Do I need a car seat?

[mumofnone]

I'm sorry if this is the wrong place to post this (I'm new ), but I was hoping to get some advice since I'm an expat living in London and don't have any friends with babies. We don't have a car (take the tube, taxis and buses everywhere), so do you think there's any reason for me to buy a car seat? We don't even have any friends with cars, so I can't imagine needing one when the baby comes (in June) - am I missing something?

Thank you!

I am pretty sure that the hospital will not let you take the baby home without a car seat, safety and all that.

Have a look on Ebay or freecycle and you may get one free or for very little money.

But I won't be able to use it in the taxi on the way home, will I? How do people normally travel with newborns in taxis -- do they leave them in the pram with the wheels locked?

Hi Mumofnone and welcome to mumsnet

I don't think you're missing anything, I think the reason people sometimes have car seats (but no car) is to get the baby home from hospital in a taxi. It's perfectly legal to not use one in a taxi, but some people feel safer with the baby in a car seat. You may not want to tube it home from hospital, is all. You could maybe rent or borrow one if that was an issue. But otherwise, they're no good for anything else!

X-post. I've never taken either of my kids in a taxi, but I think most people use a car seat.

If i was to use a taxi with a newborn or a baby or any age actually, i would definately use a car seat.

most people using taxis do not use car seats (I worked for a taxi company). If it's a london cab then yes, just put the brakes on the pram, if you are going out for the day you can't carry a car seat around with you too. When it comes to leaving the hospital, they may insist that you have one to go in a taxi, check with the midwife at one of your antenatal appts, but some mini-cab firms have seats they can bring if you've pre-booked and requested.

Order an Addison Lee cab - they will collect and provide an infant car seat for you. You can hail a black cab and use the wheelchair starp round the pram, but if you feel anything like I did, I felt like I was carrying an egg on a spoon and that my newborn daughter was so previous and fragile, I can't conceive of doing anything other than a rear-facing seat. So I would order an Addison Lee (or other reputable minicab firm who will provide a seat) once you know you can go.

As a fellow car-free person who got very irritated by the general presumption that everyone owns a car, here's my advice. Actually, buying a travel system for a newborn is no bad thing: the detachable car seat doubles as a carry cot and, for instance, when you are visiting friends or meeting up then you can put your baby in the car seat if he/she wants a nap. You can ride in a taxi-cab style taxi with the buggy with the brakes on. There is also a provision in the new infuriating, moronic law on car seats that allows you to make short occasional journeys without using one (though hospital will kick up a fuss. You could perhaps arrange to borrow one just for the journey home).
THe most stupid and pointless advice you will be given is not to buy or use a second hand car seat - if you have a friend or relative who wants to pass one on to you, take it and don't worry about it - or try Ebay or Freecycle.
It gets far more annoying once your child is about 9-10 months and you get into the infuriating zone of too-big-for-travel-system and too-small-for-booster seats. The only car seats suitable for this age group are monstrously heavy and awkward and an utter, utter pain to carry around on public transport (ie for those occasions when you are going to visit friends in rural areas, travelling by train and being collected from the station). Luckily if your kid is well-grown, by the age of about 3 he/she will be big enough for a simple booster seat and these are not only cheap but relatively portable.

I have never seen a pushchair in a taxi round here, I think London must be different!

Getting into a can of worms here, people feel very strongly about 2nd hand car seats and travel systems one way or the other. Perhaps just find out if your hospital will let you leave with the baby if you don't have a car seat and go from there as that's what you were asking.

I would definately recommend a car seat, even if it is just for the occasional journey. Personally, I would never travel even a short journey without the DCs properly strapped in.

If you have an accident, a car seat is the only thing standing between your baby and potentially serious injury, and that is a risk that is just too high to take.

The reason you are often advised not to use second hand car seats is that you do not know if the seat has been involved in an accident. There could be damage inside the seat that is invisible to the eye but would render the seat dangerous in the case of an accident.

If you do not want to buy a new seat then your best bet is to see if a friend or relative (who you trust) would sell or lend oyu one.

Welcome to MN, btw.

Thanks for the advice everyone! Madamez, I share your frustration about the assumption that we all have cars - especially in London!

Ideally, I would always like to have my child in a car seat, but I don't know how easy it would be to strap a car seat into a london black cab.

I will definitely take SazzaK's advice and order a taxi from the airport from Addison Lee.

Thanks again!

if you can get hold of/borrow something like a maxi-cosi then you just use the seatbelt to attach it - all cabs would have rear seatbelts so it would be no different to using in any other car... think this would be the case with lots of other rear facing car seats too.

Hth