3 Abandoned Newborn Babies

It is clearly the father who is doing the abandonment as all the babies have been abandoned within a very few hours of their birth and I doubt whether most women would be capable of getting up dressing, wrapping the baby up so carefully, and then getting to the chosen, and they do seem chosen, places that they wish to leave the baby to make sure it is quickly found.

I’ve no idea why these poor little babies have been abandoned, but I just find it so sad. I’m glad they were quickly found.

M0nica
In the hours immediately after birth I felt like superwoman! I think a motivated mother could have done this to be honest.

...but that assumes she was allowed out.

Assuming she wasn’t alone giving birth

The most recent baby was abandoned with the cord still attached, estimated to be only 1 hour old, in a supermarket carrierbag on a freezing cold night - only found by a dog walker - unlikely to have been discovered otherwise and would have died of exposure.

I don't think the person who abandoned the poor little mite had chosen somewhere where she'd be found quickly.

Tragic story all round for the babies and the mother. Hard to imagine what sort of situation the mother must be in. I assume that DNA testing is done routinely for abandoned babies.

I question if the mother didn’t care what happened to her new
borns why not leave them on a roadside, a loo, a garden ?

NotSpaghetti

...but that assumes she was allowed out.

No one is forced to stay in hospital post delivery. If no complications may be out within 6 to 8 hours.

Anniebach

I question if the mother didn’t care what happened to her new
borns why not leave them on a roadside, a loo, a garden ?

This baby was left on a roadside. According to the local paper the discovery was made by a dog walker at 9.13pm on Thursday 18 January, at the junction of Greenway and High Street South in East Ham. I think whoever left her obviously wanted her to be found - but she was lucky somebody walked past because it was obviously cold.

I don’t expect the poster assumed a hospital was preventing this mother leaving - more likely a person with malign intentions

The umbilical cord wouldn’t have still been attached if she was born in hospital either.

Casdon

The umbilical cord wouldn’t have still been attached if she was born in hospital either.

No not at all, poor woman, this doesn't bear thinking about. Poor baby at least is safe, not sure about Mum, one hopes so. Horrendous, they need to catch this Monster.

Freya5 - I don't think for a minute it would have been a hospital birth.

Just so, Iam

Given that the baby was an hour old, I can’t see it being the mother abandoning it. Simply the time and physical exertion required to have abandoned the child in the park and be gone by the time baby was found? She probably hadn’t passed the afterbirth before baby was taken away

Unless the baby was born outside - in the park for instance?

We know nothing really. And nor should we.

The police have told this story b

The police have told this story because the press were about to release it. That is an unusual step, maybe they want the public to come forward with information. To go through child birth without any anti natal care or medical support isn’t done lightly.

That was my thought. The way they were left doesn’t sound like a woman, she would leave them somewhere safer.

The Irish foundling story was on Woman’s Hour this morning. Extraordinary story but worth a listen on BBC Sounds.

I can't imagine the pain the mother is feeling if this was done without her agreement..

Captivity seems unlikely to me - the Austrian girl whose father kept her in their basement had her children with her, and so I seem to think did some of the other women kept prisoners.

Surely, it is more likely that the mother of these children is too poor to bring them up? With all the unemployed, not to mention homeless all countries have these days and the total inadequecy of social security, I find it sadly likely that the parents of these children cannot afford to clothe and feed them.

And yes, contraceptives exist, but the pill is only available, and rightly so, on prescription, so expense kicks in here too, and no form of contraception is 100 % sure.

We all know that any woman consulting a gynaecologist is asked whether she has ever given birth and if so how many children she has - what do you expect the mother in this case to tell her doctor if she consults him or her about sterilisation? She can hardly say, "Oh yes, doctor, I have had three healthy babies in the course of seven years and abandoned them all!"

grandtante Contraception is free in the UK.

It doesn't have to be actual physical captivity. It could be emotional control and the threat of violence towards the woman herself, her family or her other children. It could be that she is being told that she will be held responsible for the reputational damage to her family.