.jpg)
Forgetful mom leaves 1-month old alone in Sears for 90 minutes
Categories: Places To Go, Health & Safety, Media
Christina L. Ferschke of Port St. Lucie, Florida went shopping at Sears with her 1-month-old son, poked around the
baby department, finished shopping, got in her car and drove home. 70 minutes later she returned to the store to get
her son, who she claims she forgot.
A review of the store's video tapes showed Ferschke entering the store about 4:07 p.m. She placed a 911 call from her car about 70 minutes later and a store employee located the infant in a car seat on his shopping cart in the store's baby section about 5:42 p.m. That means the baby was alone for more than 90 minutes. Ferschke "insisted that she had no recollection of the time from when she was looking at baby items to the time she called 911," the police report states. The baby was unharmed.
Either that is one quiet baby, or this woman is nuts.
Recent Posts
- Reviews: What's New This Week (11/06/2009)
- Jim Carrey's "A Christmas Carol" Creepy in a Good Way (11/06/2009)
- Twitter Follow Friday on ParentDish! (11/06/2009)
- Babies Pick Up Mothers' Accents In The Womb (11/06/2009)
- Recall: Adventure Playsets (11/06/2009)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 17)
thordora 4-13-2006 @ 3:19PM
man, I never did it, but I can tell you that in the first months, it's likely sheer luck that my crazy sleepy brain didn't pull this. I've lost chunks of time since having kids, but it's usually in 5 mins segments.
I'm sure there's more to this.
Reply
Angelica 4-13-2006 @ 3:31PM
Either she has short-term memory loss, selective amnesia or she is a moron.
Reply
meg 4-13-2006 @ 3:32PM
How can this mean that the baby was alone for 90 minutes? You're saying that she forgot the baby as soon as she got in the store? She didn't take the baby anywhere in the store with her?
Can they tell from the video when she walked away from the baby? And who doesn't notice an unattended baby in a store? Could I possibly ask anymore questions?? ;)
Reply
Stephanie 4-13-2006 @ 3:40PM
I know as a new mom - one can make sleep deprived mistakes. My worst was when I went to get my son out of his carseat and realized I had driven home from the supermarket WITHOUT BUCKLING HIM IN! I was horrified!
But leaving your newborn for ninety minutes? Thats off the charts irresponsible.
Reply
Kate 4-13-2006 @ 3:47PM
That is exactly my recurring nightmare! Right down to Sears and everything. Weird.
Reply
Ginny 4-13-2006 @ 3:51PM
Is Britney visiting Florida and using an alias?
Reply
Ginny 4-13-2006 @ 3:52PM
I just CANNOT imagine forgetting the child. I mean, she was shopping for baby clothes for goodness sakes. @@
Reply
Sharon 4-13-2006 @ 4:02PM
This baby must have been sleeping or very mellow.
When mine were babies they would have NEVER let me forget them in a store, even if I was having a sleep-deprived absentminded moment. They were too loud! They always wanted me to keep that stroller moving (which was one reason that one of my former great pleasures, shopping, was reduced to groceries and other necessities for the most part). Thank God for online shopping.
If I had have actually left one of them in the store, the whole place would have known about it within 5 minutes.
Reply
karrie 4-13-2006 @ 4:04PM
Thankfully I never did anything that forgetful, but like a previous poster, I can remember how extreme the exhaustion and fogginess was back then. This scenario is over the top, but I can sort of see how it could happen. (Not condoning her actions, but I sympathize.)
Reply
Michelle 4-13-2006 @ 4:12PM
I know as new Moms, we are beyond exhausted and our brains sometimes forget to function. Hell, I'm not a new Mom anymore, and I'm so far past exhaustion, I'm lucky I'm in an upright position.
I, too have forgotten to buckle the top part of the carseat and things like that. (Not now, though. My daughter would never allow it) But I have never forgotten my children. How do you forget your kids. How are all these morons forgetting their children in their cars and in stores? That's like forgetting you have children! Sometimes I would like to forget I have children, but then I wake up and move on!
My kids make way to much noise and require way too me to forget them. I would reach for my purse, realize I don't get to carry a purse anymore, there's the big honking diaper bag and smell poop from the back of the van.
Did you kill ALL your brain cell smoking dope? I just don't get it. No matter how tired you are, you think you would smeel the horrible stench of baby puke on yourself and say " oh yes, musn't forget the baby"
IDIOT!
You know, you have to apply for a license to drive a car, shoot a gun, even fish. But they will let any freaking numbnut with ovaries and sperm have a child. I think there should be a test. One chance. If you fail, you are steralized! Kids are too precious a resource to leave to just any jerk!
Reply
Michelle 4-13-2006 @ 4:25PM
I'm sorry if I seem pissed off. . . this is an issue that has always gotten me fired up. .. I understand the Britney/highchair thing. Babies fall, Accidents happen. Parents make mistakes.
You do not forget you have children, which is essentially what these people do when they leave them in hot cars or in stores.
I actually do the opposite. I think I have them with me when I don't. I play the kids CDs in the car, do the Mommy bounce and rock when I'm alone.
I just get so ticked off at parents who are so irresponsible in their parenting as to forget their children!!!!!!!
Sorry. .. . I'll get off my soapbox now. . .
Reply
Jenny 4-13-2006 @ 4:47PM
Sleep deprivation is an odd odd thing. However, it wouldn't ever have happened to me because I hated hauling that infant car seat around and always used a Baby Bjorn. They are hard to miss when they are strapped to you!
Reply
karrie 4-13-2006 @ 4:49PM
I guess why I sympathize is I have been so completely exhausted that I've turned around to make sure ds was in his carseat, or stroller. I have had a moment of panic where I thought "OMG! Did I forget Max?" (of course I never have, and I'm very responsible, but because of those spaz moments, I have sympathy for this mom.)
Reply
Becca 4-13-2006 @ 5:21PM
I might be able to understand leaving a child at home, part of your tired mind thought you already put him or her in the car. But you would have to reach around the child to get the keys out of the diaper bag, and deliberately turn your back and walk away. I don't know, maybe if she got distracted, and carried the diaper bag rather than putting it in the cart, and hadn't quite gotten into automatic like most of us do, maybe she could have forgotten her baby. It's possible, however I feel it's unlikely.
It's more likely that she got frustrated, or angry, and walked away to cool off. When her head was clear enough to understand what she did she was almost home. Not a good thing, but somewhat understandable. I don't think she is a bad mother, frustrated, tired, overwhelmed, yes very much so. I hope she can get it together and make it work.
Reply
Belinda 4-13-2006 @ 6:07PM
I never wanted to walk two feet from my daughter when she was first born. This woman was nuts. Just like the lady in my Wal-Mart store a few weeks ago who didn't buckle her baby in the infant shopping cart seats and he fell out. She is currently suing store (according the the safety team)
Reply
mindy 4-13-2006 @ 8:09PM
Just had a spaz moment at Sears last Friday. Thought I had my 2 year old with me for a split second. I totally panicked starting looking around frantically. Realized he was at home with Dad. I too have forgotten to buckle the dang carseat a few times.
Reply
Debbie 4-13-2006 @ 8:19PM
I do believe a newborn baby such as her's at one month old can sleep thru many thngs. Newborn babies can sleep for many hours also especially during the day when you don't want them to. I also feel by the time she got home, she completely panicked. Sleep deprevation can do strange things to the mind. But something smells fishy here. Wait another week or so, will find out the real truth.
Reply
Christina Shannon 4-13-2006 @ 8:20PM
First off it is entirely possible as a sleep deprived young mother to leave your child. Most kids at that age sleep a large amount of time so the child could have slept completely through the whole ordeal. And besides, my mom is one of the greatest parents in the world left my younger brother at home at least once
Reply
Johnny 4-13-2006 @ 8:21PM
we don't know what's going on in the broad's life, what pressures she's under, etc. we have no right to judge her, i mean, christ, even god's boy wasn't perfect.
Reply
mia leslie 4-13-2006 @ 8:22PM
Forget her baby as she's shopping for baby clothes? What a complete and utter moron!!! She's lucky the baby didn't get hurt. One word...unfit!
Reply