Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

Will I need a car seat to bring my baby home from hospital? I don't have a car!

50 replies

PeahenTailFeathers · 02/03/2012 10:20

I've been told that the nurses won't let me take my baby out of the hospital when she's born unless I have a car seat ; even though they don't come down to check the seat is fitted correctly I will apparently have to leave carrying the baby in the car seat rather than the lovely, practical pram I've bought. I don't drive, I never use taxis and I really think I have better things to spend £30 on than a car seat that won't even be used once - the hospital is in Liverpool and a bus stops there that drops me off almost outside my front door. Please tell me someone's pulling my leg!

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

tethersend · 02/03/2012 12:18

As the owner of a beautiful vintage Silver Cross pram, I implore you to check if it fits on the bus!

They do fit in black cabs though. Just

Poppet45 · 02/03/2012 12:18

Grrrr this carseat misinformation gets on my nerves soooo much! According to the law (we checked) you dont need to put your DC in ANY form of carseat until yhey're 3 if you're using a cab. DS came home in one in a sling. DD did come home in a carseat as we'd bought a car, but it was rather sobering that she had to pass a 1 hour carseat challenge (sat in one with her O2 levels, heart and breathing rates monitored) to even be allowed to leave the hospital, she was a former premmie, not because of any fears for her back but because carseats hinder the breathing of all newborns by scrunching their chins onto their chests.

melodyangel · 02/03/2012 12:22

Another Silver cross pram owner - seems to be a theme.

I would say that although I walked it wasn't far, about a mile, I wouldn't recommend it. I would ask some one if you can borrow a car seat or as others suggest get one from ebay I'm sure they will be as cheap as chips.

Your walk in the sun with your newborn and gleaming pram will be special everytime.

BrassMonkeyBaubles · 02/03/2012 12:22

They have this "rule" at the hospital where my children were born too.

I had a cs, 48 hours later I left with ds in a buggy...and put him in a car seat (britax first class) at the car park eventually.... Nobody checked we actually had a car seat!

As it happens H had put the car seat ff in error (he forgot little babies rf!) so we spent 20 mins or so trying to get it rear facing (without instructions!) before leaving with a badly fitted rf car seat!

We bought a new one that fitted the car properly v quickly after this.

We had not realised the britax 1st class seat was not a good fit in our current car in rf mode! We owned a different car when we initially bought the seat for dc3... It had fitted the "new" car ff for dc3 as they were past rf age when we changed cars. It was only in the hospital car park we had realised it wouldn't fit properly rf.

I told H we should fit the car seat two weeks before the due date but he kept putting it off! (we only have the one car and I myself don't drive).

Whatever mode of transport you are going home by it helps to sort it out before the baby is born!

melodyangel · 02/03/2012 12:25

I used the bus once with my silver cross, never again, it took no more room than a modern pram but oh my word the tutting!

tethersend · 02/03/2012 12:25

We should do some sort of pram rally

melodyangel · 02/03/2012 12:27

Oh and good luck OP. When are you due?

ivykaty44 · 02/03/2012 12:35

It is not law to have a car seat when a baby is born and leaves hospital. You can take a pram to the maternity ward and leave with the baby in a pram if you wish - there is nothing to legally stop you doing so. A midwife wouldn't be able to stop you leaving hospital with your baby - any more than a policeman would be able to stop you putting a baby in a pram rather than a car seat.

WhyMeWhyNot · 02/03/2012 13:02

We have a local cab firm that has baby/child seats so maybe ring around a few, you may not be able to walk 'properly' for a few days anyway, we also lend for a couple of days from our unit if in need.

There is nothing wrong with leaving by pram but it could be peeing down, we also discharge 24/7 so you could find yourself walking the street in the middle of the night with your lovely new pram..

Advertise for one on freecycle they are really useful to have in case of emergency......

Flisspaps · 02/03/2012 13:05

I shall be listening out for a future tale from FIL (black cab driver in Liverpool) about a woman getting in his taxi with a lovely silver cross pram who couldn't get it on the bus

They can't keep you there if you don't have a car seat. They may go a bit catsbum mouth about it, but what can they do to stop you?

bamboobutton · 02/03/2012 13:16

we had a car sear that stayed belted into the car. with both ds and dd i was wheeled out to the car carrying them in my arms(cs both times).
no midwife came out with us.

as others have said, there is no law and they have no powers to stop you leaving with your baby in a pram.

Kayzr · 02/03/2012 13:18

At the hospital I was at they could actually stop you as they had those locks on the doors like in hotels where you need a card thing to open it. So if you wanted to leave you had to find a member of staff to open the door.

They were meant to be changing it to a different system to make it easier for fathers etc to get out.

catinblack · 02/03/2012 13:34

i wondered about taxis as i don't want to go home on a bus and we don't have a car- neither do any of our friends who live locally. I really don't want to buy a car seat just for taxi and would it fit anyway? Found this legislation- maybe it was mentioned above already, if so apologies
www.childcarseats.org.uk/law/

under 3s can travel in the back of a taxi without a restraint if one is not available.
They can't stop you leaving!!

catinblack · 02/03/2012 13:36

mind you i'd be asking the taxi driver to drive like a snail and take all the back roads. another thing to worry about...

catinblack · 02/03/2012 13:37

luckily route home is all via clogged up city centre traffic and nothing fast. Reason we don't have a car is its often nearly as fast to walk/take bus than drive and find parking spot.

NinthWave · 02/03/2012 13:41

Second the advice about a taxi. You might well be feeling sore/shaky/bleeding heavily, so a taxi ride might be more comfortable than the bus - and more practical for your pram, if the buses are anything like the ones in Cheshire.

TruthSweet · 02/03/2012 13:52

I'd still get a car seat even if you only get a cheapo £40 one, it would still be better in an accident than your arms/sling. Plus you never know when you might need to go in a taxi/friends car/ambulance (yes, I have used car seats in ambulances!) at short notice.

I know you don't HAVE to have a car seat according to the law but it still isn't safe - taxis don't have magic powers that prevent accidents - so if you can beg or borrow one or scrape together the cash to get a cheap one I would just in case

Flisspaps · 02/03/2012 14:10

The thing with taxis is that I wouldn't take a private hire without one, but in a black cab you can actually get the pram/buggy it with baby in so that baby is strapped in - which to me seems to provide not far off the protection offered by a plastic car seat.

Kayzr You might need to be let out by a member of staff, but they have no legal right to stop you and the baby leaving the building just because you don't have a car seat if you have no need for one and had no intention of taking your child in a car without one. It's effectively false imprisonment. In the unlikely circumstances that they refused to let you exit the building with your baby then my understanding is that if you were to call the police (drastic, perhaps) then the law would say there's no way you could be kept there.

cutegorilla · 02/03/2012 14:12

One for £29.99 here surely it's worth that much to give you a bit of flexibility wrt lifts/taxis etc. Even if you only use it a few times it's not a disaster at that price. There's no point having a 2nd hand one because you don't know if it's taken a knock that renders it worthless.

Totally agree, while the law doesn't say you must use car seats in a taxi it doesn't mean it's safe.

cutegorilla · 02/03/2012 14:14

I have done the buggy in a black cab thing, so I'm not saying you shouldn't, but there's no way it is as safe as a car seat!

belgina · 02/03/2012 14:53

I work on a pn ward and as far as I am aware there is no policy saying parents need to prove they have a car sear, however, hospitals do not like parents leaving the hospital carrying with baby in arms for fear of the parent slipping/tripping and falling with baby in arms. Our hospital would be happy with child leaving in a pram if the parents in question do not own a car and are going to walk. And the same counts for the 2 other hospitals I worked at.
However the vast majority of parents prefer to leave by taxi/lift if a friend. Sometimes in a borrowed car seat.
If you mostly travel by public transport I would suggest investing in a sling. Public transport + buggies = an enormous PITA!

Original poster

PeahenTailFeathers · 02/03/2012 17:42

Thank you all for the advice
I'd still ideally like to leave hospital with the baby in the pram (she's due in mid May so I have plans for us to be skipping out of the hospital on a lovely sunny day - can't you tell this is my first child ) but I have got someone who will take me home by car if necessary. I just flew off the handle got a bit cheesed off because I thought that buying a car seat was unnecessary and I'm a total skinflint. Apart from having spent a fortune on clothes, toys etc for the baby, that is

OP posts:

ipanicked · 02/03/2012 18:56

This is a strict policy in the hospital up the road but not luckily in the one I have birth in as we didn't have a car or car seat either!

Just a thought though, I did the 4 minute walk home up the road with a pushchair after DS (long labour, EMCS) and it took half an hour and nearly fainted on the way several times and was agonisingly painful. In retrospect it was a stupid thing to have done. It might be worth having a mate with a car seat or a free cycle one on standby just in case?

Kayzr · 02/03/2012 19:00

Do you have a friend or family member that has a car seat you can borrow?

Then you have the car seat to show the midwifes and then you don't have to buy one.

FessaEst · 02/03/2012 19:13

Car seat aside, there is no way is have managed a walk/bus home after either of my deliveries. My stitches were agony if I stood for too long & I bled pretty heavily too. Luckily I had 2 hbs, but there is no way I would have gone anywhere in anything but a car for a good few days.

Flip

1 2