Mum's Horror Story - 'I Didn't Know My Toddler Could Do This'

A mum has shared her horror story of being woken up in the middle of the night by three police officers, informing her that her toddler was not where he was meant to be – in his bed.

It started off like a perfectly normal night. Ashley, who goes by the name @mustangashley9 on TikTok, put her children to bed around 8pm. She then checked on her two-year-old around 10:30pm before calling it a night herself and heading into her own room.

Everything was completely normal – her toddler was asleep in his bed. Perfectly fine.

‘Childproof your life cause toddlers are savage’

Until a few hours later. Ashley was startled from her deep sleep by three police officers who were coming into her bedroom. Not the front door – the bedroom.

‘Found a toddler outside’

The mum said that this was around 1:45am and then they informed her and her husband that they had “found a toddler outside in the front yard, crying and screaming, and cold”.

He was outside waiting in an ambulance.

Ashely did what any mum would do. She tore out of bed, rushed to her son’s room, and noticed he wasn’t there.

“And then [I] proceed to run down the stairs, out the door, completely barefoot, with no coat, and down the block to find my son.”

Thankfully, her son was fine. but Ashley admits she may never sleep again and is left dealing with a huge dose of mum guilt. She’s also unsure how her toddler managed to escape without waking a single person in the house.

mum central — Ashley’s two-year-old gave her quite a fright! Source: TikTok

‘I did not wake’

The mum then explains that she didn’t hear a single thing throughout the night until the police actually went into her room.

“I did not wake to the baby monitor that is stationed in his room, to the door opening, to police officers knocking on my door, to anything at all.

“No one else in my house woke either until the police officers arrived in my bedroom,” she explains.

This included her husband, her mother-in-law and her other child who were all in the house too. Plus, the dog didn’t bark at any activity.

She concluded her horror story by explaining how she may never sleep well again.

I don’t know how long he was out there. I feel like the shittiest mum ever because I didn’t know my toddler could do this.”

@mustangashley9Horror story of the year! Childproof your life people cause toddlers are savage♬ original sound – Mustangashley9

She also explains in a follow-up video how she does have cameras outside but she hasn’t been able to bring herself to watch the footage yet.

If I did, I might die of heartbreak watching my two-year-old standing outside crying and cold.”

Toddlers. Never a dull moment.

Of course, we’ve all had our own kid horror moments and most of the comments on Ashley’s TikTok video were supportive and empathetic. We’ve been there, mumma!! Toddlers are crazy!!

Many parents shared their own horror stories involving their toddlers. One shared,

When my oldest was three he ran into a three-lane highway when I was buckling his little brother into the car seat. He was fine, I was not.”

I remember last month my three-year-old got into the Vitamin Gummies. She would have eaten at least 25 of them before I discovered what she was up to. A quick call to poison control to check she would be okay (she was – no iron in the vitamins thank goodness!) and the vitamins are now hidden in a locked cabinet.

I also remember a story my friend told me about her four-year-old son who sleepwalks. She would regularly find him wandering around the house in the middle of the night. However, there were a few times she discovered him outside in the front yard. Still asleep. Nightmare stuff!

We also shared a story earlier this year about a toddler who managed to strip naked and climb onto the window sill of his house, where he was discovered by a neighbour looking out his own window. The neighbour’s text message is terribly funny – check it out here.