To take a baby in a car without a carseat?

[Plateofcrumbs]

I'm visiting parents for a couple of days round Christmas, travelling alone across London and then by train to the sticks with baby DS. Baby DS will be in sling and I need to bring a largish wheeled suitcase.

Parents live a mile from train station up a steep hill. My plan was to walk from station as I won't have a car seat with me, but Dad is insisting he picks us up in car, with DS in the sling.

I feel very uncomfortable about the idea, and I know it is illegal, but in terms of risk seems no less safe than regular trips I make via bus with DS.

I could lug car seat with me, but again think that objectively my chances of an accident dragging a suitcase and car seat across London are greater than DS being in sling for a 1 mile journey on quiet roads.

AIBU and WWYD?

Perfect present for your parents to buy their grandchild for Christmas! But if you can't rely on them to do so, just order it to be delivered there and tell them it's on its way.

Then make sure you check it's fitted correctly. You can look up the instructions online before you go.

Just adding some info. I've had my child in a buggy, in the travelling backwards wheelchair place in a black cab. I'm a worrier, but that felt safe to me. A basic or umbrella fold buggy makes a useful high chair/nap place when away from home too.

DD used to scream and scream in her car seat. I've done many journeys with her in my lap. It was either that or let her scream her lungs out.

DS2 hates his car seat and screams for entire journeys. I'd rather he screamed his lungs out (unlikely) than died under entirely preventable circumstances.

DD used to scream and scream in her car seat. I've done many journeys with her in my lap. It was either that or let her scream her lungs out.

I'm frankly astounded that any parent would ever prioritise the irritation of a screaming child over the safety of that child. Do you let her run across roads to stop her screaming? Drink bleach?

FFS, some children deserve so much better than the parents god gives them.

OP I'm glad you've come up with a workable solution. A spare car seat at the grandparents is always a useful thing to have.

There are no words for the stupidity of that post.

"Unexpected journeys
If the correct child seat isn’t available, a child over 3 years of age can use an adult seat belt if the journey is all of the following:

unexpected
necessary
over a short distance
You can’t take children under 3 in a vehicle without a seat belt or the correct child car seat (except a taxi or minicab)."

YANBU because you've changed your mind, but you would have been breaking the law if you did so.

Mamamed, spend a day with those attending road traffic collisions or check out the paed a & e, you might change your mind.

Haven't had time to rtft, but I would recommend looking on the Facebook selling pages close to your parents for a bargain second hand seat.

No way would I ever travel with a baby with no car seat.

I was wondering if I was the only one that thought that post about a screaming baby was stupid, so thought I had better not post!

Thank god I'm not the only one.

the old 'we all survived without car seats' keeps coming up. Yes, we did, but as someone has mentioned there was a lot less traffic then.

as a related aside, my mother was a radiographer at the time that the seatbelt law came in. She has not forgotten the instant and massive decrease in the horrific injuries caused by exiting through the windscreen at speed. The sad thing is that it took the law to make more people wear belts.

safety improvements ARE worth it. But still don't share a belt with a baby!

Couldn't believe I was the first to comment on it Nicknacky. I had to scroll back a few times to see that someone had actually written it and I wasn't mis-reading.

And of course, specialsubject we didn't all survive. (I mean I did, and you did, but some never got the chance.)