Hospitals and car seats

[SpringChicken26]

Do hospitals allow you to take baby home in a birth-4years style car seat rather than a newborn carry car seat as I'd rather buy a really good one that will last longer and will not use with pram, or are they funny about this ? Thanks x

as long as it's suitable for a newborn it'll be fine. When my dd was born no one bothered to check the car seat anyway, I could have let the baby drive and they'd have had no clue!

We didn't have a newborn carry one either to begin with. Just an ISO fix one birth to 4 years like yours. We just told the nurse when she was getting us ready to go home that that's what we had and she said it was fine as long as we were sure it was installed properly and knew how it worked. Nobody checked it though and I was allowed to walk out the hospital with my baby in my arms which was strange lol x

Thanks for your replies think il definitely go straight for a birth-4years one then !

No one will check it as we are not allowed, we are not trained car seat fitters so can't advise on if it's correct or fitted appropriately etc. We're not even supposed to help parents work out how to fasten it or tighten the straps etc. in case it's wrong. Buy whatever car seat you want and make sure you know how to fit it and adjust it before the baby arrives.

Make sure you check the car seat in your car before buying. We were going to get the Recaro Zero 1, but although it's from newborn, it's not great for small babies as it doesn't recline very much. When we fitted it in our car, our sloping seats affected the recline even further. Sounded great on paper but didn't suit our car, so we went for a different seat.

Thanks both, does anyone have any i for on what seats are good to use from newborn?

If you go to mothercare with your car, they will recommend and actually try the seat in the car for you so you know it'll definitely be suitable 😊 x

I'd double check the 0-4 years ones too. Mine made my sons head sink forward and after 6 months of battling them I finally got a refund and just went with a 0-1 seat.

Go to somewhere like mothercare and get them to test it in your car. The test car seat they have in store has no incline at all and if you car does it will fit differently and won't fully recline

I am a huge fan of extended rear facing seats...my 4 year old is still in hers now. However it was rubbish for a newborn...it just doesn't lie flat enough and her head fell forward, still does when she sleeps heavily now. I have a baby carrier for at least the first 6 months. My sister bought a 0-4 one too and had to rush out and buy a baby carrier as newborn hated it...sorry.

Many 0-4 seats really aren't ideal for newborn. I out Ds1 in his at 5 months and he had the worst headflop when he fell to sleep. I wouldnt want that with a newborn.

I wouldn't bother with mothercare or Halford, their car seat knowledge is woefully inadequate. contact in car safety Centre for better advice.

We have rear facing 0-4 car seats, but neither of my sons went in them till they were about 8 months old. Even with the new born inserts they didn't look comfortable at all. I found our regular maxi cosi much better

As above. We travelled all the way out to an In Car Safety Centre and got some great advice. Worth the journey.

They were the ones who explained why the Recaro, particularly in our car, was no good for a newborn. And they were right.

Mothercare couldn't even work out how to fold the buggy we want, so wouldn't trust them for car seat advice!!

We ended up with a GB Vaya. It's brand new on the market, and is the sister company to Cybex. It's very similar to the Cybex Sirona M2, but without the drawbacks. The Vaya reclines much further than the Recaro (although I haven't had my baby yet so haven't tested it with a newborn), it's I-size but also had the 360 swivel (which the M2 doesn't). It also has a slightly bigger shell and no inpact shield (improvements on the old Sirona). Haven't used it yet but it's getting good reviews online for a 0-4.

We also considered the Joie 360, cheaper but it's not I-size.

Relieved and also annoyed to hear others had the same problem as I did, they (mothercare and cybex head office) told me I was the only person to have every experienced the head slump problem!

Just to add to the others - I wouldn't have my toddler in anything but extended rear facing but her head often flops forwards when asleep even on the most reclined position so could not have used it with a newborn, although I'm not sure how you could tell in advance.

Just to add, I won't have access to our car on maternity leave during the week, so it's only for occasional short weekend trips. As such, we figured baby will probably manage in a 0-4 car seat, as he won't be in it much.

Had I been driving around a lot during maternity, I probably would have considered a baby carrier which was better suited to newborns and that I could put on my pushchair frame.

The headflop is dangerous to newborns.

Have to say our joie one that we brought our son home from the hospital in wasn't really suitable for a newborn even though it states from birth. Like others have said baby's head flops forward as they don't decline enough. He's ok in it now but still flops when he sleeps (9 months old now). I brought a newborn maxi cosi car seat for my car when he was about 2 weeks old, best thing ever! I could attach it to my pram when he slept and didn't have to disturb him. We used my car seat much more up until now, it's been so good and he still has room in it (not much) but will last him another month probably (although he's too heavy to carry in the seat lol)

Think I'll go with getting a carrier then to start with, annoying they say from birth if they aren't suitable especially for a novice like me !!

It's really annoying, I agree. I also went for maxi cosi - highly commend it and I spent HOURS looking at all the options