Friday

H & M on East 86 and Lexington Ave in NYC

Received Friday, June 25, 2010
nanny sighting
I just spent over 2 hours at H & M on East 86 and Lexington Ave. I love to watch babies and as I was waiting for over 30 minutes for a fitting room, the woman in the picture walk by with a red stroller and a deeply sleep baby boy, about 9 to 12 months old, very fair skin and blond hair. They got in the elevator and went to the second floor. I had a lot of stuff to try on so I spent another 30 minutes in the dressing room. As I got on the line to pay for the stuff I bought, I noticed the same woman right infront of me on line. The store was jam packed, as if they were giving the clothes for free, so we waited on line at least another 20 minutes. I could not help but looking at this beautiful baby still so deeply asleep. I could not believe that with the loud music inside the store and all the people around talking so loud they were almost screaming, that this baby would still not wake up. He had a very shallow respiration and did not move one single finger the whole time!
When the time came for the nanny to pay what she had bought (almost $100 worth), she left the stroller on the side, a few feet away from her, it almost got lost in the sea of people around us.
isyn nanny h and m
From my observations, this baby had been doped or had been given something to sleep. I casually said to the woman,"what a sound sleeper the baby is!" She got kind of nervous but did not answer.
I am sorry I could not take a better picture of the woman or the baby, the lines were so long and it was so crowded, I am lucky I got a picture without raising her suspicion. The woman was about 5 feet tall, Spanish origin, had a dark pink blouse (fitted her too tight) and jeans. She wore a pair of glasses with very thick black frame with fake rhinestones on the side.
If you recognize her please tell the parents to do a toxicology on the baby, I have children myself, as well as nieces and nephews. No baby sleeps like that, without moving, in such noisy and hot conditions, somehting is not right.

42 comments:

Alex said...

I am afraid people are going to get mad at this post but I think it is great she posted it. I agree, it is very odd for a child to sleep like that in a crowded store. While I recognize it is not impossible, the nanny getting nervous is a little weird. I hope the parents at least see this to make their own judgement.

soundsleepers said...

I rarely respond to these, but the assumption that this baby was drugged is outrageous... my 2 children have always slept soundly in the most unusual conditions (loud, hot, stroller riding over cobblestones). Maybe the nanny shouldn't have spent 2 hours shopping, but the baby was sleeping anyway.

Anonymous said...

This woman left the stroller unattended while she was paying, did she know the baby was not waking up? From the register one could only see the top of the stroller, not the baby
Almost all items are $10and she bought $100 worth, how long you think it took for her to check out?

AML said...

Give me a break. My son will sleep in the noisiest restaurants in the city. This posting is ridiculous and clearly from someone who doesn't have or understand children.

cali mom said...

Ever heard the expression "sleep like a baby"? Young babies like this, under a year old, can sleep VERY soundly. I think it just sounds paranoid and ludicrous to assume the baby was drugged by the evil nanny because he was sleeping soundly in a store.

cali mom said...

And there are many items at H&M that are $40 and up. Even if she had 9 items at $10/ea plus sales tax, I hardly think it's child neglect if she took her eyes off of him long enough to pay for her purchases.

Peggy said...

My child just slept through a smoke detector going off, and she was directly underneath it, sleeping on a couch. In fact, a fire truck could probably go through the room, and she'd keep right on sleeping.

SD Nanny said...

I think this post is outrageous. I am a nanny for a 10 month old baby boy. He can sleep through just about anything. living in South San Diego, we have frequent earthquakes, and my charge has slept through almost everyone of them. He has sept through an orchestra concert, the petting zoo, smoke detectors, police sirens, and much more. He sleeps for about 2 to 3 hours at a time, so the nanny and baby in this post don't sound to unusual. I think by posting this, you are tring to create unnecessary drama.

nannyT said...

Same here, My charge sleeps thru everything. 7.2 earthquake... didnt phase him. sirens wailing while walking down the beach while he was asleep (after being asleep in the car for a hour) didnt phase him. When he is asleep, nothing phases him and its hard to wake him up he has to wake up on his own.

world's best nanny said...

How can you assume such a thing? Now you have a family distrusting their nanny, the baby going through tests and the nanny losing her lively hood.

Phoenix said...

um my little sister slept like that. And I can assure you she wasn't drugged as I prepared her bottles before sleep.

This is a case where there is a GOOD baby

People today are crazy! Always such horrible thoughts running through people's minds. I mean really really awful things. i know people can do bad things to kids but this conclusion jumping is just ludarics!

TR said...

I would want to know more about the position of the stroller, was it really a few feet, etc. That could be concerning or nothing. But as for the sleeping thing, I agree with the rest here, the idea that the baby was "doped" because he slept through a little noise seems pretty ridiculous.

Shoot, it's not just babies. I care for a 2-year-old now whose 5-year-old sister appears to lack the ability to be quiet during the 2-year-old's nap. The 5-year-old will quite literally shriek at the top of her lungs outside the 2-year-old's room. A habit I'm trying to break, but her 2-year-old sister will sleep right through it.

Anonymous said...

Parents hire a nanny so their baby can have naps at home no?
This baby should be napping at home in his crib not in a stroller.
And it's a known fact- many so called nannies give children tylonal and benadryl so they will be knocked out.

Lindsey said...

Were all of you oblivious to the fact that she said he had shallow respirations, or that he NEVER moved. Yes babies sleep soundly. My kids sleep through a lot of noise, but they move around while they sleep,they would also wake if the noise was going on for an extended amount of time. She didn't just say that she saw a sleeping baby so it had to be drugged. Get a grip women. So quick to think its not possible considering the facts she stated. Don't act like you have never heard of nannies doping kids with benydrl, etc. It's not uncommon.


-Shallow resp
-No movement
-Extended amount of time sleeping with no movement or waking, in loud enviroment.
-nervous nanny

You did the right thing posting this OP. This seems very suspicious and I hope the parents see this.

zanymom said...

My husbands families house was hit by a car. The car actually was in the house. My brother-in-law was eight at the time and slept thru the entire thing. I seriously doubt that shopping would bother him at all. If you were starring at the baby as long as I understand in the post, that could be the reason for the nervousness when you spoke to the nanny. Maybe she thought you could harm the baby, not because she had drugged him. Maybe she was being as paranoid as you seem to be about bad people in the world.

Rose said...

Lindsey:

You're not putting yourself in OP's shoes. You're thinking of all the times you've been next to a baby and from that point of view, of course knowing all OP listed makes perfect sense. But that's not where OP was, OP was doing this from a distance.

To the unfamiliar ear, ordinary breathing from a baby would be shallow, especially asleep, and how would OP know, was she really that close to the baby? Some babies stay pretty still, and again, unless OP was sitting in front of the stroller but a couple feet away and staring, how would she know? Has anyone ever walked up to you and asked, "Are you nervous?" Or said, "You seem nervous." They aren't always right, are they?

If I had been in a store for a couple hours and was waiting in line, I'd be anxious to get out. Some could mistake that as nervous far too easily. OP has no way of measuring this. More to the point, OP has no way of knowing ANY of this. There's no way for OP to have known about shallow respiration, nervousness or amount of movement unless she parked her butt in front of the stroller and stared.

* And if OP did that, where's that in her sighting? That would seem a HUGE failing on the nanny's part to allow a stranger to park herself a couple feet from the stroller and stare.

There's only two things OP could measure and that was the length of time asleep and the amount of noise. We've covered the loud environment and two hours isn't a world record for naps. To be frank, unless OP has omitted some pretty incredible details, there's nothing suspicious here. It's all in OP's head.

And it's a shame she'd think this way.

DrMom said...

Personally, my newborn slept through a rather noisy graduation when he was 2 weeks old. The whole entire thing... including the LOUD music and everyone around us singing the alma matter at the end.

*Rolls eyes*

Drama seeker.

smoke detectors fyi said...

Mommies and nannies, did you know that a recent studies (plural) showed that children under 6 sleep through fire alarms/smoke detectors because of the frequency and their development. This post sounds a bit weird but who knows.

Student Nanny said...

Though I tend to agree that the OP might be reading too much in to it, every child is different. Some can sleep through the appocalypse, others can't sleep anywhere but their crib. The only people who know what is normal for this child are his parents, and this was the only forum the OP had to inform them, so I say good job.

blah blah said...

I don't understand why everyone is so quick to attach the OP. Honestly, if it were my child and someone was even the least bit suspicious I would want to know and I would like to think any parent would feel the same way about their own children. So I say good on OP. I for one think it is odd that he didn't move. Most children (especially at the age of 9-12 months) are all over the place in their cribs with lots of movement while they are sleeping. But, again as I mentioned if anyone thought something was weird I would rather have them call attention to it and then have it be my call to make.

Off Topic said...

Rhineshones are real; they're just fake diamonds.

av said...

blah blah:

Simple, because OP shouldn't know a lot of what she claims to know. Intentionally or unaware unintentionally, I think she's making it up.

oh well said...

I think a busy store is not an appropriate place for a baby. If I were the parent I would want to know.
Maybe the parents do know and they are fine with it, but maybe they don't and they wouldn't like it.
As for the possible drugging, I always tend to give OPs the benefit of the doubt. I agree that it all sounds very unlikely, some babies will sleep through anything, and a stranger's instincts can be wrong, but what if they weren't?

Kat said...

I have to wonder OP why you were staring so intently at this particular woman and baby? So the kid was sleeping, why keep staring? My oldest slept through a hurricane, literally when he was a baby.

Shallow breathing when an infant is soundly sleeping is completely normal.

Kat said...

Oh well.

Whether you think a busy store is the place for a baby or not, is really of no importance. I don't mean to be rude, but the fact is that Nannies are people and have to be able to do things when the baby is with her. And I for one have taken my kids to the store when they were babies, and yep, even just to go clothes shopping.

Kat said...

I also have to add,

The assumption that the woman is a nanny simply because the child is blonde and fair skinned is highly annoying. My best friend's mother is spanish, and has black hair and a darker complexion while her father is Irish and has the fair skin and red hair. She's blonde, blue eyed, and fair skinned. Just a thought. And why would you post how much she spent? Why does it matter?

SD Nanny said...

For the poster who said that 10-12 month old babies don't take long naps, I am sadly to say that you are sadly mistaken. My charge, who is 11 months old, take at least one 2-3 hour nap a day.
I would also like to add to all of the posters who are saying that babies ALWAYS move when they are asleep. He is in a stroller, how can you expect him to be all over the place during the nap. The OP stated that she stared at them for a short period of time, so because she didn't see any movement in that short period of time, doesn't mean he was drugged. I think this post is ridiculous, and for all of you who are agreeing with the fact that you think the baby may be drugged or doped, you are just adding fuel to the fire.

Unknown said...

This post is very suspicious. I am a full time nanny and the baby that i care for has slept through it all, bus rides with people bumping into his stroller, kids screaming and the bus being lifted up and down for the elderly (it makes a high beeping noise when it goes up and down), he has slept through an entire doctors appointment where the doctor gave him a complete physical and checked in his ears (which he hates more than anything!)
The fact that you stared at this woman looking for something to complain about and point out is absurd. This isn't a bad nanny at all, also the fact that she is shopping while he is sleeping isn't awful either. I know plenty of nannies, myself included where our bosses say its ok to run errands that we need to run so long as the baby is happy and its not every day. Stop being so parinoid.

Deni said...

I used to clean & vacuum my son's room while he was sleeping, he could sleep through anything! That includes taking him out of his car seat, carrying him in, changing his diaper & dressing him in jammies!

cali mom said...

Anonymous/OP, who is tryiong to convince everyone that it's deplorable for a young infant t be allowed to sleep anywhere but their own bed and that they don't normally sleep for longer than 45 minutes at a time...get a clue. My son napped for easily 2 hours at a time when he was as old as 2, though he went down to only one nap a day at about that time.

I think most parents hire nannies not so that their pnly child can nap in their own bed ecach day, but so that their child(ren) can be well taken care of while they are unable to be there. By your logic, older siblings of a 6 month old child would be required to always be at home during the baby's nap times (so much for preschool, school, playgroups, classes or outdoor playdates!). That's just silly.

Crazy said...

Actually this OP says she saw the woman while she (OP) was waiting for a dressing room and the nanny took the child down the elevator. She saw her again while waiting in line (1- 1.5 hrs later by her own account) to pay. So the baby could have woken up in that time or slept the whole time. She observed the baby deeply sleeping while the nanny walked by her to get in an elevator and then again for 20 min while in line. Who knows how much the child moved or didn't move in the 2 hrs because the OP didn't see them the whole time-by her own account. My children were both deep sleepers and my son would sleep for 2-3 hours a day when he was 2 and under. To think this baby was drugged is crazy IMO

mismatchme said...

I find the sleep part absolutely ridiculous. I'm a nanny of 2 under 2 and the youngest (who is 3 months old) sleeps like that, even at a crowded pool when I am in the water with him in the front carrier.

His sister who is now 19 months was the same way and STILL sleeps very soundly in loud, crowded areas when she is tired enough.

That being said, I've been to H&M, anon, and things are not usually 10$ and under...

I fail to see how her purchase total has anything to do with her ability to care for the children.

This posting reminds me of the gossipy neighbor from bewitched.


RE: Parents hire a nanny so their baby can have naps at home no?
This baby should be napping at home in his crib not in a stroller.
And it's a known fact- many so called nannies give children tylonal and benadryl so they will be knocked out.


1. My family would rather me have the children nap while driving and taking them out or in the stroller. Some parents (and since were making ridiculous generalizations here, I'm going to go with A LOT) actually prefer their children to be out and about, even if sleeping.

2. I'd love to see your "facts" and evidence of this being a huge epidemic. I'm a nanny, I know a lot of nannies and I can say without a doubt that I've never met a nanny who has done this. I'm sure parents have never done it though, like ever in history. (And clearly this anon has a hard time understanding complex concepts, so I'm letting you know, yes, that was sarcasm.)

About the breathing aspect:

Clearly the anons, OP and "Lindsey" (very sock puppety to me) haven't cared for young children before. As a natural worrier, I notice any change in breathing in the youngest (as I did with the oldest when she was this age) and if he is sleeping very soundly, I often stick my finger under his nose. Babies do weird things.

And to the other anon: really? You know this about all children? On most days my 19 month old takes a 2 1/2 - 3 1/2 hour. At 9 months? Kid napped probably 4-6 hours (though some take multiple naps rather than 1.)


Pretty sure that not attacking nannies and making ludicrous assumptions based on some bad apples falls under the same rule of "not attacking OP."

fail. said...

it is fine to give an OP the benefit of the doubt, but come on. seriously? seriously?

this post is ridiculous.

TC said...

I have a cousin that fell asleep and slept for 3 hours in a bowling ally. The same night she slept through me putting her in the car seat, driving home, taking her out, changing her diaper and clothes, and putting her to bed.

I slept through a hurricane when I was a baby

My 11 month old charge takes 4-5 hour naps at a time and sleeps through the dog barking (a lab) the doorbell ringing, the train, his sister, the movie how to train your dragon, the movie toy story 3, his dad's loud basketball game on the tv just a few feet away from him.

My point is you don't know the child, it very well could be a heavy sleeper...just like most babies are. It does not mean the child is drugged and it doesn't mean the child should have been at home asleep.

When you only allow a child to sleep in their own crib and not in the car seat, the stroller, the pack and play, someone elses house ect you are setting you're setting your child up to ONLY sleep in his crib/bed. If they are allowed to sleep in other places then it makes life easier. You can visit relatives out of town without worrying about your child not sleeping, you don't have to worry about rushing home close to nap time because your precious child wont sleep anywhere else.

unbelievable said...

I really find it appalling that someone would make such spurious accusations with so little evidence. As someone else said, babies' breathing is shallow compared to adults, and some babies can sleep through anything. Nanny could have been nervous for any number of reasons- maybe because she was shopping with her charge, maybe because she left the stroller for a minute to check out. Those are issues that could also be debated, but to assume that the nanny got nervous because she drugged the child? Based on a few minutes of observing the child sleep? That's simply alarmist.

you need a moniker! said...

repost for anonymous:
I actually know several children who sleep that well. depending on their nap schedule, and how tired they are... in fact one of the children i nanny will sleep anywhere and not wake up if she happens to not be in her crib, she will pass out in the stroller, in the car etc. loud noises etc do not even phase her. I took all the children to a parade, and a fire truck with sirens didn't disturb her... and guess what! I didnt give her any drugs! *gasp*! you don't know this child. if you were concerned enough you could have talked to her right there, and tried to wake the baby yourself. this just seems like a cowardly way to try and get someone in trouble... i do think that maybe she should be more careful in a busy store keeping the stroller next to her, but then again, based on the rest of your observations, i'm not too worried about her neglecting the child.. after all you were there to make sure everyone was safe right...

insane much? said...

the nanny was probably nervous because H&M Psycho Shopper was stalking her and her baby.

MEE said...

Ridiculous siting by a person who clearly does not understand healthy babies are designed to sleep soundly.

Elizabeth said...

Do a toxicology? WTF?

i don't exist said...

Repost for yet another person that forgot you are not allowed to be anonymous:
Since when does a ISYN sighting need to be proven beyond a doubt. Whether this baby was drugged or not, the OP thought something was wrong enough to write in. Let the parents be the judge. In any case, this nanny was being paid to shop. That's not right. Do you think when the mom came home that night, the nanny told her that the babt slept a good 2 hours while she shopped? Doubt it.

SD Nanny said...

To i don't exist:
My employer has no problem knowing that I take advantage of the babies down time and do a little shopping. She even encourages it. She wants the baby to experiece sleeping/being in places outside of the home so he gets used to it. She sometimes even comes along on our shopping "adventures", so in other words, I do sometimes get paid to shop. How do you know whether or not this lady is allowed or not allowed to shop.

britney bab said...

I dont exist
Her employer could have sent her to the store I worked for a woman who sent her nanny to the mall to return clothes so unless you know the dynamic of mother nanny relationship you cant condemn the nanny for shopping Also Kathlee 85 THANK YOU!!!!! why do people assume that she is the nanny she could be the mother, aunt
I dont think the OP is a drama seeker she was following her instincts what if she is right? What if she is drugging the child and accidently kills him If that was your child wouldnt you want someone to be overly cautious and nothing be wrong then to ignore a dangerous sitution