I was terrified to leave my son with a babysitter – I was proven right

As we’re sure all moms will agree, leaving your little one with a babysitter for the first time is always a gut-wrenching experience — but hey, it has to happen sometime. Right?

Before heading out for a date night with her husband earlier this month, first-time mom Danielle Mitchell was feeling pretty anxious about being separated from her 10-month-old son.

In a viral TikTok video that’s racked up over 154,000 “likes,” Danielle explained how her baby was being pretty fussy about going to sleep that night.

The mom explained: “I tried to put him down, my husband tried to put him down but he just really wanted to be held.

“So [our babysitter] just rocked him for 15 minutes and we went ahead and left.

“She told me he was really easy […] and then he was asleep for the rest of the night.”

While they were out at dinner, Danielle thought she’d have a quick look at her home cameras to see how her son was doing.

But instead, the mom spotted that the babysitter had fallen asleep on the sofa.

At first, she tried not to panic and thought maybe the babysitter was just listening to the audiobook she’d told them about.

To test if she was awake or not, Danielle texted the babysitter to ask her to let their dog inside — but she still didn’t stir.

The mom continued: “Internally, I’m starting to freak out because she’s supposed to be watching our son and she’s asleep.

“He’s also asleep but he’s only 10 months and I don’t know if she would hear him if he woke up and started crying.”

Sick with worry, the mom rushed home at 9:30 p.m. — just three hours after they’d left.

Initially, Danielle wanted to give the babysitter the benefit of the doubt and hoped she would have moved the baby monitor to the living room in case their son stirred.

She continued: “Now, I don’t know what to think. Is it normal for your babysitter to fall asleep when they’re watching your kids?

“It wasn’t like we were back at 2 a.m.”

Unsurprisingly, the dilemma sparked fierce debate in the comments.

One replied: “Definitely a first time parent overreaction and that’s okay. He was asleep and safe.”

Another added: “I mean, are you awake 24/7 when you watch your kid?!”

A third wrote: “Used to babysit a lot as a teenager. I would NEVER sleep at someone’s house while on the job.

“And that’s even when the kids are older.”

Poking fun at the mom, a fourth said: “Tell me this is your first baby without telling me this is your first baby.”

“I think it’s ok for her to sleep if baby is asleep,” a fifth wrote. “But 100% have a monitor on.”

This story originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced here with permission.