This article was first published in August 2021.
Any parents of a screaming baby will know you'll do just about anything to get them to sleep: Walk them up and down the hallway, sing the same tune repeatedly, and often, drive for miles to get them to drop off in the back.
That's exactly what one Sydney mum did when she discovered the only way to get her little boy sleep was to do some laps of their neighbourhood.
The sleep system worked well until she received a savage note from a watchful neighbour livid about the impact on the environment.
According to the Daily Mail, the bewildered mum shared the note on Facebook, claiming that when she discovered who the author was, they would regret "starting a war".
The angry note writer stated that the mother's decision to have her car "running for hours daily for no acceptable reason is beyond comprehension".
"If you truly cared for your children you would care about the environment you are leaving them in the long-term and not just your short-term convenience and comfort."
The note writer said they'd raised three children and claimed they never resorted to driving around to put them to sleep.
"I understand being a parent isn't easy but taking shortcuts that damage our planet is not an acceptable course of action by any standard."
Giving her side of the story, the desperate mum said she's not had a good night's sleep since her son was born, "so we do what we have to do to get a well-earned break".
She said her son 'loves his car sleeps' and rarely nods off any other way, but added she doesn't use her car while he's at daycare.
She's not the first mum to cop heat for driving her son around for sleeping. Earlier this year, one Kiwi mum accidentally alarmed her neighbours while attempting to lull her two-month-old son off to sleep, as they thought she was scoping out the houses for nefarious reasons.
