I left my baby in the car by accident - I don't know how I did it

"My husband arrived at the party and looked across the room at me. He mouthed the words, 'Where's the baby?'," an Australian mum writes exclusively for Kidspot.

I never thought I was capable of accidentally leaving my baby in the car, and then it happened.

 

To this day, I feel sick to my stomach thinking about what could have been.

I was running late for one of our older children’s friend’s birthday parties and was feeling tired and stressed.

My four-year-old was whinging when we arrived at the party and my son was in a mood as well. Meanwhile my baby had fallen asleep in her car seat.

Want to join the family? Sign up to our Kidspot newsletter for more stories like this.

"I was on autopilot"

I got the four-year-old out and had her on one hip with the present in the other hand as I headed into the house, at the same time coaxing my son inside. I was on autopilot. 

I was in there chatting to some of the other mums when my husband arrived a few minutes after me. 

He looked across the room and mouthed the words, “Where’s the baby?”

I will never forget the terror I felt in that moment.

I was extremely sleep deprived and I honestly couldn’t remember whether I had brought her inside the house in her capsule or not. I ran straight out to the car and there she was. Still breathing. Still sound asleep. 

I cried and cried and felt like the most negligent mother on the planet. 

How could I have left her?

Image: iStock

RELATED: Hack to never forget a baby in a hot car

"So many what ifs..."

The other mothers were kind and reassured me that my baby was okay, but all I could think about were the ‘what ifs’.

What if it was a hotter day?

What if my husband hadn’t arrived and asked where the baby was?

How could I be so distracted that I forgot the most precious thing in my life?

There is absolutely no excuse for intentionally leaving a baby, child or animal in a vehicle unattended. When I’d heard of it happening unintentionally, I had wondered how on earth you could forget your child? I now understand that it can happen.

How to avoid leaving a child in a car

According to Kidsafe, every year in Australia, over 5,000 children are rescued after being left unattended in a car.  Over the past five years, 10 children were reported to have died after being left in hot cars in Australia.

On a typical Australian summer’s day, the temperature inside a parked car can reach 20 to 30 degrees hotter than the outside temperature. 

What’s truly frightening is that 75% of the temperature rise occurs within the first 5 minutes. Large cars heat up just as fast as smaller ones. 

It’s hard to admit I made such an epic mistake, but by sharing this, I hope it’s a reminder to other sleep-deprived parents to always check, particularly with the warmer months on the horizon.

Better Health Channel offers the following tips to avoid fatal distraction:

• Open the back door of the car every time you park, even if there is no one in the back seat
• Place a child's bag or cuddly toy in the front seat as a reminder
• Leave a bag, phone or wallet in the back seat of the car
• Use a mirror for rear-facing car seats
• Create a mental list of things to check each time you leave the car, for example, ‘baby, keys, wallet and phone’
• Install electronic controls that create an audio reminder.

"Never again"

From that day on, I made it a habit to check in the rear-view mirror, then physically turn my body and check for my baby every single time I stopped the car.

I will never forgive myself for what I did and I know there is no excuse for it. 

I just hope that others don’t make the same mistake and end up paying the ultimate price.

Originally published as I left my baby in the car by accident - I don't know how I did it