Can you leave hospital with baby without a car seat?

[Anonymous]

Live 10 min walk from hospital, will they let me leave if they know we are walking?

[Anonymous]

Try it and let us know.

[Anonymous]

No. Even if you don't own a car and don't have a driver's license.

[Anonymous]

There are programs that will give you a car seat if you can’t afford one. The hospital will most likely have a car seat through a program if you ask them. They want to make sure that you could put the baby in a car in case of emergency, even if you don’t need one to get home from the hospital, like if you needed to bring the baby to an emergency room or a doctor’s appointment, etc. They are trying to ensure that every baby COULD ride in a car at some point, not that they are doing so on the way home from the hospital.

[Anonymous]

This cannot possibly be true? How could a hospital require you to have a car seat if you don’t have a car?

[Anonymous]

It is true. It’s a safety program. They don’t want people to say that they don’t need a car seat because they don’t have a car and then get in a friend’s car, or a taxi, or an Uber with an unrestrained baby. It’s the only moment that the authorities can try to ensure that each baby has access to a car seat. If you can’t afford a car seat, talk to the hospital about them giving you one. If you really don’t want to own a car seat to use even in the case of an emergency, borrow one from a friend to leave the hospital.

[Anonymous]

What are they going to do, hold the baby hostage?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What are they going to do, hold the baby hostage?

yep

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is true. It’s a safety program. They don’t want people to say that they don’t need a car seat because they don’t have a car and then get in a friend’s car, or a taxi, or an Uber with an unrestrained baby. It’s the only moment that the authorities can try to ensure that each baby has access to a car seat. If you can’t afford a car seat, talk to the hospital about them giving you one. If you really don’t want to own a car seat to use even in the case of an emergency, borrow one from a friend to leave the hospital.

We have 2, 1 for each car. I just was planning not to bring it since we are going to walk home. We walk everywhere around here, but we do own cars for when we need to leave our neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

I for one wouldn’t want to walk 10 minutes after giving birth! And this is coming from someone who has had 4 kids and runs 30 miles/week. Just bring the car.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I for one wouldn’t want to walk 10 minutes after giving birth! And this is coming from someone who has had 4 kids and runs 30 miles/week. Just bring the car.

This was my first thought, and I also have four. I would have been to sore, drained, and flat out gross feeling to walk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is true. It’s a safety program. They don’t want people to say that they don’t need a car seat because they don’t have a car and then get in a friend’s car, or a taxi, or an Uber with an unrestrained baby. It’s the only moment that the authorities can try to ensure that each baby has access to a car seat. If you can’t afford a car seat, talk to the hospital about them giving you one. If you really don’t want to own a car seat to use even in the case of an emergency, borrow one from a friend to leave the hospital.

We have 2, 1 for each car. I just was planning not to bring it since we are going to walk home. We walk everywhere around here, but we do own cars for when we need to leave our neighborhood.

Were you going to wear the baby home, or use a bassinet on a stroller? For a newborn to walk I think I would prefer a car seat attached to a stroller anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is true. It’s a safety program. They don’t want people to say that they don’t need a car seat because they don’t have a car and then get in a friend’s car, or a taxi, or an Uber with an unrestrained baby. It’s the only moment that the authorities can try to ensure that each baby has access to a car seat. If you can’t afford a car seat, talk to the hospital about them giving you one. If you really don’t want to own a car seat to use even in the case of an emergency, borrow one from a friend to leave the hospital.

We have 2, 1 for each car. I just was planning not to bring it since we are going to walk home. We walk everywhere around here, but we do own cars for when we need to leave our neighborhood.

Have your husband walk home to get the car. You may not feel up to a 10min walk, it may depend on how birth goes and how long they keep you after.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I for one wouldn’t want to walk 10 minutes after giving birth! And this is coming from someone who has had 4 kids and runs 30 miles/week. Just bring the car.

This was my first thought, and I also have four. I would have been to sore, drained, and flat out gross feeling to walk.

Bleeding.

[Anonymous]

OP, how are you going to carry the baby’s home? I would worry I would drop it if I didn’t have it in a car seat/stroller.