‘I left my baby at home sleeping while I went to pick up my dog’

“Without a second though I locked the doors and drove to pick up the dog, and now I feel like the worst mother in the world,” the mum revealed.

Pilar Grace

2 min read

February 19, 2024 - 10:04PM

Baby

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In our parenting journey, we’ve all had moments of very bad judgement.

I’ll go first.

Once I thought my friend was watching my two-year-old and I thought she was watching my two-year-old and when we weren’t looking he almost ran off the footpath and into traffic.

Another time I thought I was close enough to my four-year-old in the water at the beach until his head bobbed under a wave and I realised I might not have been able to get to him if he’d been swept away.

And yet another time, when we were in Japan, my eight-year-old was day-dreaming and got left behind at a traffic crossing.

We were in a big group, and no one noticed he was missing until we were at least a block away. I’ll never forget watching my husband running back to the crossing, his head and shoulders high above the crowd, to search for our son. (He found him).

That we’ve all done things like this doesn’t make them better, but it does prove we’re human.

Callie* had one such moment recently when her dog went missing, and she made a bad call that could have put her baby in danger.

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Mum feels guilty after leaving baby alone

The mum felt terrible she'd left her baby alone. Photo: iStock

“My husband took our dogs hiking and one of them ran away,” she explained in a Reddit post.

“Her GPS collar said she was near the road, half a kilometre from our house. My 13-month-old was napping and without a second thought, I locked the doors and jumped in the car to grab the dog.”

When she got home, she realised what she’d done.

“I feel like the worst mother in the world. Dog is ok and baby is ok, but I know that was a bad judgement call.”

She wanted to know what others would have done in her situation.

Many were kind in their replies.

“Don’t think about this one more second,” said one person. “Next time you will think differently. This is a thing that won’t happen to you again. For now everything is fine, everyone is alive and kicking. Guilt isn’t going to help you.”

“You panicked, it happens,” said another person. “You are not the worst mother. You locked the door! Kiddo was likely in a crib too, so even better.”

“The baby would probably be statistically at more risk in the car, especially if you’re distracted and stressed looking for a dog,” said third person. “Cribs are meant to be extremely safe. As are baby-proofed rooms. And I mean, we sleep deeply all night while kids are in them.”

One person’s reply was logical and simple.

“Wake the baby up,” they said. “Dog trumps baby’s nap schedule, baby trumps dog.”