Coming home from the hospital / carseat

EastCoastBride · May 2010

This came up on another board and I'm curious, especially anyone who may live in the city and doesn't have a car.

My hospital (in the burbs, though) required us to have a carseat and a car to take DS home.

I had friends tell me stories about people they knew who even had an infant car seat but were going to go home on the metro, they still had to rent a car. The carseat HAD to be in a car.

What was your experience? Is this just a "hospital by hospital" thing, is it law, and are there exceptions?

DG1 · May 2010

I'm not a city person, but our (suburban) hospital had no clue whether we had an infant seat, a convertible, or no seat. I think we had to watch a video about proper car restraint and say that we watched it, but there was no verification going on.

I'd imagine it must have to be a really small hospital to be able to keep up with that kind of detail for everyone.

LittleApple · May 2010

A nurse wheeled me out to the car and honestly I think she just checked to make sure we had a car seat in the car.

jkyle · May 2010

I think the assumption is that at some point, your baby will have to go in a car. So, in order to make sure you have all of the appropriate gear to taken them in a car (whether your own or a taxi or a family/friend's), they make you have a carseat and drive the baby home.

A friend of my aunt was not allowed to walk her baby home in the stroller (she lives just down the street from the hospital), she had to have someone pick her up and drive her and the babe home (they also don't have a car).

So it's probably a little "hospital by hospital" but I do think it must be fairly standard practice...

P.S. I'm also from Canada....so it could be different in the States

EastCoastBride · May 2010

DG1:

I'd imagine it must have to be a really small hospital to be able to keep up with that kind of detail for everyone.

Oh, very much the opposite! Very large. Now, some people have had the nurse actually go out to the car w/ them to ensure the base is installed. They didn't do that w/ us, but DS HAD to be in the infant carrier to leave the hospital.

MrsRenee · May 2010

My hospital never checked. Granted, they do require you be wheeled out, so I'm sure the worker made sure we had a carseat of some type.

LuvinMyKids · May 2010

When each but our first was born they wheeled me out to the car & made sure we had a car seat for the new baby (and our hospital is not small, either).

brideofscowboy · May 2010

Our hospital won't discharge you until you have an infant carrier/carseat.

LawLove08 · May 2010

Our hospital checked to see that we had a carseat, and I believe it's state law that you can't leave the hospital without one. ?But I don't know about what people do if they don't have a car. ?Interesting ... I guess they could call a Taxi. ?I was wondering the other day if people who ride the bus/metro have their kids in carseats.

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JessiRaye · May 2010

brideofscowboy:

Our hospital won't discharge you until you have an infant carrier/carseat.

Same here!

LittleApple · May 2010

EastCoastBride:
DG1:

I'd imagine it must have to be a really small hospital to be able to keep up with that kind of detail for everyone.

Oh, very much the opposite! Very large. Now, some people have had the nurse actually go out to the car w/ them to ensure the base is installed. They didn't do that w/ us, but DS HAD to be in the infant carrier to leave the hospital.

We were not even allowed to bring the infant carrier into the hosiptal!

WyWysMommy · May 2010

Ours required us to bring the carseat up to the room before leaving so they could make sure he fit in it etc. But we lived in a small suburban area. Not metros or things like that.

My SIL who delivered in the city was still required to bring the carseat up to the room for the nurses to check before they would let them leave. But its a small city, so again no metro.

Maybe its city ordinances? Or by states?

EastCoastBride · May 2010

LittleApple:

We were not even allowed to bring the infant carrier into the hosiptal!

Really?! That is interesting!

TakYelgif · May 2010

My hospital didn't even check the car, nor did they require us to bring the carseat up to our room in order for us to leave. Of course we did bring it but no one checked, we didn't even have anyone to help us out of the hospital.

eta: I walked out of the hospital after they discharged us, they didn't even require that I be wheeled out.

MCMoo23 · May 2010

We had to have an infant carseat..we weren't allowed to be discharged without one.

Jenny0908 · May 2010

We just walked out with DD. No one asked us if we had a car seat or came to check our car. I gave birth at a hospital a few miles outside of Boston that is right next to the MBTA (trolley/subway system).

MissLMS · May 2010

My hospital didn't check at all to see if we even had a carseat. When DH pulled up in the car, I had never put a baby in an infant carrier and really had no idea how to loosen the straps, which were too tight. The nurse pretty much wheeled me out to the hospital curb, I stood up and she left me there before the car even pulled up.

I put DD in the carseat half-buckled for the 2 miles we drove to go home. (I quickly then took the carseat out and read the instructional manual the next day before we went anywhere else!)

Donniesgrrl · May 2010

I was wheeled to the door Holding DD, They dumped me off and said congrats and good luck LOL, but we did have to have a car seat test before DD was cleared to leave the NICU so they knew we had a car seat, but still for all they knew I took her home on my lap

pinksweetpea2 · May 2010

Before we decided to have a homebirth, we did a tour of the closest hospital and the woman went on and on about how you had to have a carseat with you before you would be discharged- it needed to be set up, not in the box, etc.

::shrugs:: I thought it was all a bit over the top, but no more than a lot of the other overbearing hospital procedures that made me want a homebirth.

mrsjenni · May 2010

I delivered at a large hospital and we had to bring the car seat up to our hospital room, but DS in it, and then they wheeled me down holding DS while he was IN the car seat. Then they made sure that he was secured in the car before they let us leave.

mlf625 · May 2010

I delivered at two different hospitals. Each one required us to get DC into the infant seat before leaving our room, then pushed me to the hospital door holding the infant seat.

weebaby · May 2010

in order to leave the hospital, we had to bring up our seat and put him in it correctly. the nurse was not allowed to help at all and had to check it before we were discharged. they made sure we properly installed it into the car before we left.

Abby'sMommy · May 2010

LittleApple:
EastCoastBride:
DG1:

I'd imagine it must have to be a really small hospital to be able to keep up with that kind of detail for everyone.

Oh, very much the opposite! Very large. Now, some people have had the nurse actually go out to the car w/ them to ensure the base is installed. They didn't do that w/ us, but DS HAD to be in the infant carrier to leave the hospital.

We were not even allowed to bring the infant carrier into the hosiptal!

This is how it was with us. DH brought in the car seat when she were getting the discharge papers ready, and they told him he had to leave it outside. Then they had a candy striper wheel me out while I held DD.

CoastieWife08 · May 2010

InternetExplorer:
The hospital can have a policy but it's not a law. You don't HAVE to own a carseat if your child will never be in a car!

Yes, but they can claim you left the hospital AMA and then your insurance can refuse to pay. That's how they get you to comply at a lot of places.

We had to bring the carrier into the room and strap in DD. The nurse then checked the car to make sure the base was in correctly. She didn't sign my final discharge paper until that was done.

alaskabride2be · May 2010

When we left the hospital, DS had to be in the carrier to leave the hospital and the nurse that wheeled me out checked the base before DH clicked the carrier into it. If we had a convertible seat from the beginning then they would have gone and checked it before me and DS were wheeled down to the car.

sunnyday016 · May 2010

We brought ours in, but they never commented on it. They didn't wheel us out, so I have no idea if they would have checked if we had only had a convertible seat.

Sammy-Mae · May 2010

Our hospital was in a major city (in Canada) and we had to bring the carrier up to the room and a nurse had to witness us putting her in the carrier and taking her out of it again. They also wanted to make sure that she was dressed appropriately for the weather but I don't think that was hospital policy I think it was because it was -25C and supposed to snow the day we took her home. They knew we lived pretty far out of town and offered to let us stay another day because the weather report was for a nicer/warmer day.

KelzinBoston · May 2010

They did not check that we had one (I don't think). We live in the city...but the hospital we delivered at isn't near the subway/train...so you basically have to leave the hospital in a car or a cab unless you want to take the bus.

I didn't even get wheeled out come to think of it...they were really busy when I delivered and were more or less just happy to have an empty room.

ashg8r · May 2010

weebaby:
in order to leave the hospital, we had to bring up our seat and put him in it correctly. the nurse was not allowed to help at all and had to check it before we were discharged. they made sure we properly installed it into the car before we left.

This exactly. I had to walk down to be picked up, and DD was wheeled down in her car seat in the hospital bassinet thing.

IckyThump · May 2010

mrs.jenni:
I delivered at a large hospital and we had to bring the car seat up to our hospital room, but DS in it, and then they wheeled me down holding DS while he was IN the car seat. Then they made sure that he was secured in the car before they let us leave.

This was our experience as well. The nurse instructed DH to go out to the car to get the infant carrier, he brought it back and put DS in. The nurse checked the straps to make sure they were secure and she then walked to the exit with us. She stayed with DS and me while DH pulled the car up and watched DH put the carrier into the base. She wiggled the seat a bit to make sure it was properly installed and then we were on our way.

sarahleigh23 · May 2010

brideofscowboy:

Our hospital won't discharge you until you have an infant carrier/carseat.

Ditto, they asked you to bring it into the hospital then they wheeled you out with the baby in it already.

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