NYC To Parents: Watch Your Baby!

Guess the baby What makes people think they can not watch their babies? Are baby-sitters that expensive? Are their babies that much a hassle? Is take-out too much to ask for? We ask these questions because a couple left their 2 month old baby in their room at the Waldorf-Astoria while they went to lunch over the weekend. A maid that came into the room discovered the baby sleeping in a crib all by his lonesome; the hotel staff then contacted the police, who took the baby to a hospital for observation and then arrested Michael Regamey, a 50 year-old Swiss man, on charges of child endangerment, when he returned to the room. His wife, who was not arrested, went the the hospital with their 2 year-old son who they took to lunch with them. Today, she told the Post:

We are nice people and good parents. It's just a matter of a different culture. We just have to blame it on ourselves, and that's it. I agree with the [American] system, and I really appreciate the way they do it. I understand if it keeps us safe.

The couple had lived in NY for a some time, but was scheduled to return to Europe soon. Regamey was released and will be expected in court in October. Now, this is not the first time that foreigners have left their child unattended, leading NYC (and the tabloids) to freak out: In 1997, a couple left their baby in her stroller outside Dallas BBQ on Second Avenue in the East Village. The mother, a Danish woman, would go on and on about how babies are left in strollers outside restaurants all the time as an excuse, but it turned out the husband was from New York, which makes that excuse pretty flimsy. The only baby that seems to have done okay when left alone was Moses, and those were extenuating circumstances. If there's one thing New Yorkers don't stand for, it's babies without their mommies or daddies, because we love accessories!

There's Urban Baby, which is a must read if you're about to have a kid in the five bouroughs. And check out Daddy Types for what the cool daddies are doing. Another cool daddy is Ben MacNeil, who charts his daughter's progress for his wife (so she can see what's going on at home while she's at work) and others at The Trixie Update.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on August 30, 2004 10:50 AM

Comments [rss]

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priscilla

As a mom, this story was crazy--- my daughter has NEVER been without a caregiver present, sleeping or not and she is almost 2 yrs old.

Even if the baby didn't have any choaking hazards- the sheer terror of waking up without anyone around to respond to his/her crying is pretty traumatic.

Abandoned baby at the waldorf- this isnt USA vs Europe-- this is working class sensibility confronting upper class stupidity.

There is room service after all....

Chris

We have a British stroller with the plastic tarp (looks like the baby is wrapped for freshness or something). It is great in the rain -- that's a country that knows rainy weather. I wouldn't leave him outside alone, though, not here or anywhere. With his sister, maybe, if I could see them both.

cbob

New York Parents are the worst. They are so paranoid. I have heard people say that they wouldn't even go to their apartment building mailbox in the lobby when their child is sleeping. In the suburbs we mow our yard while our child is sleeping. --A Parent of 3

brendan

Van Helen, anyone who thinks Leona Helmsley would be allowed into the Waldorf Astoria, or would stoop to go there even if allowed, is not qualified to raise children. Maybe dogs, though.

adrienne

i just got back from 2 weeks in denmark and they really do leave their babies in strollers outside on the sidewalk. it's just that safe there. i even saw a stroller with a baby out in the rain with some weird plastic tarp thing over it. that said, i wouldn't do it in nyc.

Chris

Oh, come on. What are the odds on any of these things? Checking into the W-A to abandon your baby? Maniacs invading? How many hotels have you stayed in that had a fire alarm, let alone a fire? I'm with Sensible Person, although having lived in England for three years, I certainly saw a LOT of babies outside shops in their strollers. The ADA doesn't apply over there (of course!), and hauling strollers in and out is a lot harder than here. I've got a six year old and a six month old, so I think I've got a little perspective on the situation.

sheila

how is the maid, or anyone else who may have rightly/wrongly entered the room to know how long the baby was in there?

for all anyone could know, the baby was abandoned. calling the authorities was the only way to go.

Van Helen

I go through all sorts of 'what if' scenarios when I leave my dog alone at home for 15 minutes. And I'm not a control freak, my dog's just a troublemaker with a bad barking habit and my neighbs are whiners.

But knowing what I go through to make sure my dog is happy so my neighbors are happy so we're all able to live together definitely makes me think I'd do something more thoughtful than leave a 60-day old infant alone at the Waldorf.

I mean what if Leona Helmsley snuck in and ate it? Or the Hilton sisters walked into the wrong room and made a sex tape video with it or stole off to Vegas and tried to marry it?

What pisses me off is that some asshole maid called the cops.

Tell management to call the guests on their cell phone or quietly back out of the room and let it scream its head off until it falls asleep again. But don't call New York's finest about a snoozing fatty in dy-dees.

Coppers got a busy docket as it is this week, for example, arresting B-movie actresses like Rosario Dawson pretending to protest the RNC or deliberating on the rights of impermeable graffitios like Bike Against Bush boy....You know, dangerous NYC crimes.

I have to admit thought, once I left my dog at the groomer's, went to work, then got into a car accident, and was unable to pick up my dog until closing time. All I could think about was, what if I'd been hospitalized or killed, my dog would be stuck in a small cage at Donna's Dog Wash forever. As it was, when I finally did pick him up they'd shaved him within an inch of his life. So much for trusting a responsible sitter.

Sensible person

People, there's nothing wrong with leaving a sleeping baby in a hotel room for an hour. Get a hold of yourselves. If you really think the child is at risk of being harmed by a hotel employee, you are so risk-averse you should never leave the house.

Granted, the sidewalk stroller thing is nuts.

That said, most of the people who overreact to these New York stories are not New Yorkers, they are people who think New York is more dangerous that it is.

Thank you.

Sensible person

homeopt

Exactly, Kristen. Why is that so difficult to comprehend. No one is saying that you need to watch a baby 24-7 when you are in the safety of your own home.

But how stupid can you be to leave your baby unattended in a hotel room?

People like that don't deserver children.

Kristen

what's dangerous about leaving the baby napping in a hotel is the fact that employees can come and go as they please... all it takes is one nut job and bye bye baby...

hijiki

ok, 990000, that's actually the point i was going for. what they did was unwise, but not such a big deal to arrest them.

homeopt, it's not hard to see that nancy was merely requesting civility not telling you to shut up. breathe in - breathe out. it's all gonna be just fine.