Head/neck must be stable before I allow anyone outside of family to even hold my child.

Never, it’s too big of a responsibility for a teen. It’s my helpless newborn, I would never trust with any teen. Even my teen is not ready to care for a newborn either. They are so tiny and floppy.

There’s no single answer at which this becomes reasonable - it depends entirely on the situation and the teen. How much experience does the teen have? Oldest of four kids who babysits regularly is very different from only child who has never been around babies. How long will the parents be gone? On hour v. four hours is dramatically different. How close is backup? If teen’s own parents are home down the block, that makes a difference. How willing is teen to call for backup? Some are willing to call for help and others will try to stick it out even when in over their heads.

When my first child was a newborn we hired university nursing students who had done their NICU rotations. I joked they were more qualified than I was!

Anonymous wrote:Hi, At what age would you allow your teen to babysit a newborn? Thanks in advance for any opinions, trying to form ours.....

Never

As a babysitter, or is this their younger sibling? In general, I would avoid it. New borns are way too much responsibility and have too many nuances. If it is their sibling and they are well informed on the routines, etc. I might do it.

Never. Sorry, OP, but newborns require special care. I would not leave my newborn with anyone except my husband or my parents.

I had the hospital course and was cpr certified at 10. I babysat for 1 yo and up from that age. I never babysat a newborn but in high school I regularly babysat twin girls fromThey were 6 months including full day.

10 yo is a bit ridiculous but it was late 80s. I’d be comfortable with an experienced teen sitter babysitting 6 month and up.

Not recommending it, but:

My mother was 19 when I was born.

I was 15 when my younger brother was born. I quickly learned how to care for him.

My 16 year old babysat his 4 month old cousin. He's had infant/child CPR. He's spent plenty time with her with her parents there, so he knows how they give a bottle, and how they soothe her. The baby's parents and I were a quick phone call away, and the baby's grandfather was a few minutes away. If he'd needed to reach out, he could have easily done so, but he didn't.

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

True. And you realize that most people lived communally throughout most of human history, right? So the teens taking care of newborns typically had help near at hand.

Yes, I realize that the PP isn’t likely to be still following this thread.

Anonymous wrote:[twitter]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used to babysit newborns when I was a teen. I remember having a baby who would not stop crying no matter what I did. I ended up just putting her in the crib and standing there staring at her. I would never ever have done anything harmful to her but I had no idea what to do (and no way to get in contact with the parents).

Thing is, that’s always a safe decision. Better to put the baby in a safe place and take a breather than to get frustrated.

For sure. But I didn’t really know what else to do. Now I would try shushing her, swaddling, taking her temp to see if she was sick, etc. Back then, I changed her diaper, fed her, and had no idea what to try. Just no experience.

I would never leave my baby with a teen unless it were an emergency. And I wouldn’t want my teen to babysit a baby. Toddlers and up.

[twitter]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used to babysit newborns when I was a teen. I remember having a baby who would not stop crying no matter what I did. I ended up just putting her in the crib and standing there staring at her. I would never ever have done anything harmful to her but I had no idea what to do (and no way to get in contact with the parents).

Thing is, that’s always a safe decision. Better to put the baby in a safe place and take a breather than to get frustrated.

For sure. But I didn’t really know what else to do. Now I would try shushing her, swaddling, taking her temp to see if she was sick, etc. Back then, I changed her diaper, fed her, and had no idea what to try. Just no experience.

Anonymous wrote:I used to babysit newborns when I was a teen. I remember having a baby who would not stop crying no matter what I did. I ended up just putting her in the crib and standing there staring at her. I would never ever have done anything harmful to her but I had no idea what to do (and no way to get in contact with the parents).

Thing is, that’s always a safe decision. Better to put the baby in a safe place and take a breather than to get frustrated.

I used to babysit newborns when I was a teen. I remember having a baby who would not stop crying no matter what I did. I ended up just putting her in the crib and standing there staring at her. I would never ever have done anything harmful to her but I had no idea what to do (and no way to get in contact with the parents).

Anonymous wrote: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.

Omg. This was my MIL