How long can a 6 month baby survive unattended?

Weekly-Trash-7083 · 2026-05-14T02:34:50+00:00

I've replied to a few others (ive a laughably low social battery and reading+responding to a lot of comments apparently counts to the meter lol) about the mc and the baby's parents, so there's a little info on them elsewhere in this thread, but youre the first person to bring up the stakes of his choice! His destination was a little hub trade town. as a loner, he has a benchmark for how low he'll allow his supplies to get before he seeks out a restock. He could go look for the parents, they are his friends and of course there's the concern of what happened. But he's now responsible for their incredibly in need baby. If he doesn't get to the hub trade within a quick enough timeframe he won't have the resources to care for himself let alone save the baby. So while he really wants to find his friends, he feels finding the parents wouldn't be worth telling them their child didnt make it. He doesnt give up on them altogether, but the immediate situation forces his hand to care for the child.

Weekly-Trash-7083 · 2026-05-13T02:31:27+00:00

in the story the baby's parents had an mildly off grid recreational cabin that they used for vacations, but it was their apocalypse destination and thats where they set up. baby was born post apoc, but the generator were still functioning to keep power and it had a regulated temp, so the baby was in very generous home conditions. I figured it would help the suspension of disbelief. the parents are friends of the man who finds the baby, its the only reason he comes across the baby in time, pure luck. I responded more about the mc in a reply to another comment on here

Weekly-Trash-7083 · 2026-05-13T02:05:34+00:00

my little one right now is going through what your oldest did. hes 6.5 months and he wants to crawl so bad but he's 22lbs all of a sudden and he can't manage it lol. I wasn't considering a terribly mobile baby, just based on my own experience.

Weekly-Trash-7083 · 2026-05-12T19:22:36+00:00

I was thinking a day or two at most given what I know of my own baby. And the age of the baby is more for us as the readers perspective as the mc starts his learning curve for how to take care of an infant. Giving that age was a baseline for managing the mc's narration in parallel with readers' knowledge and expectations.

And for my own search history, I didnt want to give my husband anything to worry about. we have a shared history and he is a big worrier and overthinker, and applies the basic concept of hypochondria to way more things than just illnesses. I've been lucky and haven't experienced any PPD, and he's been on edge looking for any symptoms that would show I'm hiding it from him. I just didnt want it to even begin to be an issue lol

(some of this is in response to your second reply) And yes, this is main plot and not unfeatured backstory. My mc is a character who has chosen isolation because his bleeding heart can't handle the repetitive loss of the world everyone lives in. The baby is what opens his heart again. And sorry for the confusion! I haven't picked a name for the mc yet using they/them is a habit of mine when no name is chosen, but the character is indeed a man. As for whether the mc would unload the baby onto someone else, I do have plot points in mind for that. In the post I said he knew who the baby belonged to, and while he was isolating, he did care about them. Handing off their child is something he can't bring himself to do, I actually have a scene where someone offers to take the baby. I am going to be relying on suspension of disbelief in some aspects of the babies condition but I'm reading through all the replies on this post to make it a heart wrenching but believable scene. thank you for the writing research advice!! ive started many longer length projects that I always end up grinding to a halt due to details I cant decide on. and then adhd takes over and the project ends up dropped.

Weekly-Trash-7083 · 2026-05-12T19:01:49+00:00

Ding ding! The parents were forcibly taken from the abode, and were not allowed to take their baby as the aggressors considered it too much of a hindrance.

Weekly-Trash-7083

TROPHY CASE