Thoughts please !

As a direct answer to your question.....No, I wouldn’t. However, this doesn’t sound like a straightforward household, and it may be the 14 year old is more capable than the mother!

Doesn’t look as if the OP is coming back.

Well, she did only post the question yesterday.

Ultimately, it’s none of your business who they leave the baby with. If the parents including your ‘successful in his field’ DS have decided they are suitable then that is entirely up to them. I’d suggest you keep your nose out of it.

Oh I wouldn't at all.
Not if I felt the baby was being put at risk.
People keeping "their nose" out of it has ended in tragedy far too many times.

MissAdventure

Well, she did only post the question yesterday.

Something very strange is going on here as this thread has been running for several days but all the comments are now showing as happening yesterday.

Oh sorry, I didn't realise that.
I've seen a few people say that threads seem to be sinking without trace when they have new posts on.
Weird.
Maybe Halloween has made everything a bit spooky?
We need a witch emoji.

NO , NO , NO. Not fair to the baby or the girl. 5 hours!! ?? A 14 year old will not have the emotional maturity necessary for such a task. The reasons behind this post are not important, however leaving any 14 year old so long with a baby is IMO reason for concern.

I think as the OP posted just after midnight it’s been two nights and one day if that makes sense, so it seems it’s been longer IYSWIM?
The thread is definitely spooky though and I hope the baby is safe, whether with the mother, babysitter or OP.

Yes, that's the main thing.

I wouldn't expect a 14 year old to take on the responsibility. In this case a breastfed baby could be very chippy about being given a bottle for a start.
I got told off by my mother for leaving my 6 month old son with an elderly (much younger than I am now) unmarried aunt on one occasion for exactly the responsibility reason.

I fear the OP has left the building...

When I lived in USA it was the norm to get a baby sitter of 14 or 15 to sit for a few hours a day or night.

The parents wouldn't necessarily even know the sitter either!

It isn’t the ages….it’s the individual. If the 14 year old is a competent, level headed, individual…..not a problem.
I know it is decades ago but I babysat a lot at 14. I always had phone contact details and the children were, generally, asleep. It was more challenging babysitting during the day but I worked through it. No one came to any harm.

No! It’s not fair on either child

No, why would you ?
If the mother "went out for the day" where was she? How far away was she?
It might well have been acceptable ( my dad told me that he was expected to look after his younger sisters from about the age of 10) years ago , but in this day and age, it's not acceptable. There is actually no minimum age by law, I believe that a child can be left alone , just "advised" !

No absolutely not

If you think baby is in danger or being neglected, report it to Social Services. That's it. If something happened to the baby and you had done nothing, you'd never forgive yourself. If it was for half an hour in an emergency, maybe it wouldn't be so bad. But 5 hours? No. Never.

I can only go by my children in which case the answer would be: No, No, Yes and No! Nothing to do with gender but just my observations with family babies (and pets!) over the years of them growing up. And also if there was an adult within easy reach - like next door - if a problem should arise.

There seems to be no legal ruling about how old a babysitter has to be in the UK, or at what age you legally can leave a child alone at home.

I personally would never have left a child in the care of a 14 year old for longer than the time it took me to nip to the shops if for any reason it was not feasible to remain with the baby myself and send the 14 year old to do the errand.

Leaving a baby with so young a girl for five hours seems completely wrong to me, but presumably the 14 year old's parents knew where she was and what she was doing and were all right with it, as were the baby's parents, so I don't see there is anything you can do to prevent this happening again Lizzy60.

It is young at 14 to have the responsibility of such a little baby, but, from 12 or 13 on, I did babysitting jobs, with even young babies, in my neighbourhood. I could always phone my mum, very close by, in case of a problem. I did decide I preferred weekend farm work, though...

In France, as I live there, the minimum age to leave a child alone is 12. As for looking after a baby too, I don't know.

grannyactivist

At 14 I had been in that situation dozens of times - and without access to a phone! I was sensible, would remain level headed in an emergency, and was very experienced at looking after babies.

However, also when I was 14 my four month old baby brother died of Sudden Instant Death Syndrome (‘cot death’ as it was then known). I was not alone with him at the time, but it was a traumatic event - so the risk of something untoward happening with such a young baby and no adult back-up in place makes me very uneasy.

Exactly the sort of situation a 14-year-old should never have to cope with. She'd be traumatised for the rest of her life!

When my first child was a baby I had two sisters, aged 14 and 15 to babysit for about three hours one evening every week. They were together, for support, and their mum, a friend of mine, was on the other end of the phone and prepared to jump in the car if needed. ( she never was).
It all depends on the circumstances and the maturity of the people concerned.
The OP did not originally provide enough information, and there is more to this than meets the eye, so our opinions are irrelevant.

I'm wondering how OP knows this baby sitting event happened. Or know things about the sitter and the timing.