A mom who muted the sound on her baby monitor at midnight had the shock of her life when she woke up a couple of hours later to check on her toddler. Posting to Reddit’s “beyondthebump” subreddit, user Abc123xyz789qrs456 shared a terrifying experience she had after accidentally muting the sound on her baby monitor, assuming her child was sound asleep in his crib. The mom of a 6-month-old baby said she wanted some reassurance and not “condolences” that her baby would bounce back from the nightmarish incident.
A Night Out and a Silent Monitor
That evening, the Original Poster (OP) went out, leaving the baby under her mother’s care. She’d already nursed him and thought he’d never wake up hungry for a while. OP returned home at around 11 p.m. and peeked into her son’s nursery. The baby was fast asleep and had been since half-past eight. Her mom told her the toddler didn’t eat or drink much before bed. Believing everything was fine, she took a last look before bed, closed the door, and walked away with the baby monitor. At around midnight, or probably a couple of hours later (OP couldn’t be sure), she heard her baby shift in his sleep, though she couldn’t recall it.
Realization of a Mute Monitor
As she didn’t want to disturb her husband, she disabled the sound on the monitor for a few seconds (though she vaguely remembered doing this) to check if her child woke up, then tucked it under her pillow, which she often did to mute the static. She only realized the next day that she forgot to enable the sound of the monitor before returning to sleep. At around 4 a.m., she jumped out of bed to check on her baby, aware of his recent late-night wake-ups. When she peeped into the crib, she was perplexed. The baby was asleep in the corner, having rotated 180 degrees and flipped onto his stomach. OP knew her boy never moved around in his sleep and became suspicious.
A Gloomy Morning
The baby who was once full of smiles seemed gloomy. He hesitated to hold OP’s finger, and she thought his gestures were half-hearted. The mom then recalled a similar mistake she vowed never to repeat. Once, she woke up hearing the baby stirring and muted the monitor to check if he had started crying. She then closed her eyes and accidentally dozed off for an hour. At the time, she promised not to let it happen again, but now she couldn’t muster herself to get over it. “I’ve screwed up before, but never this badly,” she confessed. Caught off guard, OP took to social media to confess her mistake, worried it would have a long-term impact on her baby and their relationship.
Community Reassurance and Self-Reflection
People on Reddit advised OP that her son would eventually forget what happened and bounce back to his cheerful self. User caffeine_lights wrote: “Accidents happen. Apologize and move on. I bet he will…One incident in the context of a healthy, loving, attached relationship is not going to damage him or hurt your relationship.” Another Redditor stated, “There are plenty of babies who have gone through the same due to emergency, and they turn out just fine. Just give it a day or two.” Though people assured her the baby would be fine, OP wanted to ensure her carelessness wouldn’t make any difference to her baby. “But every time I look at him, I just see hurt and betrayal and neglect and abandonment and bewilderment. I’m devastated,” she concluded.
Questions to Ponder
Do you think the incident would have a lasting impact on OP’s baby?
Some people advised that the baby would be fine, and since he was only 6 months old, he wouldn’t remember OP leaving him alone to cry and starve for four long hours at night. Others comforted her, saying it wouldn’t damage their relationship, but she needs to be a bit cautious the next time. Had the baby been a bit older, would OP’s mistake have taken a toll on their relationship?
Is it okay for parents to disable the sound of their baby monitor at night?
Some parents, like OP herself, mute their baby monitor to avoid disturbance at night. OP would often tuck the monitor under her pillow to muffle the static. Some people would advise against this to avoid unforeseen incidents such as what happened to OP. In what other ways could OP monitor her child and still get some good rest without having to turn off her baby monitor?
