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Preemies
So frustrated with carseat study!
DS failed his car seat study before coming home from the NICU. When we were leaving, I asked them when we should try again, etc. and they said that would all be up to his pedi but probably once he reaches 40-42 weeks gestation. After talking it over with his pedi, we decided it would be best to wait until his GA would be 42 weeks so that we didn't have to repeat it again in case he failed (he failed pretty bad the first time so there was concern as to when he would be able to pass). Well, he would have been 42 weeks tomorrow and he had a pedi appt today. They've been trying to figure out where he can go to do the carseat study for 2 weeks now! They said they always have this problem... there's really no where that does it. The NICU won't allow him back in there for it because he's "contaminated" now that he's been in the outside world.
We talked to the neonatologist and he said that everyone always has this problem so one of the other NICU Drs. is starting a program for all the NICU babies that fail the study to have their followups. Apparently he's starting it this week and so they left a message for him to call the pedi and set up a time for us to come in. Then they'll call me. Of course I still haven't heard anything about it. I feel like this is dragging on forever and I really want him to be able to use his car seat. The car bed is a PITA and I'm so over it. 
I just don't understand how they can discharge babies that fail but then have nowhere for them to have a followup. It's not like all babies pass and this has never come up!
Ok, sorry, vent over. I just needed to get that out!
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Re: So frustrated with carseat study!
Im so sorry that you have to go through that, I would be SUPER mad too.
i'm a little confused... at our nicu they have a "carseat test" where the baby has to sit in the carseat without events for 90 minutes. they can't be discharged until they pass. is what you're talking about the same thing? if so, what would be the point of doing it again later? are you not allowed to go anywhere until they pass?
i'm interested in your experience... ours was totally different.
Yes, same thing. He would desat to the low 80s immediately when in the car seat. We tried all kinds of different ways to position him and he desatted every time. If he was laying down his O2 was 99-100 so it was the position the carseat put him in. So, they gave us a car bed to use instead. It goes in the car like a car seat but it's long and it allows him to lay flat. It looks like this...
It's very difficult to get in and out of the car so we just leave it in and have to carry him everywhere we go. It also limits what car we can take because its such a PITA to move. He also isn't allowed to use his swing or bouncer until he passes because those put him in similar positions. He has to repeat it again to make sure he doesn't desat and can tolerate the positioning in the car seat. The car bed can hold him up to 20 lbs so technically he could use it and never use the car seat he has before a convertable seat, but I don't want to do that if he's safe to use his now.