going home from hospital sans car -- carseat issues?

[Anonymous]

We are annoyed because we keep telling you that you need a carseat regardless of whether or not you drive when you leave the hospital. It does not vary by hospital. It is a standard policy to force people to use carseats otherwise lower income people would just say "we are walking!" and leave the hospital.

In NYC, where most people DO NOT HAVE CARS, you need a carseat to leave the hospital. And yes, I know this for a fact. We keep telling you that YOU NEED A CARSEAT, it's not a matter of them keeping your baby, it's a matter of you needing to send someone to buy a carseat if you do not have one.

[Anonymous]

See, now you are making your point about my "expertise." I have just asked a friend at GW about their policies (she is a nurse there) and they make the parents sign something that says they understand they are obligated to have an infant safety seat if they are driving, but she said in theory they say they will prevetn the child from going home but in practice they cannot enforce this.

And you are definitely wrong about NYC -- there, state law says only that if parents are driving home, they are required by law to have a carseat. (I have no idea how or if they can enforce this).

The state of Tennessee, as another example, also words it such that parents were not to be discharged without being educated that they are required by law to have a property installed carseat if they are driving, but Tennessee goes so far as to clarify that a hospital may not detain a parent without a carseat as a function of this statute but should call for police assistance if the parents put the child into a car without the proper carseat. The hospitals themselves, clearly, may not act as law enforcement. In fact, I don't believe they can legally detain you or your child for ANY reason without involving CPS or the police.

So even though you are very angry with me for not taking your word for it, I don't believe you know what you're talking about. I just think you're telling me what makes sense to you and then pretending that you researched it.

[Anonymous]

I didn't deliver at GW, but our hospital had a similar policy. No way was I being rolled down the hall 2 days after a C/section with 17 lbs of carseat + baby on my lap. We strapped her in to show we could, took her out. I carried the baby, and my husband carried the seat. We then put her back in in the car.

Peripheral to the discussion, I know, but I can't believe how everyone I see leaving the hospital has that dang carseat on their lap. (I work in a newborn unit) It didn't bug anyone else?

[Anonymous]

I have a feeling you just have to be "against medical advice" as far as refusing to have the carseat on your lap. Agree-- how horrifying to try to make moms have a 20 lb carseat on them after a c-section, or even just a regular vaginal birth? Do the hospitals fuss if dad carries the dang baby in its carseat? And what if you use a britax, which is ok'd for infants 5 lbs and up with the converter? That doesn't come with an infant carrier. I don't think the hospital would be within any legal rights to not just tell you that you had to have a carseat if you're driving (which is probably a state law) but to also tell you that you had to have an infant carrier -- some carseats are not travel systems so I don't see how this makes sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:See, now you are making your point about my "expertise." I have just asked a friend at GW about their policies (she is a nurse there) and they make the parents sign something that says they understand they are obligated to have an infant safety seat if they are driving, but she said in theory they say they will prevetn the child from going home but in practice they cannot enforce this.

And you are definitely wrong about NYC -- there, state law says only that if parents are driving home, they are required by law to have a carseat. (I have no idea how or if they can enforce this).

The state of Tennessee, as another example, also words it such that parents were not to be discharged without being educated that they are required by law to have a property installed carseat if they are driving, but Tennessee goes so far as to clarify that a hospital may not detain a parent without a carseat as a function of this statute but should call for police assistance if the parents put the child into a car without the proper carseat. The hospitals themselves, clearly, may not act as law enforcement. In fact, I don't believe they can legally detain you or your child for ANY reason without involving CPS or the police.

So even though you are very angry with me for not taking your word for it, I don't believe you know what you're talking about. I just think you're telling me what makes sense to you and then pretending that you researched it.

If you know so much why are you going on and on about it. You are clearly convinced that the hospital cannot keep your baby and that is you are walking across the street you do not have to have baby in carseat. Why then do you keep questioning everyone. Apparently you are right and you know what you are talking about. let it go....

[Anonymous]

It's annoying because you're peppering posters with endless questions, then not believing their answers. If you're so curious, call the damn hospital yourself. We're not your research team.

[Anonymous]

DH just helped a friend whose wife recently delivered at Washington Hospital Center by driving him, his wife, his MIL and newborn home from the hospital. They literally live next door to a metro. They live a mile from the hospital. They didn't buy a carseat. The newborn rode home in my son's Britax marathon, so it obviously wasn't removed from our car to 'prove' that this couple has (access to) a carseat before they were released from WHC.

[Anonymous]

NP here. OP, dear OP, I think you are probably a lovely gal in real life, and you are very inquisitive and thoughtful and thorough, but wow you spend a lot of time and energy schooling DCUM posters who don't answer your threads correctly!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP here. OP, dear OP, I think you are probably a lovely gal in real life, and you are very inquisitive and thoughtful and thorough, but wow you spend a lot of time and energy schooling DCUM posters who don't answer your threads correctly!

You're absolutely right. I was just curious. Honestly, my first response I wasn't rude or trying to school her, I was just asking her how she knew and she got offended and started all-caps-ing me. I should have just let it go, who cares? I don't even have a vested interest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm asking this question purely out of curiosity, as we have a car, a carseat, and have already had it installed at the inspection station. But I have some friends who do not use cars or drive, and was wondering what they will do when they bring their babies home from the hospital and it made me curious about a number of situations because I've heard that a carseat is required before you can bring your baby home. But what if the parents are planning to use public transportation or walk home? And what do hospitals do for low-income parents who just can't afford carseats and maybe their babies have come early or something and they hadn't prepared?

I'm sorry for asking a question without a vested interest in the answer, but I'm just curious. Thanks!

Hi OP, I just read through the entire thread and I am guessing your delivery date is approaching and you are anxious about it....maybe not about the carseat issue but something else that you do have a vested interest in??? This is your first pregnancy right? This whole thing about whether the rule applies to everyone and whether the rule will be enforced...isn't about the carseat, correct? It's about when you can get the epidural? when it's too late to ask for one? whether your birthplan will be respected? whether the water will break in an embarrassing place? whether labor will be tolerable?

Anyway, we didn't have a car and there were no plans to get one but it was fairly affordable to get a Graco snugride carseat for about $50 from Walmart and a Snap n go for another $50 to create a stroller (and both can be had for half of those amounts used) because I didn't live across from Sibley and I planned to take a taxi home from the hospital (it was end of November and I was way too paranoid as a first-time parent to even consider taking the bus home - risk of infection, cold weather), and I assumed the carseat/stroller combination would be used to go for walks, help baby sleep, go grocery shopping, take baby to the multiple visits to pediatrician during the first year using taxi and carseat that it would be worth it. That carseat had so many uses even though it was rarely in a car - it was a crib, it was a rocker, it was a place to put baby down when I had to go to the bathroom. Getting a carseat even though I didn't have a car and didn't plan to get one was a no-brainer, as silly as though it may sound to you.

I hope you figure out what's really making you nervous, if there is something else. Good luck with your delivery.

[Anonymous]

I agree with the PPs. OP, we have given you tons of answers to your question, including the answer you are seeking, which is that we believe you need a carseat no matter which mode of transportation you choose including your own feet. If you don't like our answers, why don't you go do your own research instead of whining back "well my friends in New York say blah blah" and "Tennessee law states that ..." We are in neither New York or Tennessee, we're in DC, and you need a carseat to leave the hospital. Even if there is wiggle room in the law or hospital policy, and there always is, it's just good parenting practice. I have a funny feeling you have not been the parent to a newborn, because if you were, you wouldn't really be asking questions about carrying your newborn home in your arms in a germ-infested Metro car or walking home with your baby in your arms after you have just given birth. Even the poorest parents would prefer to carry their infant in a infant carrier/carseat in that situation. It's safer for all concerned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the PPs. OP, we have given you tons of answers to your question, including the answer you are seeking, which is that we believe you need a carseat no matter which mode of transportation you choose including your own feet. If you don't like our answers, why don't you go do your own research instead of whining back "well my friends in New York say blah blah" and "Tennessee law states that ..." We are in neither New York or Tennessee, we're in DC, and you need a carseat to leave the hospital. Even if there is wiggle room in the law or hospital policy, and there always is, it's just good parenting practice. I have a funny feeling you have not been the parent to a newborn, because if you were, you wouldn't really be asking questions about carrying your newborn home in your arms in a germ-infested Metro car or walking home with your baby in your arms after you have just given birth. Even the poorest parents would prefer to carry their infant in a infant carrier/carseat in that situation. It's safer for all concerned.

Whoa, now this is just classist (and I don't think accurate). How do you know what the "poorest parents" would want, universally? You really think it is safer to carry a carseat across a street than to carry your baby in your arms? Oh dear heavens. What did we ever do before we had travel systems and had to (gasp) carry the actual baby to the carseat. If I ever had to take an infant on metro (and I don't think I would want to, to be honest) I would NOT do this in a carseat -- I would prefer the baby safely in my arms. Probably in a sling for extra security.

And no, I'm not an inexperienced parent. Just a curious poster. And I'm not projecting subconscious concerns about my delivery into the carseat issue -- there are plenty of perfectly conscious concerns I have about birth but if I were personally in a situation with a vested interest about something, I WOULD ask the hospital directly.

For goodness sakes, I was curious about a rule I think should not necessarily be all-emcompassing and how far local hospitals around here will actually go to enforce it. The reason I kept asking despite getting answers is that most posters were basing their answer off of their experience, which was different from the scenario I painted, which involved walking or public transportation (not a taxi). You said above, "we believe" you need a carseat. If everyone answered that way instead of pretending to have expertise they didn't have, cool. But there is no harm in me asking someone how they know.

As much as I need to move on from this thread and realize I'm not going to get my answer here, some of you need to consider why you're so darn aggravated that I'm not just taking your word on something when most of the replies just seem like people taking guesses or making assumptions. Oh well -- clearly if someone had direct experience they would have already posted.

One last thing, I was genuinely NOT trying to offend anyone by asking them how they knew -- I just wanted to know if they'd clarified the policy with the hospital directly. The one woman who said she did got all aggro and frankly I don't believe her. Sorry, that's my prerogative.

[Anonymous]

OP, people are getting aggravated with you because you seem like a really annoying person. Do you beat everything to death multiple times?

[Anonymous]

And no, I'm not an inexperienced parent.

Oh, now. I thought you've started a lot of threads about getting ready for that new first baby.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, people are getting aggravated with you because you seem like a really annoying person. Do you beat everything to death multiple times?

Wow, you seem like a really NICE person.