Becoming a new parent can be a huge adjustment for some, where they are missing the days of freedom and not having to worry about the responsibility of caring for an infant. Not being able to come and go as you please, having to be up multiple times a night and the constant need to 'be there' at a moment's notice can really drag down your social life.
A confession posted in the Telegraph from a new mom going by the pseudonym of Frequent Crier, sparked a heated debate over the well-being of her child. In her frank, honest post, she admits to leaving her 11 month old child asleep in a hotel room while she had dinner with her husband.
"We ate, we drank and we were back in the room, brushing our teeth and undressing with the stealth of ninjas, by 10pm," she wrote.
"I'm new to motherhood and it is fair to say that, while pregnant and in the exhausting first few months of my daughter's life, I missed my freedom and the ease with which I wined, dined and speed-dialed an Uber home without a second thought," she wrote.
Realizing that her actions may not have been the wisest, she consulted with a group of friends about whether what she did was good idea. But the reaction her friends had left her more confused then ever...
"There was rapid and wholehearted agreement around the table: we were the only parents prepared to leave our baby sleeping in a hotel room on her own," she wrote.
She didn't agree with the table's consensus though.
"It was my turn to be shocked. I'm sorry, but if you think that, you are letting a fear of the unknown - or at least the highly unlikely - run your lives," she wrote.
Parents today have the tools to be able to be out of earshot of their bundle, thanks to the help of baby monitors. You can hear and see anything your little one does and be able to be back to their side in a minute, if they need you. These monitors do have a range though.
"Ours stretches just 15 metres and so, last weekend, it did not reach our table. We ended up going back to our room to check on our daughter - who is a very sound sleeper - every 20 minutes, while staff assured us that they would let us know if they heard a cry in passing," she admits.
She defends her position, by explaining the risks are too small to waste an evening sitting with her daughter in silence, in the dark hotel room. "And definitely too small to make me avoid hotels entirely. I don't think that makes me naive, or reckless," she writes.
What do you think of what she did? Share your opinions in the comments.