Carseat for newborn- when to bring it given COVID and black cabs

[bluemonday2020]

Hello lovely ladies. I am a bit confused about the newborn + car sear situation. As partners cannot leave the hospital once they are admitted for active labour due to covid, do they need to bring the car seat with them at that stage with all the suitcases? We don’t have a car as well, so would black cabs accept us with a car seat and a baby on the way home? Is a car seat mandatory to leave the hospital? Sorry lots of questions but with covid the situation is more complicated. Thank you in advance!

[justsotiredallthetime]

Yes it is mandatory to leave the hospital with a car seat. They won't let you go without one. How else will you securely get your new born home?

[MsHedgehog]

@justsotiredallthetime

No, you’re wrong. That is a myth. No one is expected to buy a car seat if they don’t need one.

OP - maybe it’s worth talking to the local minicab company and see if they can help? I can’t answer your questions re entering and leaving, but unless you are driving home in your own car, you don’t need a car seat. If you’re going home in a taxi, I believe you will need one then too, but I’m not 100%

[justsotiredallthetime]

I can't imagine any woman who's just given birth walking home with their baby? Every baby that left on my maternity ward was in a car seat. The baby needs to be secured in a car seat whether it be a taxi or your own car.

[MsHedgehog]

@justsotiredallthetime I appreciate that, but show me where it says it's "mandatory" to leave the hospital with a car seat?

In fact, there was a long thread here just yday about how that is a massive myth.

[dementedpixie]

A baby could be taken in a pram/buggy in a black cab or on public transport

[BlairCorneliaWaldorf]

If you are getting a black cab you can just wheel the pram in the back. You don’t need a car seat. But you still need to get the pram there, obviously.

[jazzibelle]

@justsotiredallthetime there are other methods of transport, such as buses, tubes, and trains. None of which require a car seat.

@bluemonday2020 to my knowledge, they absolutely cannot stop you leaving the hospital with your baby just because you don't have a car seat. You will need a safe way to carry it home, so maybe give them a call and explain the situation, see what they suggest.

[olderthanyouthink]

I walked out of hospital with DD in arms (no wheelchair to the door) and walked to the taxi rank of a nearby train station and we get a black cab home without a car seat.

Not ideal but fine and legal.

I could have got a train except for the massive hill at the end, we went back to hospital for her hearing test by train when she was still pretty fresh

[pillarsofeternity]

We pushed DD in a lie-flat pushchair and secured it into a black cab. The hospital never asked whether we had a car seat (we live in a London borough with the lowest proportion of car owners in the UK so not unusual not to need one).

You won't need lots of suitcases when you go in for labour though. We only stayed one night (after a c section) and just had a rucksack which was small enough to meet Easyjet hand luggage rules. So if you wanted to bring a car seat, your DP should be able to manage it with a small amount of luggage.

[ivfbeenbusy]

It's not a myth - each hospital has its own rules. Mine won't let you leave with the baby unless it's in a car seat or a pram that gets wheeled into a taxi (ie black cab)

Basically you give birth - your Partner may only be allowed to stay with you one hour afterwards. When you are ready to leave he is allowed up with the car seat and you leave

[Disappointedkoala]

My DH had to go once baby arrived and then when I was ready to be discharged the next day, he came in with the car seat so we could go. You should check with your hospital but here partner's are only allowed on post natal for a short visit so there would be chance for him to get home and bring in the buggy/car seat.

[DappledThings]

@justsotiredallthetime

Yes it is mandatory to leave the hospital with a car seat. They won't let you go without one. How else will you securely get your new born home?

No it isn't. This is the third thread this week already where this has been trotted out and it just isn't true.

[elfran]

So many threads on this lately. I'm a ftm so not experienced the "leaving the hospital" moment yet, but I have to imagine that the hospitals which insist on a car seat aren't in central London. I know SO many people who don't own cars in the city, take public transport or walk everywhere, and to the best of my knowledge took their babies home that way as well. As and pp have said you can take a black cab without a car seat, you just need a suitable buggy which is secured. I'm sure London hospitals realise this and OP will be fine.

(That said, we've got a car seat as part of our travel system deal, even though we don't own a car and are hoping for a home birth. I figure we'll use it occasionally when we rent / travel.)

Obviously, the answer is to just give your hospital a ring and find out!