Can I leave my infant in the car alone to...,

[Anonymous]

I’m going to blow all your minds but when my youngest was 4-5 months old and he fell asleep in his car seat on the way to preschool drop off for my older kid, (in the suburbs), I’d leave him in there while I brought my preschooler INTO THE BUILDING to drop him off and kiss him goodbye.

This was only when it was wintertime because those were the months that his nap schedule caused him to pass out at 9am in the car.

Thankfully I had tinted windows so i didn’t have to deal with any of you people on this board clutching your pearls. But yea it was absolutely better for my baby to stay asleep, warm and cozy, in the parking lot for 4 minutes than it was for me to wake him up , crying, and bring him out in the freezing cold for literally no good reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m going to blow all your minds but when my youngest was 4-5 months old and he fell asleep in his car seat on the way to preschool drop off for my older kid, (in the suburbs), I’d leave him in there while I brought my preschooler INTO THE BUILDING to drop him off and kiss him goodbye.

This was only when it was wintertime because those were the months that his nap schedule caused him to pass out at 9am in the car.

Thankfully I had tinted windows so i didn’t have to deal with any of you people on this board clutching your pearls. But yea it was absolutely better for my baby to stay asleep, warm and cozy, in the parking lot for 4 minutes than it was for me to wake him up , crying, and bring him out in the freezing cold for literally no good reason.

Our preschool specifically mentions this in the handbook and states they will call law enforcement should any parents leave children in their vehicles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m going to blow all your minds but when my youngest was 4-5 months old and he fell asleep in his car seat on the way to preschool drop off for my older kid, (in the suburbs), I’d leave him in there while I brought my preschooler INTO THE BUILDING to drop him off and kiss him goodbye.

This was only when it was wintertime because those were the months that his nap schedule caused him to pass out at 9am in the car.

Thankfully I had tinted windows so i didn’t have to deal with any of you people on this board clutching your pearls. But yea it was absolutely better for my baby to stay asleep, warm and cozy, in the parking lot for 4 minutes than it was for me to wake him up , crying, and bring him out in the freezing cold for literally no good reason.

Our preschool specifically mentions this in the handbook and states they will call law enforcement should any parents leave children in their vehicles.

Glad I have tinted windows then. And glad I didn’t go to your preschool. Sometimes common sense needs to prevail.

[Anonymous]

No absolutely not. Never leave a baby or young kid in the car alone for any reason. Seriously.

Of course errands are more annoying and take longer when lugging a baby around. This is what you signed up for when you chose to have a baby.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone needs to post the Salon.com story where the mother left her child in the car and some random person videotaped it and called 911. Even though the mother was long gone by the time the police arrived, they still prosecuted her.

These stories were about a mom who left her kids for an extended period to go tanning or to a job interview - not to an ATM 15 feet from the car.

Sometimes I leave the baby in the car while I unload groceries at my house or when I am returning the shopping cart at Safeway.

You are all overreacting - anything can happen at anyone at any time but you cant live your life in fear.

Actually, no. A woman left her kids in the car for five minutes, to pick up dry cleaning or something like that, and someone videotaped the entire thing and then turned her in, even though the kids were fine and she really was only gone for five minutes.

That said, I just get cash when I buy groceries or go to the drugstore, so I don't have to go to the ATM.

Was she in line of sight of her car, in Maryland? If so she did zero illegal things.

+1 people don’t think, they just react.
There’s a reason there are guidelines in Maryland for when you can leave a child in the car. Under 5 minutes, with ability to see car. Perfectly reasonable. And honestly, there are so many reasons why it might be safer. Pulling kids out of car near busy road, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How about in your own driveway? As in, put baby in car and then run in to get something you forgot right inside door?

I live in Fairfax County in a neighborhood w/larger lots, so I would do it. But in a townhome or somewhere w/more density, no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How about in your own driveway? As in, put baby in car and then run in to get something you forgot right inside door?

I live in Fairfax County in a neighborhood w/larger lots, so I would do it. But in a townhome or somewhere w/more density, no.

So the concern isn’t overheating it’s theft of the car/ baby? Just want to understand

[Anonymous]

I will say this is one of many reasons I'm glad I had my baby in the city where I didn't drive much. I hated getting my baby in and out of the carseat. If you don't drive, you can put your baby in a stroller or carrier and never have to think about this. Your baby falls asleep, great, it does not impact your errands in any way. You can pick up a toddler from half day care, give them a snack in the stroller, and if they pass out on the way home, you just wheel them into the house and let them finish the nap there. And so on.

That said, I do not actually think a baby is unsafe if left in a car for a few minutes while their parent is a few feet away and can keep the baby and car in their sightline. This seems fine to me and I wouldn't judge someone for it. I'd probably even offer to watch the baby if they needed to run inside somewhere for a few minutes! But people are insane and I wouldn't want to risk someone calling CPS on me and that would be the main reason I wouldn't do this.

Just recently my kid asked if she could stay in the car and read her book while I went into a store while we were running errands in the burbs, and I had to say no for this reason. I remember enjoying doing this exact thing as a kid -- sitting in the warm backseat of a car and reading a new library book while my mom grocery shopped or whatever. Heavenly. But you can't do stuff like that now even though kids are safer now than they were when I was a kid. It's too bad and I don't think it's good for kids in the long run. Like I said, people are nuts.

[Anonymous]

I did stuff like this all the time. People have lost all common sense. Wake a baby up to carry them 15 feet? Insanity. Leave the car on of course and lock the door and don't do it in like...skid row or something. But pulling into the average strip mall in an american suburb to stand 15 feet from your car in full view? Of course that is fine. Police don't arrest you for standing next to a car the baby is in!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, you *should* be able to, but there are whack jobs all over the place that will take it upon themselves to call the police and rain down hell on you for this. If people were so concerned about helping out other people, they would say, "Hey, I can watch your baby for the 2 minutes it will take you to use the ATM machine" instead of whipping out their iPhones and making a video and calling 911. But no.

The OP asked if she parked 3-4 cars away from the ATM on a city street if that would be okay. In 90 degree weather like we've had this week, the interior of a car will be 109 in 10 minutes, 119 in 20 minutes, 124 in 30 minutes. Infants are less tolerant of extreme temperatures and in 90 degree weather, an infant die of deyhdration and heat within 15 minutes. Typical parallel parking spaces are about 20 feet long so 3-4 cars if 60-80 feet away. That's pretty far for someone to try and figure out if anyone is with the child on a city street. If you have no idea how long the child has been in the car, seconds may matter. Even spending 2-4 minutes trying to ask around the people in the street if they are the guardian of the child in the car may be enough for that child to die, so some will call 911 and try to get into the car before trying to ask around. A few seconds or a few minutes may make the difference between life and death in these situations.

The number of children who die in hot vehicles per year: 2014 (12 and counting), 2013 (44), 2012 (34), 2011 (33), 2010 (49), 2009 (33), 2008 (43).
People are concerned and want to prevent those accidents. So, people who are concerned that you aren't just in the line of people waiting for the ATM up the block but that you might have accidentally forgotten your child while running errands, are whack jobs. People trying to save your child from a horrible death are whack jobs. People who want to see that number go down as close to zero annually are whack jobs. People who don't want you to go through what the parents in Gene Weingarten's Pulitzer Prize winning article, "Fatal Distraction" are whack jobs. Got it.

How many of those kids died while the parent was parked for a minute and getting cash at the ATM? I would venture to guess zero.

The woman in Arlington safely buckled her baby into a car seat and then turned around and got hit by a dump truck. That hardly ever happens though, so totally okay to leave your kid in a hot car, because chances are nothing will go wrong. You be you.

Total non-sequitur? What does this have to do with the poor woman who died in freak accident?

At first reading I'd agree with you but what *if* something happened to OP while her child was in the car and no one knew the baby was there in this weather? Long shot, I know, but still would give me pause.

I mean obviously you leave the AC on when you are within sight of the car!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Responding as if this was new in case a new parent is struggling to get things done and considering this option.


No. You can’t do this.


It’s a PIA to move a baby for a small task…Like when the gas pump asks you to come inside (I literally will drive to another station), post office, picking up one thing at a shop, whatever. But you have to take baby or run errands later solo if there is another parent.

Too many things can go wrong that are unfixable.

In Maryland you absolutely 100% CAN do this if you are in line of sight to your car. Don’t make moms lives even harder. You are allowed to be 15 feet from your car with your kid inside the car for a 2 minute period. Jesus. Have we all lost our collective minds? I mean yeah if it’s a million degrees and I wouldn’t want to sit in the car myself with no AC for a few min, I wouldn’t, because I don’t want to make my kid uncomfortable. But any other time, it is FINE and LEGAL

Allowable and should are entirely different. Carjackings happen more often than most people are aware of. Don’t be the person whose baby gets stolen. (Not responding specifically to you personally pp…)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I did stuff like this all the time. People have lost all common sense. Wake a baby up to carry them 15 feet? Insanity. Leave the car on of course and lock the door and don't do it in like...skid row or something. But pulling into the average strip mall in an american suburb to stand 15 feet from your car in full view? Of course that is fine. Police don't arrest you for standing next to a car the baby is in!

A few car lengths away with the door open is inviting someone to take your baby or your car. Don’t be naive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone needs to post the Salon.com story where the mother left her child in the car and some random person videotaped it and called 911. Even though the mother was long gone by the time the police arrived, they still prosecuted her.

These stories were about a mom who left her kids for an extended period to go tanning or to a job interview - not to an ATM 15 feet from the car.

Sometimes I leave the baby in the car while I unload groceries at my house or when I am returning the shopping cart at Safeway.

You are all overreacting - anything can happen at anyone at any time but you cant live your life in fear.

Actually, no. A woman left her kids in the car for five minutes, to pick up dry cleaning or something like that, and someone videotaped the entire thing and then turned her in, even though the kids were fine and she really was only gone for five minutes.

That said, I just get cash when I buy groceries or go to the drugstore, so I don't have to go to the ATM.

Was she in line of sight of her car, in Maryland? If so she did zero illegal things.

+1 people don’t think, they just react.
There’s a reason there are guidelines in Maryland for when you can leave a child in the car. Under 5 minutes, with ability to see car. Perfectly reasonable. And honestly, there are so many reasons why it might be safer. Pulling kids out of car near busy road, etc.

In. The. Suburbs.

This is a dc specific question.

[Anonymous]

NOPE

[Anonymous]

DO NOT LEAVE ANY SMALL CHILD ALONE IN A CAR FOR ANY PERIOD OF TIME