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

[Pansy0926]

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

If the reason is to stop abductions then staff should explain this! I thought it was ridiculous that we were expected to carry twins out in car seats post csection. We hadn’t bothered packing the pram as we were not aware of the car seat situation as the last hospital I gave birth in had no such policy. A member of staff accompanied us to the car in the end but they said it was to prove we had car seats not to prevent abduction.

I think take a pram to be on safeside or borrow a light handle car seat and transfer

The couple opposite us were going home by bus. The hospital said no and it caused such upset for the poor new mother that my husband drove them home using our new baby's car seat (so before our baby had used it) then came back for me. I can't see why they couldn't get the bus.

We're buying a 0-4 car seat (definitely not practical to carry long distances). Our hospitals policy is that you 'can't leave without a car seat' so I asked the sales assistant what happens in that scenario and she said that the midwives usually walk to the car with you to check it out.

We do plan on putting our pram/carrycot into the car for the walk down from the ward as it can be quite a journey at our hospital.

I can not believe midwives have so little to do on the wards that they can spare time checking people's car seats in the car park

What the fuck is this about? Parents in this country are presumed not to pose a risk to their children unless evidence suggests otherwise. It's a basic principle of parental responsibility under the law. Why are midwives suddenly taking on supervisory roles way beyond their legal and professional remit?

Please folks - if any midwife tries this on you don't have it. They have no right.

"thank you for your advice. After considering it I have decided I don't need a car seat to carry my baby out of the hospital. Please record this in my notes@

This reminds me of the midwife who told me I wasn't allowed to leave until I'd had two wee's and gave me a jug to prove it..... by then this was my third birth and third time I'd heard them peddling that crap.

I know hospitals have policies in place for a reason but it feels deeply insulting for a midwife to follow a parent to car to check they're not lying about having a car seat.

We had the opposite. We were really unsure about whether the baby was in the seat ok and no-one would help us. I can understand why as they’re not trained fitters but it was something really basic like whether straps should be tight or not. If they’re going to insist on a car seat then maybe they should do some training on making sure babies are in them ok.

If it's not safe to carry the car seat with the baby in it and they're funny about it, your DH could bring the car seat in so they see it, carry it down while you carry the baby? That's what I'd do - although I'm not terribly assertive. Posters above are right - you can refuse, tell them to come to the car, or just lie and say you're getting the bus.

I've given birth at two different hospitals and have never had this. Two very busy hospitals though so doubt they'd have capacity to be checking how people are getting home. I don't drive anyway!