Is it true that hospitals say you MUST have carseat to take baby home in?

[comtessa]

It's just that we don't have a car and so are NOT going to buy a car seat!

I'm not due until end of November, so thinking about this early on, but I do want to know whether this is true or not. DH, DC and I would be going home in black cab or bus. No fast roads between hospital and home (about a 10 minute drive) so would be planning to take baby home in pram.

Any experience - especially of Nottingham hospitals - greatly appreciated!

That's my point, Riven (sorry, I just read thread again, and saw you'd taken DD home on the bus, should have spotted that).

I'm not being narky here - I just can't quite see why the OP is getting such dire warnings about how irresponsible she would be taking a baby for a short ride in a cab without a car seat... when if she made the same journey on a bus (which, to be fair, she says she might)... then - well, she couldn't use a car seat if she wanted to, could she?

That's the thing, Petsville we would use a black cab too. And I would never want to put my child at risk, but my siblings and I were all brought home from hospital in a bassinet. I walk or use public transport everywhere, and if I'm too tired for tram or bus when baby is with me, or if that's not an option, I would hail a black cab and there's just no way I'm going to cart a car seat around with me all the time just in case. If hiring a car, most companies offer the option of a car seat included in the hire.

I'm sorry if people thought I was being off, but if someone asks a question, why do people feel the need to comment if they haven't got a helpful response? Of course I want to take care of my baby, I just get hacked off with all the extra things we're all meant to have these days and I've just been made redundant so money is very tight. Yes, I am on freecycle, but I'm not the only mum-to-be on there.

PS Like your thinking Riven!

one thing i remebered was being on a bus with a tiny DS, and he was in his buggy which was a car seat on a frame IYSWIM

i was not holding the buggy very firmly and the bus did a swift corner and the whole thing overturned! I screamed, but as he was safely strapped into the car seat he was just fine, I was a wreck though

so IF you see a good combo of this nature, worth getting one, but appreciate money is issue

but seeing from your latest post you will be fine, dont worry about it

I bought an infant car seat for £40, as we don't intend to use it for carrying baby around in once we get home.

You don't have to buy anything expensive.
It's a cozy n safe infant car seat.

and I've already had comments on another forum about how can I possibly be happy putting my baby in this when it's not a well-known brand - perhaps that's because it won't be getting used very much atall and plus if it was so unsafe it wouldn't be getting sold in shops

Strawberrycake I am you could be discharge at the bedside. Out our local hospital (for all my kids, and the oldest is a teenager) there is CCTV and no-one is allowed to leave the maternity unit with a baby without a midwife escort. If they manage to they will be stopped before they reach the exit of the hospital.
There is a loan scheme for car seats around here too. I think if you took the baby in a pram and were obviously walking they would be fine. However walking home after a baby is quite heroic.

Idea: DH can walk baby home in pram and I'll take a limo

I think if you don't want comments, best not to post on Mumsnet, I imagine only your own hospital can answer the question. But if they do not want to let you leave without one, do you have a friend who can just lend you one for the day?

i got one in the charity shop for a £5, brand new, plastic cover still on. worth a look if you are going in a cab.

I think if you crashed into a car on a bus you wouldnt have such an impact on the bus as you would have in the car.

we didn't have a car but needed the car seat loads for stuff like taxi trips to out of hours GPs etc

get to a nearly-new sale, you'll pick one up for £5-£10

A bus doesn't crash in the same way as cars or taxis Barkfox. When a car crashes into something (another car or a wall) it decelerates rapidly and it also crumples. A bus is very heavy so when it crashes into a car or wall it keeps moving forwards and comes to a stop much more slowly. People do fall but they tend not to get flung around in quite the same way as a car. Buses are usually moving slower than a car too, and they are very visible so other drivers don't pull out in front of them etc.

Having said that, on a bus I would still rather keep a small child in the pushchair where the frame will give some protection.

going home from hospital after giving birth on the bus!

you must be mad. I could hardly shuffle the distance to the car, 3 days after having DS1.

So... is the argument about buses v cabs that buses are just sort of safer in crashes? Even though (a) no one is wearing seatbelts, and (b) a baby might be strapped into a buggy which is unsecured, and could easily tip over/fly through the air in the event of a crash?

What I mostly see on buses is people folding buggies/pushchairs and leaving them at the front of the bus, and then sitting with babies/small children on their laps. (Where, thinking about it, sharp breaking or impact is liable to catapult both parent and baby forward, with the infant being crushed between parent and the seat in front).

I totally understand that buses don't usually travel at high speeds - but then neither do black cabs in cities, IME.

(I'm not having a go at anyone travelling with their baby on a bus, btw - I will be - just not understanding why attitudes are so inconsistent).

Noone escorted me out of the building after having DS. I was given my papers etc and then DH went to get the car and took my bags. I carried DS down (in the lift) alone and waited for DH to come and get me from the reception area....
Can't imagine what power they would have to hold you/your baby against your wishes. Just say you are taking the bus...

On the bus thing - whilst the pram/car seat frame might offer some protection from the frame they can really only be effective when secured to the seat so the baby cannot be thrown from the vehicle.

No one escorted me and DH out either, got my forms and medication and told I could leave, said goodbye and thank you at the desk when we were passing, and we just clicked the button to get out and off we went.

We had car so this wasn't an issue for us, however you are not legally obliged to have a car seat in a cab.

www.dft.gov.uk/think/focusareas/children/childincar

It is your choice at the end of the day, and just because the law doesn't require it doesn't mean it is safe.

Well you can't install a carseat on a bus anyway as there are no seatbelts, so it's not an option. A badly or completely unfitted carseat is probably more dangerous than a pram. In our local buses for example there is a rear facing, padded wheelchair area which can house buggies if not needed by a wheelchair. If you didn't have this I guess it would be less safe - but unless the bus was shunted violently sideways, I think that a buggy would be relatively stable in one of these areas.

I'd say your options (re taxi/bus) in order of safety are:

1. Borrowed/cheap/second hand carseat in taxi (the driver won't mind you fitting it, I do it all the time, and a baby seat takes seconds to fit anyway)
2. Pram on a bus in proper rear facing wheelchair-designed space
3. Pram in back of black cab
4. Carrycot in taxi secured by seatbelt (one which is designed for use in cars)*
5. Baby in sling on lap with the seatbelt underneath the sling - NOT around the baby - if you put the seatbelt around both of you even an emergency stop is dangerous. Sit facing the back of the cab if seats are available. Make sure the sling supports the baby's head and neck.

5.** Pram on bus, sideways or in other insecure position.

1. Baby in sling on lap on bus
2. Baby, unsecured, on your lap/in car seat/carrycot on bus
3. Baby, unsecured, on your lap/in carrycot in taxi

• Most carrycots are considered a very bad idea to be used in cars despite being sold as safe for use in cars. There was a which crash test a few years ago which shows the effects in a relatively low speed crash and they are worrying. The only one which is safe is the Britax Babysafe sleeper which is also a lie-flat car seat.

** I am honestly not sure which of these two options is the safer, I would guess that they are about the same.

I see the point that you and your siblings were brought home from hospital in a carrycot, but proper carseats weren't as readily available then, traffic has increased, and more children used to be injured on the roads than are now we have carseat laws.

Also bus crashes tend to happen less often because other road users are more aware of buses, the drivers have had extra training on top of the normal car driving licence, and as someone said earlier buses are heavier and take longer to stop. It's the sudden stop in a car accident which causes most injuries.

HTH

I like your very sensible post, BertieBotts.

When I took DD home 3 yrs ago we were not allowed to leave without her in the car seat. We had thought we could just carry her in our arms and put her in the car seat in the car but had to lug it up to the ward and down again which seemed silly to us. In general they were odd about you carrying your baby as though it was terribly unsafe. I was instructed to wheel her in the fishbowl cot rather than carry her on the ward. I guess we could have stood our ground but it didn't seem worth making a fuss over. So yes be prepared to have a fight over it!

Ours hadn't arrived yet, so I went home in the car and DH walked DS home in the pram. Hospital were perfectly good with that.

In the pram on the bus is safer than a sling, because a hard crash would force your body weight against the baby. I often go by bus and DS is fine in his buggy. Nobody ever uses car seats on a bus and I agree, how could you? Buses are stable and slow moving, anyway. I speak as someone who has a Scandinavian rear facing seat suitable till DS is 4 or 5, so I am not that casual about this stuff - I just think people can be hysterical.

If you live near Birmingham or Cheltenham you are welcome to borrow his Maxi Cosi baby seat? It's never been in a prang or dropped or used as a pram attachment, and I won't be having another for at least a year.

The hospital asked if we had a carseat, which we did, but I didn't get the impression we would have been forced to stay if we didn't have one.

The irony was, although we had a carseat we had committed the fatal mistake of failing to check beforehand if it actually fitted in the car. It didn't. So we drove home at 20mph with me in the back seat holding onto the carseat for dear life. DH's first job once we got home was to dash out to Halfords for a replacement.

I'd just book a minicab,ask for a baby seat they usually have them. If they don't call a different comnpany.
That should satisfy the hospital.
Personally, I wouldn't risk public transport with a tiny one