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I take him with me. I pull the car forwards into one of the car parks, if any are free, so I'm not stopping others from filling up if possible.
But I raised the exact same point at maternal health care group, when DS was only a few weeks old, and the nurse said just to leave them in the car, which a few of the other mums said is what they did.
when i had a 13 week old bilby, i was not driving (was still getting after post labour complications that took a long time to heal), so i didn't have this issue.
i was driving when she was five months old, and i made the decision to take her INSIDE the petrol station with me, every time i filled up. i made my decision to do this, whether it woke her up or not. This felt right for me, as i worried about
- baby overheating (this can happen in a car, even when temps in low 20's - due to car being made of high conducive metal and glass)
- baby waking and being frightened they can't see you
- me getting delayed in the petrol station (something i couldn't guarantee)
- random person stealing and hotwiring my car with my child in the back
We had already had so many things go wrong (conceiving taking so many years, delivery going wrong, difficult early bonding), so i was probably over protective, but it felt right to me. I knew if i did anything else, my anxiety levels would skyrocket.
i wanted to minimise any risks, so i always took and still do (she is four) take her into the service station with me. i park as close to the servo as i can. When she was "a runner", i put the koala backpack/child restraint on her, to walk her to the servo. A few extra seconds, but her safety is everything to me.
i fully accept, our situation and my personal medical history, has prolly turned me into an over protective mum. it's what i need to do. I don't expect others to do what i do.
i started off doing this in a nuclear family, now i'm a single mum doing it. I used to aim to "fill up" when i could leave bilby with her dad, and i go off to do some errands on my own. These days, i try to "fill up" when she's at kindy. Doesn't always work out, but it's my aim, much easier to do it on my own.
I'm only dealing with one child too, i'm sure i would do things differently if i had multiple children to get in and out of the car.
In NSW it is considered an offence to leave a child unsupervised in a car and can carry a fine of up to $22,000, but if you read the legislation it does leave some room for running quickly into the petrol station and back out again, you just need to judge the situation for yourself at the time to make sure your child won't over heat, be exposed to any danger or become distressed that you aren't there:
CHILDREN AND YOUNG PERSONS (CARE AND PROTECTION) ACT 1998 - SECT 231 Leaving children and young persons unsupervised in motor vehicles
Me personally, i have never/will never leave my kids in the car unsupervised, i just don't think its worth the risk and have always taken the time to get both kids out and put them back in again.
We had a thread on this a while back and someone actually checked with the police who said it is not considered abandonment or being left unsupervised in this situation. Probably because it's only a couple of minutes and bub is within sight - otherwise we'd all be getting fined for carrying one sleeping child into the house and leaving the other one in the car for a minute till we came back for them ay. Unless you're incredibly fortunate and always have someone else with you.