would you phone the police if a neighbours baby was crying?

[catty]

You have just said you don't know them so that means they don't know you. They don't know your not a tottal arsehole who's not going to start screaming at them for interfering or then cause trouble.

I dont no them but iv seen them in the hallway and said hi. I just dont think 20 mins of a baby crying warrants a visit from the police, possibly if it had gone on for an hour or so. But the fact the must have called the police after about 10 mins for them to get there so quick doea piss me off

 

[chezababy]

If it had really been only a few minutes I can understand you being annoyed (although half an hour is quite a long time for continuous crying and the police would make it a priority so it's likely they were called only a couple of minutes before they turned up). However i'm left with the baby for 12 hours some days and if I had an accident in the morning no one would know and my lo would be alone that whole time. I hope someone would think to call the police if they heard her crying for a long time. I'd rather they turn up and everything is ok than them not turn up when things aren't ok. If I heard a baby crying for a long time I would call the police. I'd rather my neighbour wss annoyed with me than risk a baby being harmed. I think most mothers no theddifference between a hurt cry and an annoyed or overtired cry but not everyone will do and if they don't have children they might not know what is normal especially if they aren't use to hearing your lo cry. My lo had colic so I know babies cry but I would still be concerned especially if I couldn't hear someone trying to comfort the baby.

 

[icklemonster]

I really think you should go and call at their door - it really makes very little sense that they would call the police after 10 mins of crying - there may be a further explanation - maybe they've heard crying from another apartment before and got confused etc.
A note is fine, but like any text it can be misinterpreted, and being a fairly sensitive subject probably best to do it in person.
I think if you don't, you will be terrified of a police visit every time baby cries and that certainly isn't any way to live. You might even find out it wasn't them who called the police. Especially given the time of year - surely most students would have gone home for Christmas xxx
xxx

 

[catty]

I definately agree in calling the police if a baby had been crying for an extended period of time but this was probably 20 mins 30 absolute max and he wasnt alone, I was speaking to him and singing lullabys.

Iv decided to just get over it and to stop overthinking it. I personally think it was ott but theres nothing I can do about it now so im just going to have to find a sleeping method which suits him better, as I say this was the first and last time wed done it but after trying literally everything else sometimes you try something to see if it will work

 

[littleone2010]

My baby has only recently been less cry-ey. The first 4 months she screamed most of the day!!! She has colic and reflux and it's been so difficult. A police visit would have made me lose that tiny bit of confidence that I'm doing well! I think totally uncalled for. I hope you are ok xx

 

[AP]

In this case, no I wouldnt!

 

[angel2010]

No I would not. Unless they gave me some other reason to think they were abusive or something.
Emma cries lots, just from being fussy and having silent reflux. But also because sometimes I have to leave her to it for a few minutes to take care of my son. I do wonder sometimes if my neighbors think I just don't tend to her or something.
I am sorry that happened.

 

[cat lover]

While baby's do cry screaming for half an hour means something's wrong. While I'm sure your pissed off think about it this way, they had your child's best interests at heart.

For all they knew something could have happened to you, you could have passed out or something and that's why LO was crying none stop.

This.

Er, but the spineless *******s should have knocked on her door then rather than calling the police

 

[lozzy21]

While baby's do cry screaming for half an hour means something's wrong. While I'm sure your pissed off think about it this way, they had your child's best interests at heart.

For all they knew something could have happened to you, you could have passed out or something and that's why LO was crying none stop.

This.

Er, but the spineless *******s should have knocked on her door then rather than calling the police

But if she was passed out what could they do, the police have the power to force the door

 

[babyhopes2010]

No i wouldnt! id march round there and scream at their faces

my baby had reflux n collic screamed 90% of the time.! if neighbours called the police id have flipped.

 

[cat lover]

But she hadnt passed out unless im missing something? they could have rung the doorbell, it was a big overreaction imo

 

[Wriggley]

i wouldnt take it personally hun they were probably just concerned about your baby

and i wouldnt let it change how to react to your baby in the future - if they wanna call the police, so be it! If they did it just because they want the noise to stop then they wont really get very far because if a baby is going to cry they are going to cry thats what babies do :/

babies dont think oh look the police were called i better be quiet - if they going to call the police every time your baby crys then the police will soon get fed up - just let them get on with it

 

[Scout]

I wouldn't call the police after 30 minutes if it was crying, but screaming I might, and especially if it had never happened before. i would think that maybe something had happened to the parent. And I know where I live if I didn't know the person there is no way I would go knocking on their door, especially at night...it's just safer to have the police do a well check.

 

[Unexpected212]

I think it's ridiculous

If a baby had been crying non stop for a while I'd knock the door if I was worried.

I wouldn't call the police unless there was no answer and the crying continued.

My mum said with my sister (she has AWFUL colic) She cried all the time and mum would be there rocking her trying to get her to sleep and the neighbours would be banging on the wall shouting 'shut up'

There are some insensetive people in the world.

 

[MommyJogger]

I'd be the kind of person to call the police if I didn't know the family well-- not to get someone in trouble and not to make them feel awkward. Here's my personal reasoning:
There are so many cases of abuse or neglect that don't get caught because of the "it's none of my business" attitude. If a baby had prolonged screaming fits (more than 10 minutes, imo, not hours like others have indicated), I know it could be for a plethora of reasons. What could occur if I knock on your door? 1) everything could be fine and you still feel awkward about having a crying baby in a flat, 2) everything could appear fine when in reality the child suffers neglect or abuse and I'm not trained to spot it nor of the authority to enter the premises to discover it, 3) you actually are passed out and don't answer, 4) baby is obviously suffering neglect/abuse and I don't have the authority/physical strength to do anything about it and it gives you time to hide it before the police get there. If the parents are terrible people, a knock on the door from a neighbor could spur further abuse as "punishment" for attracting attention.
Calling the police is the best option really. They have the ability to spot, document, and stop any abuse/neglect that's happening to the child without enough warning for the parent to cover it up. If everything is fine, the parents have nothing to worry about, but the opportunity to ask an authority for help if a doctor or nurse or advice is needed.
Cops are here to help and serve in many capacities, and most of them love helping people and do an admirable job. I appreciate it if they take the time to make sure a child who can't help themselves is okay and never would that be a waste of police time. You'd never call it a waste if the child were actually in trouble and the call alerted them to a bad situation. It's not a waste if it happens to be a false alarm. False alarms are natural side effect of increasing the occurrence of positive catches and preventing anyone from slipping through the cracks.

 

[Noo]

I'm actually appalled the police didn't come in and physically see the baby. My husband would be hung drawn and quartered if he didn't complete the welfare check sufficiently which would include seeing the child and checking fir any other children in the property.

 

[Srrme]

No. I wouldn't.

 

[bananaz]

While baby's do cry screaming for half an hour means something's wrong. While I'm sure your pissed off think about it this way, they had your child's best interests at heart.

For all they knew something could have happened to you, you could have passed out or something and that's why LO was crying none stop.

That might be true for your kid but there are many, many babies who cry for much longer than 30 minutes because they are tired or overstimulated or just plain grumpy. If my neighbors had called the cops every time my daughter had a screaming fit the police would've been at my house multiple times a day.

I could understand calling the police after an hour of crying, but 20 minutes is completely absurd. I do appreciate that they just wanted to make sure the baby was okay, but that was a major overreaction. I'm sorry you had to deal with that, OP. I can only imagine that people who would make that call so quickly have never experienced what it's like to have a fussy child.

 

[MommyJogger]

While baby's do cry screaming for half an hour means something's wrong. While I'm sure your pissed off think about it this way, they had your child's best interests at heart.

For all they knew something could have happened to you, you could have passed out or something and that's why LO was crying none stop.

That might be true for your kid but there are many, many babies who cry for much longer than 30 minutes because they are tired or overstimulated or just plain grumpy. If my neighbors had called the cops every time my daughter had a screaming fit the police would've been at my house multiple times a day.

I could understand calling the police after an hour of crying, but 20 minutes is completely absurd. I do appreciate that they just wanted to make sure the baby was okay, but that was a major overreaction. I'm sorry you had to deal with that, OP.

Yes, but there are also many, many babies who won't cry for that long even if something is wrong. They give up more easily or go into shock if they've been hurt or concussed. It's impossible to know which kind of baby lives there or what may have happened. There's no harm in a police check-in.

 

[bananaz]

Yes, but there are also many, many babies who won't cry for that long even if something is wrong. They give up more easily or go into shock if they've been hurt or concussed. It's impossible to know which kind of baby lives there or what may have happened. There's no harm in a police check-in.

Yes, there is harm. Subjecting an already frazzled, exhausted mother with a cranky baby to a police interrogation because she couldn't calm down her baby within 10 minutes is absolutely harmful to her psychological health. Parenting a fussy baby is emotionally trying enough without having your neighbors and the police questioning you every time you try to put them down for a nap.

Why not call the police as soon as the baby cries? Maybe it's a baby who never ever cries except when they're being abused. Or maybe it's not a baby at all, maybe it's an expensive albino peacock that was stolen from the zoo and needs special medication. I'd call the police just in case.