S.M. asks from Lakeside, CA on October 07, 2011
If Your Child Is Sick with a Cold, Where Do They Sleep?
I'm having a hard time giving the Irwin family the benefit of the doubt. Every time I read a new story I see something that makes me cringe.
When the 10 month old disappeared, they said she has a cold with a cough. Most moms I know would either bring them into their room or lay in their room or keep the doors open if their rooms are close. Most moms would check on them frequently and be concerned about the baby coughing and choking in their sleep or throwing up etc.
I just read that the 6 year old son sleeps in the same room. Since the "kidnapper" turned on all the lights, I have a hard time believing the 6 year old would sleep through it. It's hard enough to believe mom slept through it.
It does bother me too though, that they have completely cleared the father. If the mom did something, she would need help to dispose of the body. Or she would have to leave the other two boys home alone to do so.
The 3 cell phones being left on the counter doesn't bother me so much like others have said online. But a friend of mine pointed out that since they don't have a land line, the cell phones should have been by her bed.
I REALLY want to believe this mom is innocent and she was just too tired to wake up. But then we are left without any motivation for a stranger to do this, unless it's someone just wanting a baby.
Is it looking bad for this mom? Or am I just thinking sensationally?
The lights is just one of the many things that Jeremy has added to the store. He said in an interview that he knew something was wrong when he came home because nearly every light in the house was on. It just seems like the details get a little more embellished all the time.
I don't live very far from these people. In fact, I'm just a few miles away and I have 2 daycare families that are just blocks from there. I know the neighborhood pretty well. The houses are small, tightly packed in there close to each other, and most people around here have barking dogs. If someone is going through windows, turning on lights, and making phone calls at 2:30 am, with a baby they just took out of a crib, it's going to get someone's attention.
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R.J. answers from Salt Lake City on October 07, 2011
Elizabeth Smart's sister was in the same room when she was taken...If someone want to take someone they will.
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J.L. answers from Chicago on October 07, 2011
Leaving a sick baby or child in their room...not suspicious. If my kids are sick they sleep in their rooms. We'd have the baby monitor on to listen for any difficulties. I agree that a 6 year old would have a difficult time being sound a sleep with all the coughing and then the lights going on. The cell phone left in the kitchen is an issue but my biggest issue is the unlocked front door.
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☆.A. answers from Pittsburgh on October 07, 2011
My child sleeps in his own room, with the door closed--the way he normally prefers it.
But I agree, in this case, 1+1 is not adding up to 2.
Then again, it takes all kinds...
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R.. answers from Chattanooga on October 07, 2011
My DD is 17 months old. When she's sick, I will let her fall asleep with me in my bed... BUT she spends the night in her crib. I do check on her, but not constantly. Maybe once or twice a night.
As for cell phones... I keep mine by my bed at night, but I know SEVERAL people who leave them out of hearing range while they sleep (and who also don't have land lines.) They don't want to be tied to the phone 24/7, and don't want it waking them up if it rings.
Our dryer used to be in my brothers' room. I used to be able to go in there in the dead of night, flip the lights on, and run a load of laundry through it and not one of them would wake up. (I had 3 brothers sleeping in that room.) Maybe he is just a heavy sleeper.. I know that I have 'selective' hearing at night. I will wake up if I hear my baby crying, but I have been known to sleep right through the fire alarm.
Who knows what motivation there is? Until whoever took the baby is found, we will never know. Maybe it was someone who thought the family did something wrong to them... Maybe it was someone who doesn't agree with their parenting style, and was 'saving' the baby from them... Maybe it WAS just someone wanting a baby There is a myriad of unknown reasons someone might take the baby.
I hate to judge any situation unless I know 100% of the details. I don't trust the media, not just because they are only going to put out information that will sensationalize a situation (boosting their ratings in the process...) but who knows what information pertinent to the case the police are withholding? That happens all the time in publicized cases like this.
Until I know 100% what is going on, I will withhold my judgement. That doesn't mean that I believe she's completely innocent... just that I can't come to a conclusion on what little I know. I can't imagine what it would be like to have my child missing, and I would hate to have people thinking that I did something to my sweet baby when they don't know the whole story.
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E.J. answers from Lincoln on October 07, 2011
This has nothing to do with the case, but in regard to your question we all do things differently... I'm going to play devil's advocate here since I can't say if she is guilty or innocent.
My son doesn't sleep with me if he has a cold. I prefer him to stay in his bed. I do close doors, but I do also have a monitor. (I know he's 6, but I still like to hear him if he needs me and our rooms are not next to each other)
In regard to her not waking up plenty of good parents are hard sleepers. When I was a teenager I could have screamed, "I'm sneaking out!!" while my parents slept. When we snuck out we just went out the front door and they were none the wiser. (Except for the 1 time I got caught) haha
Again, in regard to her allegedly not waking... a tired mom with a baby with a cold and 2 other children. It can be argued that typical mom would be exhausted and if given the chance to sleep through the night (thinking the baby was sleeping as well) who wouldn't just SLEEP?!
Cell phone by the bed... the only reason I take my cell phone to bed at night is b/c I use the alarm on the phone. If I don't have to get up the next morning I don't always take my phone to bed. Sometimes it's in my purse, charging in the living room, etc.
The lights on... I have gone in my son's room (he is 6) and flipped on the lights and he hasn't woken. A few times he's been in my bed and I've gone in there to go to bed and turned the light on and read for a while before going to sleep. He slept through it.
So... again, I'm not saying whether I believe innocence or guilt here. I can't say. But the evidence isn't as cut and dry as it seems. I just hope that this baby is found alive and safe. Prayers for Baby Lisa
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K.N. answers from Cleveland on October 07, 2011
I don't watch the news or read the paper, it's never anything good, so I'm lost as to what you are talking about.
However my 10 month old has a cold, he sleeps in his bed. I do not check on him at night without reason because if I do he wakes up, and there is no need to wake him up. he sleeps with the door closed because it is safer in case of a fire and the only thing I have to hear him is the monitor. Does that make me a bad mom? Cause last time I checked what mattered was that a sick baby slept and slept comfortably, which in most cases means in the same place they normally sleep.
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M.K. answers from Kansas City on October 07, 2011
Well, I don't know about the family's guilt or innocence at this point.
What I do know is this:
My sick kids sleep in their rooms, I sleep in mine. I, for sure, will hear them if they wake up coughing,
My two oldest share a room and sleep on bunk beds. I can turn the TV up full blast, turn their bedroom light on to put clothes away, and have their baby brother wake up the dead screaming in the room right next door (they share a flimsy wall) and my oldest two WILL NOT WAKE UP!
The cell phone on the counter thing? I just don't think that, in and of itself, is that unusual. No one says a cell phone SHOULD have been by her bed. I leave mine in my purse sometimes. I don't think that makes me a bad mom.
I guess what I'm saying is, if everyone assumes mom is guilty based on these three facts, I guess I'm a horrible mom too!
I do feel for this family. This happened less than 15 miles from where I now live, and right down the road from my BIL. It's scary to think that this could happen to me, and even scarier to think that a parent would do this to themselves. To think that people would assume I'm guilty because my kids sleep in their own rooms when sick, my kids don't wake up when a light is turned on (I do, just for the record), or because my phone was in the kitchen makes me sad.
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L.A. answers from Austin on October 07, 2011
The mom admitted the failed the lie detector test.. Not am admission.. but strange. Our daughter when ill even as an infant, slept in her crib in her room, but I had that monitor on me the whole time.. My husband and I keep our cell phones by our beds every night.. heck, even pour daughter keeps hers next to her in her dorm room or her room here at home.
It is not adding up. Those parents need to go back to the police station and answer every question over and over, so the police can figure out what could have happened.. The more they fight the Police, the less the police will look too much further.
The moms on here that are Officers or married to Police Officers will tell you.. MANY times, most times, the Police know a lot more than they will admit to the public or any of the suspects.
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R.J. answers from Salt Lake City on October 07, 2011
Elizabeth Smart's sister was in the same room when she was taken...If someone want to take someone they will.
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N.J. answers from Los Angeles on October 07, 2011
When my kids are sick, unfortunately everyone sleeps better in their own room. In fact, I very rarely check on them unless they have obvious breathing problems-- a normal cold probably not! However, at that age I always have a monitor on and with my paranoid mind, I always used the Angel care motion sensor alarm with my kids until they were at least 1.5 yrs old. In my mind, at the very least, I would know they were out of their bed, by their own will or someone else's. It gave me a peace of mind and much needed zzzz's at that age. Scary when it did go off, but well worth.
Just praying for this baby girl, but am right with you, there is definitely a piece of this story we are not privy too, rightly so tho'. My hometown and fellow classmate had her son abducted right out of her mom's arms, and even with that investigation information about the case was not discussed. We could not understand why they were focusing so much energy and time dragging the canals---they had to know something we didn't. Unfortunately, in this case they were right, they found the boyfriend and baby boy in the canal along with the missing vehicle. There is just so much don't know at the moment....
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A.C. answers from Washington DC on October 07, 2011
My kids never slept in my room, even when sick. a cold with a cough ... big damn deal. It's just a cold and those many times come with a cough. A little delsym/pediacare/etc and it's night night sleep tight. I didn't check on them at night, once they were out I left them be. I closed bedroom doors even when they were sick. And I've never owned a baby monitor.
My oldest son could sleep through anything ... hell he still does. I can go down into his room and turn on a light and be moving boxes and stuff and he won't hear a thing.
Until recently our cell phones were on our desks to charge at night, and we don't have a land line. I moved mine because I kept forgetting it in the mornings, and hubby moved his because his job changed and now he has to be available 24/7/365. Otherwise it wouldn't be in our rooms.
Open windows .. hell yeah ... if it's a nice night out our windows are open, saves on a/c costs (and we did this even when we lived in a single story house). Unlocked front door ... it happens. Mom was probably exhausted from baby being sick and the other kids to care for (seriously how many of us haven't been there?) and forgot to double check the front door ... god knows I've done it a time or billion.
ABSOLUTELY NONE OF THIS points to her having harmed her child. And considering a WITNESS saw a man walking down the street with an infant in the middle of the night ... I'd say it points more to someone else having done it.
And I hope that the baby is found and returned to her family safe and sound.
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