Can a newborn travel in a car?

[northerngirly]

For various reasons it looks like I will be giving birth in a hospital 2.5 hours from my home. It looks as though that will be the best option for my pregnancy.

What I’m confused about is can a newborn travel in a car for that long home? Obviously we will stop a lot but is it dangerous? What happens if I have no choice but to do that?

Can anyone give any advice?

We had a lie flat car seat/carry cot for long journeys. It clipped into our pram as well so baby was easily transported.

Please don’t do this, a newborn should not be in the car seat for more than 3 mins so you must stop this often

OP get the maxi cosi 360 pebble, it’s lie flat so you can keep newborn in there longer - the swivel option is also really really handy and I have used much more than I expected!

Not your situation but some parallels.

I'm a foster carer and at some training we had a court guardian (independent person not SS) came to talk to us. She was in charge of ensuring children/ babies and parents had appropriate family time (contact).

This included newborns and when she said they shouldn't be transported in a car seat for more than 30 mins to attend family time carers who fostered babies laughed!
She was stunned that many were in cars for an hr/2hrs etc several times a week. She said that expected practice was babies souldnt NOT be in a car seat for more than 30 mins at a time and the courts /SS should NOT be agreeing to this.
I don't foster babies, but that fact has always stayed with me.

I would use the car rather than a train as uou have more control. Stop regularly and take baby OUT of the seat allowing them to stretch right out.
Good luck!!

We had a maxi cosi jade as its lay flat, we had to make regular 2-3 hour car journeys with our daughter, she was premature so really her first one was technically at 2.5 weeks old. Unlike other it is completely flat, where as others are just almost flat. If you remove the harness and head thing bit its also a sleepsafe carry cot.

Have you looked at lie flat car seats?

These can be used for longer periods.

There are so many dos and don'ts in babyhood. You have to trust your own judgement based on the advice. It's impossible to stick to all rules by the letter. You have to think what works for you too.

In this case, if you want, you can get a lie flat newborn car seat. You'll probably get a fair bit of use from it.

How many women live within 30 minutes of a maternity unit?

So how did babies get home before these guidelines?
Somehow, they survived.

Yes they can travel but with plenty of breaks. A compromise would be to get something similar to an air bnb near by for the checks ( up to 10 days unless your local team will support those) and then as already mentioned, no longer than 30 mins in the car then a think a 20 minutes break so you’ll have to split that journey

Yes but please get a lie flat seat or as close to that as you can get to it. Scbu recommended it to me for safety reasons when I was due to take DC2 home.

It’s max 30 mins (ideally per day) for a newborn in a car seat, even lie flat ones. It does increase to 45 mins but I can’t remember when. You’ll find midwives and HV all give different advice! I had one tell me 90 mins was the limit and another 30 mins! But in your situation there isn’t much you can do, you have to get home! I would definitely drive - couldn’t have imagined getting a train 3 days after my planned section. Plan to stop every 20 mins or so for at least 15 mins. If you can sit in the back with baby to keep an eye on them then even better, or if not then get a mirror (I physically couldn’t get into the back seat of our car after my section, it’s much lower than the front and more cramped, so it was too uncomfortable, so I had to sit in the front seat). We did a 2.5hr car journey with DS when he was 2 weeks old as I needed to go and stay with my mum, and we stopped at least 3 times for about 20-30 mins each, fed and changed baby, let him lie flat in the pram bassinet etc and it was fine. We live 2 hours away from any family so we did that journey a few times during the first few months and we always just were extra cautious.

There are many countries where living rural is a 3-4 hour drive from nearest hospital,your baby will be fine !

It must be at least 15 minutes since anyone asked why you've chosen a hospital so far away. We're doing well to have reached this point!

If you can get a closer hospital I'd do that but assuming there are rural reasons and complex pregnancy reasons why you can't. Then it's take as many breaks as possible.

Technically you should stop every 30mins even if it's just 5min.

I'd likely push the boundaries on time and aim for 3 stops and stop every 50mins but a decent 30min stop rather than a snatched 5-10 mins in a lay by.

Overall It sounds torturous for all of you and the journey will take a lot longer than 2.5hrs. Even with 3 stops at 50mins that's taking the journey to nearly 5 hours.

This is crazy. Sorry.

Even proponents of the 30m rule don't say it's 30m per day! I believe the guidance is 2hrs.

And this 'stop for 15m every 20m' is just totally made up and signed more like a easy is managing maternal anxiety rather than evidence (and common sense) based.

With your rules a 2.5 journey could take been 4.5 hours and 5 days. You didn't stick to those times yourself even - you stopped 3 times, you are suggesting that the OP stop 7 times. I guess it's easier when it's not you.

I agree @Chichix , totally excessive. 20 minutes? That is impossible if you are taking it home from hospital!

By the time the baby is put in, all the bags are gathered, walked to the car, car seat put in, drive home - that is a good hour at least.

What a ridiculous recommendation

Where are you based?

Planned Sections in the UK (with no other issues which you may have I don’t know) you are out within 24 hours

id book an air BnB for a week personally. Not only does baby need plenty of breaks but you do! It’s major surgery.

OP you’ll be absolutely fine travelling home from hospital with your baby in a car seat in a car. Those suggesting taking the train instead are laughable - a train that will be full of germs is no place for newborn imo.

Given people who live in rural locations have to travel a distance to the nearest maternity hospital and have no choice but to travel a distance home in a car, ignore those that say oh you can’t do that. Stop for a 20 minute break, if you can, every 45 minutes. Your baby will be perfectly fine.

Don't even consider getting the train home if you've had a C-section, the walk to the car park will be bad enough!!

3 mins...

I had a lie flat car seat 21.5 years ago.

It was a Spanish brand - Jane - that was all the rage then (in UK). It was really good but quite a heavy bit of kit.

I drove for over an hr with baby in the back when she was about 4 weeks old. Fully in a snowsuit and blanket too (🙈). It dawned on me when I arrived and she was very red that I’d over dressed her … she was fine

A vote for car and a few stops here. The trains are often filthy and a cancellation possibility … I wouldn’t risk it.

It went from 2hrs (old guidance) to 30m, to seemingly either 20m or 30m limit in a day, so 3m sounds about right.

Maybe they should stay until we can teleport them home instantly.

I was making the point that not everyone has a choice as to where to give birth. and a long journey may be inevitable. To be able to choose which hospital is not available to the majority of mothers outside London.

1 hour may not be comparable but it's still well over the 30min limit.

Based on my own experience travelling 3 days post c-section you will absolutely not want to be on a train and certainly won't be moving about carrying baby to comfort them.

Go by car, sit in the back with baby with a pillow over your tummy. Identify in advance where on the journey you can find places to stop and just accept it might be a longer than normal journey. Add in a lie flat car seat and you'll be good to go. Also you won't be able to take your eyes off of your beautiful new baby so it's unlikely they will come to any harm.

Can you discuss with your midwife maybe?

I do think this is a good case scenario for a proper lie flat car carrycot like the Maxi Cosi one. Jané do still sell one which converts. I think it only works with Jané travel systems.

Unfortunately the ones which are marketed as "lie flat" or have a good positioned newborn insert etc aren't flat enough to count so I wouldn't put a newborn in one for 2.5 hours. Up to 1 hour maybe.