- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
Parenting
shopgirl78
member
Have you ever lost DC?
shopgirl78
member
in Parenting
I had a nightmere last night. I had DD, her friend, and DS1 out at a crowded place (like a convention). I turned around to my entourage of children & he was gone. I was franticly searching for him in my dream. I finally found him asleep curled up in a blanket...then I woke up (with I swear high blood pressure) and a feeling of relief. OMG! I can't imagine the pit in stomach feeling IRL. Has anyone "lost" their child yet? I remember my parents "losing" my brothers & I in Wal-mart or a similar store. I don't allow mine to roam yet. Not sure when I will, if ever...
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Have you ever lost DC?
Not out in public.
But last week I had to take Nathan to his cardiologist appointment and my cousin (who is 18) came over with her friend (who is also 18) to watch Morgan and Logan.
We were gone a few hours. We were on our way home- just about 5 minutes away and my Uncle called me in a panic saying that he was on his way down to my house because Logan was missing and to get there right away. We have a pond directly across the street from our house and I have never been that scared in my entire life. It freaks me out just thinking about it.
Anyway- my cousin and her friend called 911 and everything. She said that they were watching a movie and she told him that he could watch the movie with them or play in his room. He chose his room. When she got up to check on him 2 minutes later he was no where to be found. She screamed his name for 20 minutes and searched high and low looking for him. He had an accident in his underwear and was hiding in the small space between Morgan's dresser and the wall.
It was super scary!
I lost DS once at our synagogue. It was after services and everyone was in the foyer for refreshments. DH was letting DS walk around wherever he wanted and I tried to keep an eye on him but couldn't with DD with me and greeting/congratulating family and all (we were there for a bar mitzvah). Next thing I knew I couldn't spot him anymore. He ended up going to the bathroom on his own. I was freaked out for awhile, though.
I have had nightmares about my kids drowning several times. It scares the crap out of me!
I lost dd about 6 months ago at the Children's Museum. One moment she was playing right next to me in the Bob the Builder exhibit, suddenly she was just gone. Couldn't find her anywhere.
I started calling her name, scanning the area, and immediately started looking for an employee. Luckily we found her just a minute or two later; she'd left the balcony area where we were, gone down the big staircase by herself and was wandering around the main lobby area. She wasn't the least bit upset, lol.
Maybe Lari will chime in too about our zoo experience. ;-)
Yes - at the mall.
DS was just barely 2. DH was with me and we split up - I wanted to get him fall pjs and he wanted milk. DH took him to get milk, but stopped at a store on the way. DH, who always expects more of him than he should, thought he was right around the rack. He wasn't.
I came out of Carters to DH and by the look on his face, I could tell he lost him. I was like 7 months pregnant and all I could think was "Don't panic, don't go into labor."
It's a huge mall, but it was right after opening so it wasn't crowded. I just had no idea how we were going to find him, which way he went, etc. DH was calling security to help out (they have dorky segues) and put the place on lock down, when a woman came walking towards us with him. The sad thing is that she found him pretty far away and no one else stopped to help this two-year-old walking around the mall by himself. She just took him and walked him back in the direction he came from. I bet he was looking for me. He's never been a wanderer, but was bored with Daddy, I'm sure.
Since it all turned out ok, I can say that it was actually good that it happened, since it made DH more aware of what can happen in a second.
Yup.
Lost DS at the National Zoo about 30 seconds after I met up with Cleo and esposa38.
It was literally and figuratively a zoo-- he got caught up in the 30 school groups and was with one of them looking at the cheetahs.
He was even ON his leash at the time. I was holding onto my purse, the leash and the stroller with DD in it and didn't even notice that I had lost the leash.
DS - December 2006
DD - December 2008
Yes....at the beach. Seriously WORST.THING.EVER.
DH was playing with the kids and building a sand castle and moat down where the surf was coming up. I had been down there playing with them and then went back up (about 7 yards away at a diagonal from where they were) to sit down and relax for a little bit. I was reading so I wasn't watching them. DS fell in the sand and was making a funny face so DH told him to come show me and have me wipe his face. We ALWAYS do a "hand off" where we acknowledge who has the kids (ie. He's coming your way!.... "Got him!", etc.) Except this time.
DH was watching him run up to me when a wave came in and knocked DD down in the sand. He bent down to help her up and once he got her situated and calmed down he looked up to check on DS. He saw that I was still reading and didn't see DS anywhere. He yelled "Where's C?" My first thought was it was a game and DS was hiding in the hole. Then it hit me he wasn't joking. We both jumped up and started screaming his name. DH handed DD to me and I started running up to the hotel to check the pool because DS had wanted to go to the pool. Didn't find him there and put an alert out with the hotel. We had a bunch of people come up to us, asking what he was wearing, etc and people took off looking for him and yelling his name. The lifeguards were notified, a police officer patroling the boardwalk was flagged down. Two men found him down the beach where a 15 year old girl had stopped him and they brought him back to us. He was crying and running and she stopped him to ask him what was wrong and where his Mommy and Daddy were. I seriously thank God for that girl every day.
It was seriously the longest 5 minutes of my entire life....made me cry again just typing this. DH has seriously been traumatized by it and says it was his fault. He is afraid to take the kids into any crowded situation, but has pushed through and done it.
The school lost DS the day DD was born.
He was 6 years old, in first grade. Our friends' 16 yr old son was supposed to pick him up from school. Normally, DS was a bus rider but this day he was to be a walker. I arranged with the school for our friend to meet DS at this big tree in the playground. I guess that was the official meeting point for parents and walkers. We're still not sure what happened....but we're in the hospital, DD is only a few hours old, and we get a phone call saying that DS is missing. The school doesn't know where he is, our friends haven't seen him.
A teacher found him walking down the main road about two miles away from the school. Luckily, she knew him and he recognized her so she brought him back to the school.All these stories of dc's missing out in public make my stomache turn. I have had the experience in public of turning around and not seeing ds, but finding him seconds later.
He did go missing in our house about 2 years ago. We had just moved in to our new house. I was unpacking and went to check on the kids playing. DD was playing and ds was no where to be found. I called his name and searched everywhere in the house, but after searching all the rooms could not find him. I looked in every closet, eves etc. I was panicked and when I called his name he would not answer. I finally found him about 15 minutes later tucked under a desk in our bonus room. He was hiding becasue he did something that he thought he would get in trouble for. I was seconds away from calling the police. I was so scared.
I have lost both. DD#1 I lost at the mall when she was just 2. My friend and I had gone into the Parents' Room to change diapers, etc. and were talking. Our older kids were playing with some toys and suddenly my friend said, "Where is Emma?" She was gone. I ran out to the play area right outside with my stroller and started calling her name. Someone asked me what she was wearing and started to look with me. My friend went down the escalator to look downstairs. It seemed like an eternity before she arrived at the top of the escalator with Emma. She had left the Parents' Room, pushed the elevator button and gone down the elevator! I couldn't believe it. Such a horrible feeling.
DD#2 got lost at a local festival in Tucson where my parents live. Even with 3 adults watching, she managed to wander away from us. We started searching and spotted her with a security guard. Phew! It wasn't as long but still scary.
I think the media does horrible things to us in terms of thinking the worst. Much of the time a stranger will step in and actually help. It's nice to know there are good people out there. We have also assisted lost children in the past, just recently at the Zoo we reunited a little girl with her family. There was another lost boy who had about 6 people trying to locate his family.
I lost my oldest last month at the museum. We were walking around the exhibits when I reached a point that had steps to do down to the next exhibit. I had my youngest in a stroller and couldn't go down the steps so I told my oldest that we needed to turn around. She asked if she could look at the stuff at the very bottom of the steps which was an area that I could see. Against my better judgment, I told her "yes, but come right back up to me." So she goes down and looks around and I could still see her so all was well. But then she saw the ramp for strollers on the other side of the room and said "mom, there's the stroller ramp" and runs off. I just stood there frozen for a minute because I thought for sure she would come back. After a minute or so, she didn't come back so I ended up carrying the stroller down the steps and tried to trace her steps. It turned out that she went up the ramp which dumped out near the entrance of the museum. By the time I got to her (which was maybe 2-3 minutes later) she had already stopped and asked a museum employee for help.
I was separated from her for a total of about 5 minutes but it felt like an eternity. I was proud of her that she immediately sought help but still had to get onto her that she did not what I told her to do which was to come right back up the steps. The rest of the day went smoothly and she stayed right next to by side. I guess the incident scared her quite a bit.
These stories are making me scared too & makes my heart stop, stomach drop for you guys. I was in a complete panic in my dream, like I said I can't imagine IRL.
In writing my post, I mentioned roaming and am afraid it might come off as kids are just left on their own...which were the circumstances when we were lost as kids. However, the above seem to come out of simple misunderstands and/or in just a millisecond!
Luckily, the only similar experience I had was when we were staying with my mom and DS1 went to sleep in a toddler bed in the room I was staying with and DD was in the bed with me (I was pregnant with DS2), when I woke up DS1 wasn't there. I check my parents and brothers rooms first (then my heart sank thinking about the pool in the backyard) but luckily, he just went to go sleep on the couch.
I bribe my kids DS1 to ride in the cart still (big part) and DS2 rides in the front. DD walks. I don't often have other people with me (live so far from family); MH works insane hours. In public places, I am forever counting them but it all happens so fast, anything could happen....I hope not to us anytime soon!
The feeling we all get when our kids 'go missing' even for a short time is sooo evident in this post. I feel it with each of these stories. Last year my SIL lost track of DD#1 in a hotel. She had both kids with her just exploring the place & DD#1 took off down the stairs quickly while was helping the littler one down the stairs. DD#1 just got off at a floor & she didn't know which one. She came back down to the lobby where we were all waiting for someone & it took me like 5 secs to register after she said "I can't find DD#1". It was like I was in slow motion or something.
Once it kicked in, I ran to the front desk & I have to say, this hotel was A-mazing. They immediately put out a call to all personnel with her description . I saw employees literally running through the hotel to look for her. We all started going on the floors & calling for her & I finally found her at the end of a hallway in a little nook. All I could think of the whole time was what if somebody grabbed her & took her in a room. She told me later she was playing hide & seek w/her auntie. I had to explain that the other person should probably be aware of that first, and that we don't do that in public places
I called the hotel manager the next day after I'd calmed down & sung the praises of his staff. He said they practice for situations like that- they were incredible. It's amazing how 5 minutes can seem like 5 hours...
Some of these make me want to puke!
This doesn't really count as losing her, but it was close enough. Kap and I took all the kids to this big beach last summer. All of a sudden Ava is gone - I couldn't find her anywhere and started to panic....until I looked behind us and she had just snuck in with another family and was playing with their beach toys.
Knock on wood it doesn't happen again!
{Ava 5.16.06} {Ella 12.29.07} {Drew 2.9.10}
Yep. My parents were watching DS1 at the Boston Children's Museum while I BFed DS2, and suddenly my dad come and told me they couldn't find A. I about had a heart attack. Luckily we were in the toddler area, which is gated, so I was pretty sure he didn't go far. I started yelling his name, and he appeared a moment later from the back of the play area. So freaking scary. My heart stopped.
The new house we're buying is right near a pond, and I am going to have to have several very serious talks with the kids (well, I can wait to talk to DS2 about it) about not going anywhere near the water alone if they happen to get away from me. Ugh, it scares me just thinking about it.
ETA: OMG, I totally forgot the other time we lost DS1 at the museum. He was in the huge climbing structure, I was with DS2, and DH was keeping an eye on him but came over to talk to me. In the short time he was talking to me DS1 scrambled down the climbing structure and went out the back way. We found him a couple minutes later not far away, but I was panicking. Like screaming at DH to go look for him while I stood there with DS2 in the stroller. Thank God he was fine and it didn't take long to find him.
Alex (11/14/06) and Nate (5/25/10)
"Want what you have, do what you can, be who you are." - Rev. Forrest Church
Not really lost but there were a couple of times I thought I lost Gracie and it is the worst feeling. Like when she was hiding in the rack of clothes and I was about to enter full panic when she popped back out. '
ETA: Or the time I thought I lost her when she was a newborn. I was super sleep deprived and stressed out over a problem with the insurance company. I got off the phone with yet another unproductive insurance call and went to get Gracie out of her bouncer but she wasn't in it. I looked everywhere for her thinking I was just so tired that I forgot where I set her down. I was in the middle of seriously freaking out when I realized I was wearing her in the sling the whole time.
DS ran off to play at a different spot in the Children's Museum (same exhibit, different spot). It was maybe a minute, but I was getting panicked.
However, my niece was "lost" this school year. My brother (who really is an intelligent person) told the bus driver that my niece (7) knows where to go and the driver could trust her on where to drop her off. So my niece decided to tell the driver to drop her off at my brother's office, even though she knew that he was OOT. She wanted to walk home. Along a busy, although rural, highway through the forest. A police officer picked her up and took her home.
I found a LO once. I was on the beach with my cousin sunning myself when I noticed a little girl about 3 crying. I went up to her and asked her if she knew where her mommy and daddy were. She said no. I played with her on the beach while my cousin went to get a lifeguard.
The lifeguards began"flagging" each other to see if they had parents with a missing child. None of them did. We kept her talking/semicalm for about 10 minutes.
Here a lifeguard on an ATV up on the boardwalk found the parents screaming in their hotel lobby. He drove down the beach and picked her up to take her back to the hotel!
She had wandered from the lobby, across the boardwalk, down to the beach to see the water!
I was so glad to see them reunited that by the time it was over I had lost my cool and was bawling too!
Yes - DS at a department store. The racks were close together, and I had DD in the stroller. DH was there too. DS was trying to play in the racks and DH was trying to get him to stop. Then, he was gone. I panicked. I started calling his name. An employee heard me calling for him and called an alert to lockdown the store. Another shopped came up to me, and asked me what he was wearing. She was so scared for us since her DS had the same name. We found him not 5 min later, but it was seriously the scariest 5 minutes of my life.
Then another time, our neighbor lost DS. He was playing at their house with their DD. I went over to get him for dinner, but she couldn't find him, only her DD. He wasn't wearing his shoes since they were at the front door, so he was somewhere in the house. I wasn't worried, although it made me question if he could go there for a playdate again.
DS #2 got lost a couple weeks ago for like a minute in TJ MAXX. I was with my mom and he was holding my hand then let go to go to her, but detoured through a clothes rack. Both of us walked around the racks we were near looking for him and couldn't see him, luckily he popped out before we went into full panic mode.
On another note my DH scared the living crap out of me at Disney. I had just taken both boys to the bathroom and had both of their hands, DH was going to meet us at the teacups. We decided to walk by Space Mountain to see how long the line was when I felt my 5 y.o.'s hand being yanked out of mine. I spun around while my stomach dropped and saw my DH had grabbed him! He thought it would be funny. I was not amused at ALL! It scared the bejeezus outta me! I expected to see some stranger hauling my kid off. Still makes my stomach uneasy just thinking about it!
I must be an awful mom, then. Or how do you define "lost". We've really lost DD#2 once at the pumpkin patch. She was supposed to stay with DD#1, DS and a friend while I ran after another friend's DS who had run away/gotten lost. Apparently, she followed me but then couldn't find me. 5 heart-breaking minutes later, we found her with the owner over by the hayrides. Freaked me out!!! I sobbed for an hour (after getting the kids home and in front of a show).
But she's also my wanderer. She's constantly wandering off if I just blink. She doesn't run...just kinda slowly fades away. We've had times at the mall, the museum, the zoo and assorted other places where we've turned around and she just wasn't there anymore. We've always found her within 10 seconds and she's never far, but it happens with her more than I like.
Your not a bad mom! I remember the pumpkin patch story and definition of lost does vary. As I have told you all, DS1 is my runner because of it he gets a lot of attention while we are out. He has once ran out of Walgreens while I got the infant carrier out of the cart, but I never lost sight of him. It sounds similar to your DD2 (running not wandering)....but I didn't consider that lost. I saw him.
I lost my son (2.5) at the mall when my daughter was an infant. It was one of the first times I had taken the Sit n Stand out.
My son had to go to the bathroom. We went to the family bathroom, I pushed the stroller in, he went and did his business. I held the door open to let him out. He was right in front of me and the stroller. Before I knew it, he ran out of the family area.
I didn't know what to do as I had this big, not easy to push stroller. I didn't want to leave my daughter, but I needed to find my son. I ran pushing the stroller out into the hallway, and he was no where to be found.
Longest five minutes of my life, but I found him in the food court just standing there looking for his friends we had just eaten lunch with. It was so scary.
See that's the thing that happened to the little girl I found. She only knew her first name because she was so frightened and only knew her parents as Mommy and Daddy.