Leaving Hospital - Carseat Legally Required?!?

[handers]

I'm having my baby (gender to be confirmed) hopefully in the next week. Though itshe/she is wriggling about so much up by my lungs I wont be suprised it it is a fair bit later!

ANYWAY, I have been told that if I wish to take our baby home from hospital in our car, I am legally required to take in a carseat. Is this right?

Because we only just got a car and have not had the time to purchase a car seat for it.

AND I think that when I do get one, im unlikey to get an 'infant carrier' but rather a 'combination carseat' (ie. one that does not detatch from the car.)... SO with my hospital being in central London (St. Thomas) - how will they know?

on the day i was leaving the hosp (06/10/2004) they asked me if i had a carseat for the baby which i said Yes, so dont think they were gonna let me go unless i had a carseat.

i wouldnt even dream of putting my baby on my lap in the car as anything can happen.... PLEASE BUY A CAR SEAT .......x

you absolutely must have a suitable car seat....honestly..make time to get it today !!!

the consequences of an accident ( unlikely, yes, but a possibility) with an unrestrained newborn do not bear thinking about. You might drive carefully, because you have a baby in the car..the other people on the road won't be!

it must be the one thing you do before baby comes.

we bought a mothercare travel system with car seat that is suitable up to 29 lbs....so we are still using it 15 months later......good value for money.

it was also compatible with the graco carseat autobase..so it clips and out of the car with no messing with seatbelts every time.

please do look into buying one now...everything else can wait...x

and yes, it is a legal requirement.....

your post is a bit confusing - am hoping that it is more a question of if you buy a fixed combination carseat rather than an infant carrier how will the hospital confirm that you really have one waiting in the car when you take LO home, rather than, if and when you get round to buying one, you will probably go for the fixed combo one....

i live in bahrain where they don't have any legislation for car seats for children and see children bouncing around unrestrained in cars on
a daily basis as well as teeny tinies being carried in the front seat in mum's arms - who herself then usually doesn't even have her own seat belt on.......it's enough to make your hair stand on end.

if you need any further convincing - "Loose in the Car" by the AA

Usually a memeber of staff will escort you to the door, where I work/ed we did it, it was not really about checking the baby in the car seat we do tell parents its a legal requirement for them to have a seat, but that is your responsibility we are actually not allowed to strap babies in we have to let the parents do it(litigation etc) taking you and baby to the door is about security, preventing baby snatching

Handers as long as you have a seat and its fitted safely I dont think it matters what sort it is

good luck with the baby

FWIW I would have a fitted seat if I had another - I dislike the way babies are kept in those portable ones when they could be on the floor or in a sling. I used to leave ds's capsule in the car and pop him into the sling anyway, so it was a waste of money.

I get really angry when I see people with babies on their lap - so dangerous!!! A good car seat is essential baby kit.

I once saw a very stupid woman driving a Mercedes with a toddler on her lap - FFS! Children are so precious it makes me so angry when I see people do such dangerous things!

PMSL at the thought of a midwife walking you out of the ward

I barely saw a midwife when I was on the piggin' ward

where do you get that from .. the 1950's

and if you are taking your baby home in your car you NEED to have a car seat in there .. a backwards facing infant car seat .. infant car seats come out of the car really easily so I don't personally see what the problem is

if you don't have an infant car seat then DO NOT TAKE YOUR INFANT HOME IN A CAR

They usually come out to the car with you anyway, as they are also legally required to make sure that it is safely fitted!
So, whatever kind of seat you are getting...you will need it anyway, surely you will not want to drive home from Hospital putting your childs life in danger by having your lil one on your lap?

Twiglett, I think the seat she means is a rearfacing stage 0-1 carseat, and they are like those forward facing carseats...not carriers, but they are rearfacing!

OH, and are wiht those people that prefer the seat that stays in the car...you are less tempted to use the Carseat as a Rocker, chair and whatever else when not in the car, as sadly they are often used nowadays!
we have this one, and it's fab:)
and this link will maybe just give food for thought, and show just how easy it is to use carseats, rockers, etc...as excuses for less cuddles not saying now that everyone who doesn't use Slings, and who likes to use this sort of equipment does this...just a real eyeopener of how easy it is to overuse them, I think!

Twiglett a midwife walked me out of the ward. It was only 6 years ago. I am not that old!

midwife walked me down with dd2 as well, but not dd3.

We've got both and I am planning to just use the combo one this time. We had to buy the combo one as DD grew too big for the baby carrier one but was too small to be forward facing. Deffo a good investment and I wish we hadn't bothered with the carry one (they quickly get too heavy to lug around in the seat and we used to put her straight from car to pram or sling anyway).

any of you 'midwife walked me out' crew give birth in London NHS?

no Twiglett, first one was born in Cambridge, 2. one in Gloucester and 3 ds in Norhtern Ireland

handers, I gave birth in St Thomas' 3 years ago. No midwife escorted us out. But we did carry our dd out in a carseat.

I think the hospital did advise other parents about the carseat, and one father had to go out to get one specially. Not sure though, because I was not privy to the situation.

Why would you WANT to bring your new baby home WITHOUT a car seat???

It is illegal and the hospital won't let you take the baby without a seat.

I live 3 minutes walk from our local maternity hospital (we timed it) so having to take in a car seat seemed a bit of overkill for the walk home! We couldn't be bothered to have an arguement over it with the maternity staff, so carried him up the road in a car seat. Walked down the road to have him, walked home (slowly) with him the following day, no car involved at all.

I don't think handers is saying she WON'T get one ....

Same as blueshoes, I had all 3 of mine at St Thomas' (DD was 3 years ago as well) and no one offered to walk me down, but I carried them in our Rock-a-tot so it was pretty obvious we had carseats.

Babies should definitely be strapped into appropriate size car seat when going home by car. It is totally the parents responsibility to ensure their baby is safely restrained. Midwives where I work accompany parents out the building to the front door - this is purely for security reasons - if the midwife is there then the baby is not being abducted.
Under no circumstances should midwives strap babies into the car seat - they do not have the knowledge to know the requirements of the various seats out there on the market.

I had DD in Ealing Hospital 2 months ago and no midwices walked me out but they did make DP bring car seat on to the ward so they could see we had one.

I don't believe that it is a legal requirement for the midwife to check whether you have a car seat (at least here in the UK).

But of course it is a legal requirement for a baby travelling in a car to be in a car seat.

it is a legal requirment that you have a babyseat for every child traveling in the car so whether the midwife checks or not you need to get one.