the problem with it but thought it'd make an interesting topic to see what your views were. I know in the past threads on here showed people weren't even comfortable leaving their lo's in the car whilst paying for petrol so wondered what you thought on this?


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Replies

  • im shocked i have to say in this day and age i dont think its safe i even take my baby with me to return trolley in car park of supermarket.
  • Sorry, but not in a million years would i leave my LO asleep in the car like that! I don't understand the hardship of bringing him/her in & putting them in their cot or wherever?!?! Its so cold out as well!

    I always try & get petrol at a station where i can pay at the pump or make sure someone is with me!

    Sarah xx
  • No, i don't even leave lo in the car if i have to run in the house for something quickly, makes me very uneasy! and i have a drive directly in front of my living room window!
    I have taken lo out to pay for petrol etc with annoyed people behind me because i'm taking too long but really don't care! too many nasty people in the world to risk it!
    My lo often falls asleep in the car but wakes up as soon as we stop, even at traffic lights sometimes lol and a friend said to me the other day, do i leave him in the car and i quickly replied 'NO' and she looked at me worryingly and said 'oh well i do'!
    Up to you i guess, i live in a good area but that doesn't mean anything, i always think the worst that way you can protect your lo as much as possible!


    http://women.evenhealth.com/image/c/bg963414.jpg


  • i have to sayi agree with it. My lo falls asleep in the car and if i try and get her up from the car she will wake up and be sooooo grumpy for the rest of the day. I think as long as you can see the car outside the window and the car is locked and they are checked on every 5 mins then whats the problem. I cant do it on my driveway as its at my side of my house so i wouldnt but if its near the house on your own driveway i think its fine. I leave my lo in the car to go and pay for petrol aswell i guess its down to the individual xx
  • Well as far as I can gather she doesn't make a habit of it and her drive is quite long so no-one could see passing by but I agree with what some of you are saying as it does seem a bit dodgy but although it is something I probably wouldn't personally do, I wouldn't condone her as I understood what she was saying.
  • The way you put it, it sounds entirely reasonable but I don't think its OK in every circumstance. I can't do it with Neve because I can't see my drive but have sat in the car and read the paper while she slept because I really didn't want to wake her.

    I'm sure your friend is a very responsible mother who knows exactly what she is doing,
  • I would add when she brought him in he was wrapped up like he came out of the arctic lol
  • Have to agree with Westbrom1 - this day and age anything can happen... I couldn't rest knowing the baby is outside even if he/she is locked in the car... But that's my opinion and I live in a busy area so that might be why I wouldn't do it .... image
  • I don't really see the problem with it especially if the car is alarmed.

    Having said that, I don't think I'd do it myself, as I'd be too worried. The other day Gabe fell asleep in his pushchair & mil had the kids round (shes a childminder to very noisy preschoolers) and cos they always wake him up she said leave him outside. I didnt do that cos I just wouldn't feel comfortable with it. But each to their own, years ago people left their kids outside all the time & there was no harm done, there's too much in the news these days that makes people believe that paedophiles and child abductors are roaming the streets all day but really there are no more incidents then there were 20 years ago, it's just more reported these days.

    xx
  • am a really bad mother lol - i leave lo in the car and it runnung so he doesn't get cold image i know its bad coz anything could happen - i stay in a little village tho where i leave my door open when i go out - i do own a rottweiler like lol

    i dont know its bad but we do it, as for petrol, i always took him in with me when he was a baby but now i leave him, i just lock the door and thinks its funny when the alarm goes off he sits and dances lol
  • I dont have a problem with doing this in principle - like others have said as long as the car is locked and alarmed, and you can see it constanlty as well as keep checking on them I cant see it being a problem, but I live in a small town type place so its possibly less busy, more 'safe' here than in a city...

    having said that OH tried to get me to do it when we went to MILs (Wasnt staying just calling in on the way past) as Ollie had fallen asleep, in a way it was ok because it annoyed MIL who kept saying "oh but i want to go wake him up so i can say hi", but I actually couldnt leave him there more than 5 mins myself, so took my brew and a book out to the car and sat in there with him.... and I could see him all the time from inside the house and the car was on a private drive.... but i just couldnt do it. :roll:

    I can understand why people do it, as Ollie always wakes up when we try to move him from car to cot, so he ends up having about 10 mins sleep in the car and thats it all day...

    xxx
  • Not sure whether I would do it or not to be honest, Barney is still in his infant carrier so I would just carry him inside and Millie wakes up when we get home anyway. I think as long as you can see them then it is probably ok but I would worry about the temperature in the car (especially in summer) I do leave them in the car if I have to pay for petrol, with the doors locked and the alarm on. That's quite rare though as I use the pay at pump nearly all the time. I definately wouldn't leave them in a car with the engine running though, I have a nice car and apart from the risk of people deliberately trying to take the kids, the risk of someone taking the car without noticing the kids is far to high for me to ever do that.
    xx
  • I don't think that I could do it (But saying that I live in London) but if I lived in a fairly remote place perhaps I would feel diffrently?

    In London it's like you develop a 2nd scence for Traffic wardens & Muggers .. :lol: one in the same really!

    So think there is NO WAY I could relax, even if it means taking him a bit longer to settle in doors! Cause if someone broke into my car... glass, ect.. Also I wonder is the car alarm going off a bit scarey for a young child!?
    I think I'd prob do what what had been said about sitting in with a book till the little one wakes up!
    I do think that we are so overly casutious and are scared by the news, & do believe that there is only the same amount that there has ever been of bad things that have happened.

    However I don't want to assume that because of that, something isint going to happen to us.. I'd never forgive myself.. so I'd take him in just encase!
    Having said that... I do have a fairly easy child, so if he's routine is a bit messed up he mostly recovers well from it, I don't know how I would feel about moving him if i knew that he would find it difficult to be alright again afterwards.. who knows?
    I wouldnt take offence to some doing what they thought was best/okay.. we all parent diffrently on diffrent issues.. don't think that makes one way right over the other way! x
  • hi g/c again soz , but i just wanted to say i probably wouldnt have seen this as a problem as i live in a very small place and everyone knows everyone else(and their buisness!)but just before my son was born i read in a mag about .....

    a lady who went to the butchers, she left her son outside the door while she ran in cos he was asleep and she put the alarm on so it would go off if he woke , like ure friend did , well he did wake and there was something wrong with the electrics in the car which she didnt know of and it triggered a spark when the alarm went off which caused the car to go on fire!!!her son died in the car this may seem extreme but it can happen and therefore i never ever leave jack in the car even in the petrol station .......so no i dont agree with it ......

    lisa 36 weeks today xxxxx

  • I leave Tom in the car if he's asleep (can bring Archie in easily as still in ist stage car seat) and in the summer I've got a big silvercross in the garden for them to sleep in. I can hear any cars pulling into our estate and the drive is gravel so (I hope!!!) I would hear anyone walking up to the car or into the back.

    I also leave the house & car unlocked most of the time.
    I suppose it's a case of thinking it would never happen to you....
  • I must admit I have left Aoife asleep in the car especially when I get back from doing the weekly shop. It means I can get the shopping in and put away before she wakes up. I wouldn't do it at the moment though it's too cold!
  • I can understand leaving them in the (locked and alarmed) car whilst nipping to pay for petrol but no way would i sit in the house whilst they were in the car. I would rather put up with a grumpy baby,

    How would you know if the baby had woken up? What if something happened? I know we leave our babies alone in their bedrooms etc but we have monitors. I know its unlikely that anything would happen but if it did would you ever forgive yourself???? I know i wouldnt.
  • i wouldnt do it but i live in a terraced street so i dont have a drive or anything.
    i have a mate who in my opinion is a fantastic mum and she did this once when i went round, it was a warm day and the car window was open and the car parked outside her front door so she could see and hear him but i was still a little uneasy with it. I wouldnt do it myself but i understand why some mums do, i have just got in from clinic and put cam to bed, he only napped for 5 mins in car and now wont settle.
  • i think that it depends where you live, in my little village i will leave then in the car for a short amount of time but if i lived in a big town or cirty i wouldnt. x
  • I've never left the girls in the car asleep, but I don't think it's a really bad thing to do. Saying that my hubby did have to rescue a lo from a car! The mum had somehow locked the lo in the car but locked her keys in too- he was too small to get out of his seatbelt and unlock door so fire service had to come and rescue him! It was really scary for the poor little thing.

    Have to admit (I'm prob going to be called a bad mum now!) that I do sometimes leave the girls in their buggy outside shops in my village. I do make sure I can see them through window as much as possible. We live in a tiny village though and I do it very rarely.

    xxx
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