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Childbirth

Share experiences and get support around labour, birth and recovery.

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Original poster

Do you have to actually carry newborn out in a car seat?

60 replies

Pansy0926 · 21/07/2018 21:50

We bought a car seat which is quite heavy and doesn’t have a handle, a Joie one that has a huge heavy seat and clicks into an isofix base. Literally impossible to safely carry around with a newborn inside. For my previous kids, they said we couldn’t leave without baby in a car seat. Does this mean a midwife is going to have to walk us out to the the car park to check we have a car seat? Will they even do that? Or are they likely to make us go and quickly buy a cheap one of the kind you can carry around? We bought the kind we did because it adjusts to fit older children so we thought we’d rather get one that we could use for years than keep buying bigger ones

OP posts:

butunlikely · 22/07/2018 13:46

In our hospital it's policy you have a car seat. Apparently they have a protocol in place for any staff to stop and question anyone carrying a baby in arms - to stop abductions. They ran a test a few years ago and the great subject (carrying a fake baby) was stopped ten times between the ward and the exit. So the protocol works. But might mean you'd at least want your pram! I assume once they check the baby's tag and your tag and maybe call up then they would let you go, just not sure you'd want to go through that ten times!

BakedBeans47 · 22/07/2018 13:49

When I had my kids the baby was taken to the entrance of the maternity unit in the fish tank and then they checked they were secure in a car seat before we left

Namechange128 · 22/07/2018 13:55

Dd1 left in the sling as I took the bus. Dd2 in arms as we had a fixed car seat. Never got questioned but if I had would never have thought to be worried, you can explain and if they are so concerned someone can come with you, surely? They can't enforce a car seat for people without cars, after all.

Ihatexbox · 22/07/2018 14:06

This may be totally incorrect but I was told it was for insurance purposes - that whilst you were in the hospital building they were liable if you slipped while carrying the baby.If they are in a car seat (because it's padded) or a pram if you fell the impact on the baby would be less?

KitchenFloor · 22/07/2018 16:25

ihatexbox that's surely nonsense as you have to carry your baby the rest of the time!

beargrass · 22/07/2018 16:30

Our car seat goes up to age 4 and you can't carry it. From memory, we wheeled her out and put her in the seat. I do remember the person who accompanied us saying they wouldn't tell us if we'd done it up right because they're not allowed! So I can't see how any of this is uniform across the country, from other responses above.

FlaviaAlbia · 22/07/2018 16:30

I was gently told off 4 months ago for carrying DS to get breakfast room 3 doors down the corridor instead of pushing him in the bedside cot. Mad

Based in that, they probably would have had kittens if we'd tried to leave without a car seat.

NynaeveSedai · 22/07/2018 17:32

@ihatexbox how did you move your baby around on the ward before you left? I'm pretty sure I carried mine

Zephyrsinskyatnight · 22/07/2018 19:01

I don't think my baby was carried anywhere around the ward. He was in a crib from delivery room to ward then we didnt move until i was discharged next day. I think a pp is right, they're rather nervous about mum collapsing or baby being dropped. Might be an insurance thing... Crazy isnt it?!?

NynaeveSedai · 22/07/2018 19:03

I was in for 2 days and I certainly walked around. They had a breastfeeding room with comfortable chairs which we obviously had to walk to.

HotStickyTired · 22/07/2018 19:06

DH wheeled me to the car in a wheelchair as I couldn't walk and I held the baby.

Ihatexbox · 22/07/2018 19:15

Firstly I did state that while it may be incorrect it was what I was told.
I did not stay on the ward for long so didn't have the need to walk around with my baby but I don't remember any of the mums walking around with their babies either. I delivered, me and baby were checked then taken to ward for something to eat,baby fed then I had a shower then we left 2/3 hours after giving birth.The midwife/nurse asked my husband to bring up the the car seat and that was the explanation she gave us. She also checked the fitting of the straps then accompanied us to the hospital door. Maybe this was just the policy at the hospital I had my firstborn in but I remember the same thing happened to my sister at a different hospital,

Wellthisunexpected · 22/07/2018 19:25

Just tell them it's fitted in the car and doesn't come out but they are welcome to come to the car to check.

deenagh · 24/07/2018 14:02

I doubt any hospital could actually stop you leaving with your baby, no matter how you are carrying then. I think the car seat thing is precautionary, and it's good that some hospitals do check.

With DD1 I had been told they wouldn't let us leave unless the car seat was fitted right etc, I was so worried, I spent time practising adjusting the straps etc, and strapping it into the car. When we were leaving, I was shocked as they didn't check anything!

mavydoes · 24/07/2018 14:16

Our hospital will not let you leave ward without actually seeing the car seat or will roll your baby down in the cot to the car outside if its a fixed car seat. its down to policy as if you fall while holding baby then you could claim against them. basic common sense really.

parents who dont drive must have a secure pram and be 100% fit to leave and access to bus routes etc.

kernowsailor · 24/07/2018 14:20

They simply cannot stop you unless they have a court order! This is common sense surely?

pippistrelle · 24/07/2018 14:23

It's a hospital, not a prison.

SquirmOfEels · 24/07/2018 14:33

You cannot prevent someone taking their own discharge from hospital, unless there is a valid order in place (sectioning or EPO, there might be others).

Yes, they just want babies to be safe. No they cannot compel you to have certain items of equipment.

This simply doesn't happen in eg central London hospitals, because so many people do not drive to the delivery wards in their own cars (if they even own a car any more). Yes, keeping someone in until they are fit enough to carry their own baby safely is desirable. Forcing them to stay in beyond that is (in most cases) not legal.

NynaeveSedai · 24/07/2018 16:07

People.
Nobody is allowed to prevent you from taking your baby from hospital unless they are the police or a social worker brandishing a court order.

If any hospital tries to insist you buy a car seat to carry the baby out to the bus tell them to naff off. Seriously.

INeedNewShoes · 24/07/2018 19:42

It's difficult to stand up to the midwife standing between you and the exit when you're not exactly at your best...

KwatahPanda · 25/07/2018 15:24

At our hospital you have to carry baby out in the car seat. They won't let you leave the ward without one.

It's your baby. You can dance out of there in heels should you wish to really. It's only for pregnancy and birth that hospitals try the "you can", "you cannot" thing with patients. Wonder why.

You will be visiting the hospital most likely in the next few days after birth as well for appointments. WHy would it be OK to saunter out without a car seat then?? Does the extra day make them sturdier?

KwatahPanda · 25/07/2018 15:28

its down to policy as if you fall while holding baby then you could claim against them. basic common sense really.parents who dont drive must have a secure pram and be 100% fit to leave and access to bus routes etc.
Common sense my arse. They can't tell you that you aren't 100% and keep you in. NO one is 100% after pushing a human out of their vagina.

WHo decides if the pram is secure, or checks the bus routes? Why do people believe this crap? I could literally show up in a taxi and leave, legally, with no car seat in a taxi.

BertieBotts · 25/07/2018 15:33

It sounds like you have the kind of car seat you leave in the car, so no, it would be ridiculous to expect you to carry the baby in it.

You just explain that you have a permanently installed one which isn't portable and they are welcome to come down to the car park to see.

BertieBotts · 25/07/2018 15:36

It's also bollocks that it's "for safety" - midwives don't have car seat safety training and don't seem to have any idea whether a car seat is being used correctly. 90% of coming home photos I see on FB the car seat straps are far too loose and/or there are other issues with the fitting of the seat. No midwife informed me that the sheepskin insert I'd lovingly put inside mine to make it more comfortable was a hazard, it was something I learned years later.

I could see it might help to prevent opportunistic abduction though so perhaps that is the real reason. Since you are the actual parent though it would be a simple case of showing your wristbands match if you got stopped on the way out.

PasstheStarmix · 25/07/2018 15:39

I’m pretty sure all hospitals differ but as long as you let them know you have a car seat and it’s the isofix kind with no handle they will be fine. If they really want to they can come out to the carpark and check afterall. The car seats with handles are really handy for newborns though op, I couldn’t have coped without it when ds was younger. It was so handy to not wake him and it would go in trolleys and all sorts.

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