Anonymous wrote:Never.

A sleeping newborn can easily be awake in a minute and start screaming. A frustrated teen can easily be triggered by the incessant crying and make dumb choices in moments of anger and frustration - shaking, screaming, or worse hitting

Shaking is worse than hitting.

Never.

Also would not want my adult brother watching a newborn.

Older baby, different story.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I babysat for a 2 year old, a 4 year old and a 10 day old baby when I was 12. This was in 1973. Thank goodness nothing happened, the baby just slept.

I took care of a 6 mo old and a 3 yo every day for a summer when I was 12. I can't believe someone hired me to do this! Everyone survived.

Yeah, my mom has similar stories -- she started babysitting at 11 for neighbor kids, including babies, in the 1970s. One factor that is relevant here is that at least in her neighborhood, there were many SAHMs who were around and at home at the time. So if she had trouble she could call Mrs. So-and-so at the next house over.

I definitely babysit for my neighbor’s 2-3 month old when I was 14 or 15 years old. I remember thinking, what the hell am I doing?

Never.

A sleeping newborn can easily be awake in a minute and start screaming. A frustrated teen can easily be triggered by the incessant crying and make dumb choices in moments of anger and frustration - shaking, screaming, or worse hitting

If they had an infant CPR class and newborn care class that hospitals offer, I’d be ok with it. You’d probably be better off with a recently educated teen than 70 something grandma who will likely put baby on its stomach to sleep and prop a bottle up next to them.

Never. Nor children who can’t talk.

I was babysitting newborns by 15y. But I have always had some innate baby knowledge despite being an only child/no cousins. I was showing new moms swaddling/holding techniques, talking to them about trying different nipples, etc. I could get a baby to sleep when no one could.

I was even spending an entire weekend with 2 preschool kids (Friday-Sunday night) while their parents went out of town when I was 16y.

But I would NEVER do it with my own kids. Ever.

I agree with this former teen babysitter who would never leave her own babies with a teen - until they were older.

https://cafemom.com/parenting/130123-i_would_never_hire_a

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Y'all realize that teens took care of newborns for several millennia in human history right?

People also died by 35 and child mortality was 50%.

The average mortality was 35 (actually higher, but...) exactly because of the child mortality. It's not as if everyone dropped dead at 35. If you made it past childhood, you had a very decent shot of making it to your 60's even back then.

When I was 13, a family I regularly babysat for had their 5th child. I started babysitting the newborn within 2 weeks. But yes I was very experienced with siblings and cousins (and this family too.)

My 14 year old could absolutely care for a newborn for a few hours and do a wonderful job. Better than some adults I know.

The teen will be looking at her phone more than at the baby.
The videos on the phone would be too loud for her to hear the baby cry.

I babysat a one-month-old when I was 13 (so in 1996). Which seems crazy now... but it was fine. I knew the family, had been babysitting their older 2 & 4yr old for a few years. It went fine, just remember the diaper smell8ng so so terrible haha. But I fed and burped the baby, then held her awhile.

It would depend on the experience of the babysitter. If they have a baby sibling that they watched when their own parents would go out and were also first aid and cpr trained potentially 14 or 15 for a few hours. Same skill set I’d leave a 16 year old from say 6-11pm.

It would be very specific based on my comfort with the caregiver.

I watched my infant brother when I was 12. Only you know if your kid can handle it or not.