To ask what the position is with taking babies home from hospital?

[scoopingthewater]

Do you need a car seat? What if you don’t drive?

You might not be up to walking OP. Stitches can be pretty sore... Can you just borrow a carseat for a taxi ride home if you aren't going to need it again?

Thanks premium

It’s a hypothetical discussion to a point but I genuinely was curious. I was fairly sure you couldn’t actually be prevented from leaving the hospital without a car seat!

What if the individual doesn't have either a car seat or pram and cannot afford to buy one? Would the hospital loan one??

Dc1 left with her in her portable car seat. Dc2s car seat had built in isofix (so obviously impossible to carry with a baby in) just carried dc2 to the car in my arms. No staff asked me anything about how I was taking baby home 🤷‍♀️

My hospital you needed a car seat even if getting a taxi. And in the pandemic they wouldn't let you go just with a pram onto the bus (London). So definitely check.

Woman in next cubicle to me was on the phone trying to organise borrowing one, so worth getting organised in advance

OP unless you live two minutes very slow walk from your hospital, it's unlikely you will feel like walking/getting bus home.

If you don't drive or have a car then I would plan to get a taxi and yes, you should have a car seat really.

We had a car seat but ut was fixed into the car and no one checked or asked.

Honestly the thought of walking any further than to the doors of the maternity unit when I was released less approximately 15 hours after giving birth sounds hellish. I wouldn't be so sure you would want to walk or use public transport.

@SmudgeButt

What if the individual doesn't have either a car seat or pram and cannot afford to buy one? Would the hospital loan one??

No! It's 'the individuals' responsibility to see to it that if they are using a car they use a car seat

You probably want a car seat handy in case of emergency a&e trips.. especially when they're so little and can't say what's wrong.

we don't have a car but have always kept a car seat for a&e trips (pre-Covid, 2x he was kept in for a week on oxygen due to brochiolitis), or on the rare occasion we hire a car.

If they can’t afford a pram or car seat then how are they going to pay for the child?

Most people have eight months between finding out pregnant and baby arrives

We don't have a car and left hospital with a buggy and went home on the bus. I also went to the birth centre on the bus when in labour. I really didn't like ths idea of getting a minicab.

@LittleMissLockdown

We had a car seat but ut was fixed into the car and no one checked or asked.

Honestly the thought of walking any further than to the doors of the maternity unit when I was released less approximately 15 hours after giving birth sounds hellish. I wouldn't be so sure you would want to walk or use public transport.

We wanted to leave ours in the car and carry him down to it - we don't have isofix so we'd got them to fit at the shop because we were a bit nervous about putting it in wrong - but they said DH had to go get it (incidentally, he then put it back in incorrectly because he was flustered so what this actually achieved was making DS unsafe when he otherwise wouldn't have been). I'm absolutely certain that they had no right to actually insist but it didn't feel worth arguing the point - we just wanted to get home.

@SmudgeButt

What if the individual doesn't have either a car seat or pram and cannot afford to buy one? Would the hospital loan one??

One of the hospitals here has car seats you can borrow. The other doesn't.

@Dishwashersaurous No doubt someone will be along to flame you in a minute for saying that! But yes I agree 100% with you!

I would really consider getting a car seat - if not for leaving the hospital but for other circumstances ie. needing a taxi to travel to the hospital for urgent care if your baby needs it

@scoopingthewater having recently had a baby I'm not sure I would have been up for walking or getting the bus home from the hospital! Was very sore, tired and had a suitcase to wheel as well as the baby. We do not have a car, we live about 1km from the hospital and got a taxi with the baby in a carseat. Although we don't have a car we will occasionally use the seat for taxi journeys and weekends away when we often hire a car.

I've been wondering this for my next. Well have a car seat regardless, but I'm the only one who can drive. We also live literally across the road from a major hospital, the maternity unit about 10-15 minutes down the road. Obviously, it would be circumstantial, I'd not walk home at 11pm or if my insides felt like they were about to fall out. Walking at 2pm in summer is a different matter, and I've always felt absolutely fine a few hours after giving birth (a few days later, not so much!). I'd just think it was a huge waste of time and money to order a taxi, wait for it and faff with a car seat, when I could get my husband to walk down with the pram and walk us all home again within 20 minutes.

One of the hospitals here has car seats you can borrow. The other doesn't.

Really is this in the UK? How on earth do they know they are returned safely. The hospital surely cannot garuntee that they aren't involved in accidents once they leave the building? I'm also amazed they loan them out and they are returned and not just kept.

@scoopingthewater

So every mother who gives birth lives with someone who has a car? No one takes the bus or walks anywhere?

Of course not, don't be silly. However most people know someone with a car who would be willing to pick them up Or they get a taxi. You are being weirdly awkward in your posts op.

Oh I’m sure they could afford one but why would you spend money on something you don’t need? That seems silly to me.

Just to add I am referring to my own experience in the hospital I work in. Obviously different areas will vary. Eg in London, I know parts of it see many/most babies going home on foot or public transport. Where I live is more rural with crap public transport.

I don’t drive and neither does my dh. We still had a car seat as the hospital was quite a way away and we relied on lifts

Would still get one just in case because you never know when someone might offer you a ride somewhere and you would need a seat

I was able to walk out of hospital holding my baby both times. I was never asked how we were getting home (London hospital)

We had a fixed car seat and husband drove me home.

Some people I know have borrowed a newborn car seat for the taxi journey home. I don't think anyone wants to take a bus or train home from hospital after giving birth.

Depending on what you think you'll do for the rest of the first year you can either borrow one just for that journey, or buy a cheap one you can use for the odd taxi / car journey you might make.

I’m not actually private, I don’t personally know anyone who could pick me up if I wasn’t able to drive for whatever reason.

I was just curious as to what the legal position was. I’m not the one being awkward here. Unless asking a question is being awkward.

My hospital have a policy where if you don’t have the baby in a car seat to walk off the ward, a member off staff is supposed to walk you down the the entrance in case you drop them or look like you are stealing them or something ridiculous. I’m staff and I still don’t get it. Neither of mine have had infant carriers as they have extended rear facing seats. With DS I had someone walk down with me but with DD I just walked off the birthing centre with her once we were discharged. They were too busy to notice and I figured I had my staff badge in my bag anyway.