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?

My hospital was an hour away and after a planned c section I was home just about 24 hours later. The hospital wanted to see the baby in the car seat before we could leave to make sure it he was secured in properly and he wasn’t too small for the seat. They suggested we stopped at least one to take my baby out of the car seat and stretch.

I wouldn’t recommend a train after your c section, moving about will be slow and getting in and out of a car is quite painful so you’ll want to be able to do it all in your own time and not feel rushed on a train.

My baby massively cluster fed and screamed the whole way home as he wanted a bottle, I was so relieved we were only an hour away!

Do what’s best for you but definitely look into a lie flat car seat and think of places to stop incase you feel you need to!

Your DP is driving so just take it easy and do plenty of stops. You can always pull over and BF when you need to.

I honestly could not imagine anything worse than getting a train back after giving birth. Staying in a hotel is a close second. Imagine the faf of getting everything you need to a hotel for a brand new baby!? Terrible idea.

You'll just want to get home!

I think lots of people don't look at why car seats are considered dangerous. I was actually having this discussion with a friend the other day. The risk is that of positional asphyxiation, which can happen if a baby's head leans forward whilst they're in the seat and blocks their airways. If you're in the back supervising, you make sure baby's head is nicely laid back, and you go for a seat with a recline option (we have the cybex cloud z), then there shouldn't be any additional risk to your baby.

Stop a couple of times to get baby out for a quick feed and cuddle. Good luck OP!

The main thing will be to have a really well fitted car seat to make sure baby's chin isn't on their chest as the risk is positional asphyxia when they are too little to move their head properly if they can't breathe. A lie flat is good for that but less safe in a crash. The avionaut pixel or sky both put newborns in good positions.

or indeed feed by whatever method the OP has chosen 😀

We went to a hospital an hour away for our second child, and the return home it was the longest drive ever!
We thought we were used to it but a 1 or 2 day old in a car is a just one of the most stressful thing ever.

I still think the drive is your best option though, just take your time.
A train sounds like a good idea in theory, but I would be concerned about the waiting time, walking on platforms etc after a C-section.
The scar is very fresh and you don't know yet how you'll react to the pain, although it is recommended to do some walking everyday they don't mean long distances in busy places.
I've had 2 c sections and recovered pretty quickly from both (I was about to walk around comfortably in about 10 days for the first and 2 weeks for the second), but still the first few days are painful and uncomfortable.

For the same reason I wouldn't recommend the hotel personally. If you have any concerns it's better to stay in hospital a few more days. If not then you'll be much more comfortable at home to recover.
Also,' once you're discharged, you'll be transferred to your local hospital care anyway so the HV, nurse visits etc will be at/near your home address. It would be a pain to get that transferred to a hotel I think.

We used a bus for similar reasons! I figured it was safer than cab drivers!

I’d say it’s fine for the baby and will be difficult for you so ask about pillows and seatbelts. No way on gods earth would I be taking a newborn baby on public transport if there was any way of avoiding it.

Definitely agree with speaking to your midwife. My hospital was an hour from home. We brought DD home at 24 hours old. We’d discussed it with the midwife and planned to stop every 20 minutes but in the end she slept all the way and was absolutely fine. I sat next to her to keep an eye on her. We bought the best car seat we could afford as we knew we had to do a longer journey than we would have wished.

Edited to say 2.5 hours is a bit further so wouldn’t at all recommend letting baby sleep that long! Midwife will advise.

Why will you be in there for 3 days after?

I’ve had both an emergency csection and a planned csection, and was out 24 hours after both.

in case someone else hasn’t already add this, here’s the mumsnet guide to lie flat car seats…
https://www.mumsnet.com/reviews/best-lie-flat-car-seats

even if you have one of these, I would plan in frequent breaks.

No!
this isn’t just about baby, it about you…
notcusrecwhy you’re going to be in hospital for 3 days, but if you end up with c-section travelling 2.5 hours by car is bad enough. Traveeling by train is ridiculous.
you do know you’ll be bleeding heavily, milk may be coming in, if you’ve spent 3 days in hospital you’ll be sleep deprived form that, never mind the baby. If you’re breast feeding you’ll still be in early stages of even trying to establish latching on when you and baby have no bloody idea when next feed is. If you’re on train you propose to do that in public? Or use a train loo to change your post partum diaper?
by car you’ll ned to avoid moterways so you can stop at any moment. Strong suggest going form service station/loo to loo and have them planned out.

baby may be fine, I’m certainly way more concnered about you. Don’t even think train. Just no.

I very much doubt the OP is choosing to give birth so far away. Sometimes due to complications and location people have no choice.
Where I live there is very basic maternity care. The hospitals that serve our community are all between 1 and 2.5 hours travel timeapart from one that dosent have maternity provision.

And whatever milk you decide to use, see if it comes in ready made bottles. So whatever you decide to do, feeding will be less stressful

We do and it's fine.

We had the Maxi Cosi Jade lie flat carrycot, as we had a pre baby booked holiday (12 hour drive) when he was 10 weeks old. It was brilliant, actually miss it he also ended up using it until he was 1. It was very comfy and felt alot safer to use. We never took it out of the car though it was too heavy.

Congratulations
JOIE carrycot for car so baby can lay flat and sleep
personally I would have your DH drive, its more conducive being in on car and not reliant on a train
Train is a potential faff
Plenty rural families take babies home from hospital its not insurmountable

I live rural and we are a 3.5hr drive from the nearest hospital.
I had a c section last week and only stayed for 1 night before being discharged to our local birthing and postnatal unit for 2 nights. The drive was not particularly comfortable and I needed a cushion. I sat in the back with baby and we stopped once for a feed (finger/syringe fed so took a while).

Just a word of caution on lie flat seats. Most don't fully lie flat - they tend to be around a 23 degree angle - so the time restrictions still apply so you would still need to be stopping every 30 minutes. But they would put little one in a better position than a regular car seat

PP mentions the carry cot which is truly lie flat so is the best position for baby, but not safest if you were in a collision - rear facing is much safer

@northerngirly can you borrow a lie flat car seat for the journey???

Easiest option would be to get a lie flat car seat. No need to change hospital, no need for public transport. Do the simplest thing.

@MinnieBalloon I'm sure there are reasons why the OP has to be in for three days- probably the same reason why she's having her c section 2.5 hours away. These reasons don't need to be explained to us as the OP was asking about the journey,

Shockingly- just because you experienced something doesn't mean that everyone else's experience will be exactly the same.

Sorry I should have said every 30 mins or so for 15 mins, not 20 - typo! But yes we didn’t stick to 30 mins max per day guidance we were told as we needed to stay with my family, so we made sure we stopped every 30 mins (journey did take most of the afternoon, we just took it slow) and as I said to OP she has to get home so it’s just a case of stopping as much as she can. In this situation there is no way she can stick to the guidance when they need to get home. It’s a case of doing what you can with the situation you have. We stuck to not in a car seat for longer than 30 mins for each stretch of the journey. So we did stop a lot but I actually found it was more or less in line with baby getting fussy/ feeding/changing/ us needing to stop for one reason or another. Tbh 3 days post c-section she’ll need to stop herself to get out and stretch. I needed it at 2 weeks pp.

I'd just do the car journey, stop every 30 mins, take baby out to stretch. 5 mins break then back in and drive some more.

The lie flat car seats are quite expensive. Would you have to travel back up to that hospital for check ups and follow up care - if so then it would be worth it. If not, its not worth it for the sake of one journey in my opinion.

Don't bother with a hotel, you need so much stuff for a baby that it will feel like you've moved house! Sterilisers, bottles, changing mats, 90 thousand outfit changes (and no laundry facilities).

Train would be the very worse idea of all. After a C Section you are so sore that every bump just on the car is agony, let alone a train! You'll be bleeding heavily and if anything jogs you then you could pull a stitch.

Oh dear. You realise this is a discussion forum, yes?