Our babysitter called 000 when my baby stopped breathing, I wish she hadn't

"All I can think of is how terrified I would have been at 16 if that happened to me with a baby I was watching for the first time. She absolutely did the right thing," one commenter wrote.

“My wife and I recently hired our 16-year-old babysitter who we've been going to for years. We have been hiring her since my oldest son was a baby and we now also have a seven-month-old,” a dad begins his post to an advice forum.

Daisy, the babysitter, was looking after the kids last week when the dad arrived home early from work to find his wife yelling at her. 

“Daisy was just sobbing and apologising, while my wife was yelling at her saying Daisy had cost us a bunch of money,” the dad explained. “My first thought was that she'd broken something, but my wife wasn't telling me what it was. She told Daisy she wouldn't be paying her for her time and to ‘get the f*ck out of our house and never come back or she'd call the police’.”

Daisy then ran out crying and the dad left his wife to calm down while he comforted the kids who were also crying after overhearing the interaction.

When everything had calmed down, he got the full story from his wife.

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Image: IStock

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"She panicked and called 000"

“So here's what happened. This was Daisy's first time looking after my youngest son, though we knew we could trust her with the babies since she looked after my daughter alone when she was a baby. Something important that you should know is that my youngest son has breath-holding episodes, which occur when he gets frustrated or is in pain, and he will just hold his breath,” the dad said. 

He added: “To stop them you just have to blow on the baby or they will just snap out of it on their own, they're completely normal and relatively safe in babies, however, the episodes can sometimes cause passing out and blueness, and it's normal and he usually wakes up within a few seconds.

“Long story short, my wife forgot to tell Daisy what to do if that happened, and when my son passed out, Daisy panicked and called 000 and then my wife. My wife is now angry that Daisy called 000 for 'nothing' and has now wasted our money on an ambulance ride.”

The OP and his wife have been arguing ever since this incident because he believes Daisy did the right thing but his wife doesn’t. 

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Daisy is owed an apology and people agree the wife is awful

The community had A LOT to say on the matter. 

“NTA. Your wife is truly, truly awful and I hope you’re having her read these responses,” the top comment with 25,000 likes read. 

“And Daisy is owed an apology, her full pay and a good reference for her next babysitting gig,” someone else chimed in.

“Better safe than sorry,” wrote a third. “Without information, Daisy did the only right thing she could do, She called 000. OP's wife is a triple a**hole, one for not telling Daisy about the situation, two for scolding Daisy, a minor, for what even an adult would find difficult to do and three for going after OP for pointing out her error.”

And a fourth reiterated: “How could Daisy know what to do and what was happening if nobody told her? She's completely innocent in this. OP is NTA and the wife is horrible.”

“HOW in the world did neither you nor your wife tell the sitter about this in advance?” pointed out someone else, drawing the OP into the blame. “It’s on you two AS THE PARENTS to inform the sitter of any special issues. Your wife is yelling at the sitter for your and your wife’s own failing here.”

And this person concluded: “All I can think of is how terrified I would have been at 16 if a baby I was watching for the first time stopped breathing. Hell, if anyone stops breathing without warning and passes out I’m calling emergency services immediately. Please reach out to Daisy and let her know she did the right thing. If she didn’t call and it was something more serious your son may not be here today.”

To find out more about breath-holding in children, visit The Raising Children's network. 

Originally published as Our babysitter called 000 when my baby stopped breathing, I wish she hadn't