hospital nurses have ANY training re: proper carseat use?

carrieb126 · Oct 10, 2011

A new mom who's a friend of mine came to visit today. I noticed that hen she strapped her 7 wk old into the seat that the harness was pretty loose, and the chest clip was too low. I asked if if she would mind if I give her a tip on how to have a better fit on the baby, and (I hope I was right) said that if she could pinch the strap at the shoulder, it was too loose, and the chest clip should be at nipple level. She tightened it right away (still not super tight, but better) and said the nurse at the hospital, when checking the seat upon mom and baby leaving said mom had it too tight, and that she should be able to fit a hand under the straps (kind of between the chest clip and the crotch strap.) The mom said she thought it was too loose, but the nurse said so...

Do the nurses who do the checks have any really training on proper seat use?

Carrie

Kaitsmom · Oct 10, 2011

Not usually from my experience. When I was discharged the nurse was gone before DH even had the car door opened, she could have cared less.

Brigala · Oct 10, 2011

carrieb126 said:
Do the nurses who do the checks have any really training on proper seat use?

Depends on the hospital. Often, they don't. Obviously, that nurse didn't have any idea what she was talking about. You were right and you explained it to her correctly.

murphydog77 · Oct 11, 2011

Many hospitals don't because of the liability risk. It's unfortunate, but as you can see, hospital employees often give out terrible "helpful" advice. it would be best if they had a tech on staff every day to answer carseat questions.

Traquy · Oct 11, 2011

Nope, I packed up DD in her seat with no help whatsoever and no one said a word about it. 2 of the nurses said goodbye to us, and cooed at DD in her seat but never seemed concerned about checking it (though maybe they did but saw I had her in correctly and left it at that). Looking back I'm pretty sure DD was too small for the seat I had (she was 5lb 11oz) and I believe many seats start at 6lbs, but I'm sure she was 6lbs about 2 days later...lol. I have to post this picture just because it's so hilarious. I have to stress that I pushed the buckle down the rest of the way, and it was ONLY for DH to take her down 3 floors for her baby exam NOT to go in the car (DH was a little nervous just carrying her since she was so small).

vamom · Oct 11, 2011

Not here. I will say my hospital has tons of car seat flyers though. They do routine seat checks, have signs about used seats, and everything. The nurse watched me put him in, fiddled with him for a minute, and "had to" walk us to the car and see the seat snapped in to the base. I had a bundle me (which they thought was awesome), and big snugler kind of pad, and the

car seat padding.

I have a friend at the other hospital here and she says that they have to check for seats and see them installed. That doesn't give me much comfort, as she put her itty, bitty teent weeny, 22# 3 year old in a turbo booster to be like big sis

She often will place a child in a booster with a lap only belt. When we carpooled with another family she put her in an ancient aoe with ropes for straps that were dangling off her and never even looked at the strap height.

We had several mild chats about car seats, and we carpooled a lot. Ds always had a 5 point harness and in my car, both her kids were harnessed.

Qarin · Oct 11, 2011

Traquy said:
Looking back I'm pretty sure DD was too small for the seat I had (she was 5lb 11oz) and I believe many seats start at 6lbs

Most seats start at 5lbs, with some (including.... was that a Britax Companion?) starting at 4lbs (and some now at 3lbs and some with no minimum).

Where's the chest clip??

aetj81 · Oct 11, 2011

Sadly, the nurse with my oldest let me take him home not strapped in, since I couldn't figure out the harness. That was 11 years ago.

Sent from my LS670 using Car-Seat.Org

Stelvis · Oct 11, 2011

When I left the hospital they TOLD me to make sure the chest clip was on his belly.

hrice · Oct 11, 2011

Unless the nurse is a tech there involvement with the car seat shouldn't go beyond checking off that the patient has one. That is a liability the hospital shouldn't take on. Their liability should end when the patient exits their doors.

There was an RN in my tech class that works with a nurse who was telling parents they had to have the base to their seat. She actually made dads go home to get it!

AuntieKatie · Oct 11, 2011

I was just talking about this the other day... I'm doing an internship at Children's Hospital Boston in the post-op recovery room and I've seen so many babies leave and wanted to be able to say something desperately. One was in a seat that I'm pretty sure was expired, I've seen many with belly clips and loose harnesses. I wish there was a tech or at least a flyer to hand out. Especially right now being a student, it's not my place to say anything and I don't want to offend the parents but it would be nice to have some resources to help them

Brianna · Oct 11, 2011

AuntieKatie said:
I was just talking about this the other day... I'm doing an internship at Children's Hospital Boston in the post-op recovery room and I've seen so many babies leave and wanted to be able to say something desperately. One was in a seat that I'm pretty sure was expired, I've seen many with belly clips and loose harnesses. I wish there was a tech or at least a flyer to hand out. Especially right now being a student, it's not my place to say anything and I don't want to offend the parents but it would be nice to have some resources to help them

Maybe you could ask if you could make a flyer with a list of CPSTs/ check locations near the hospital for the nurses to give to moms upon discharge?

luckyclov · Oct 11, 2011

Ummm, no, not typically. Typically, their advice/knowledge is actually pretty scary.

I counted 2 expired carseats - and 1 questionable - that were discharged the same day as me, when I had DS2.

1 itty bitty left with hospital receiving blankets UNDER him in the bucket and a big, fat freakin' head support that clearly didn't come with the carseat.

My discharging nurse advised me to have DS2's chest clip a little lower because his chest cavity wouldn't be strong enough to withold the force of the clip if we were in a crash. Because, you know, his organs and spine are so much stronger.

acoro · Oct 11, 2011

With my first son the nurse actually showed us the proper tightness and chest clip placement. She even pointed out that a properly tightened harness will often look too tight to new parents. She pointed at our sleeping boy and said "see he is not in any discomfort"

She was really great! But she may have been the exception rather than the rule. I can't recall w/ DS2 if they actually checked our straps or just that we had him in a carrier.

beetlemama · Oct 11, 2011

Both times I delivered the involvement ended in making sure the kids left the hospital in a carseat. They knew nothing about how it was supposed to be used and gave me the "that looks too tight" talk because I couldn't pinch the straps. In fact, a friend posted a picture on fb taking her second home and she was still swaddled with both legs going through one side of the leg holes and both shoulder straps down around the arms!!!! The nurses saw no problem with it.

DH and I have often talked about how useful it would be to have several CPSTs on the mother baby unit for when people go home, but the risk of liability for the hospital would be too great.

Notaclue · Oct 11, 2011

I don't think anyone paid any attention to how my babies were buckled in their seats. It seems like they just wanted to make sure we HAD a seat, but that was it. Looking back at the pictures though, my kids were actually buckled correctly anyway, so I don't know if they would have given any advise if they weren't.

Kaitsmom · Oct 11, 2011

I worked at a fantastic community hospital about 9 years ago. Their education nurse was a CPST and they had a new parent car seat class. There were escorts that HAD to go with moms on discharge because they were car seat techs and would make sure everything was good before the baby could be discharged. Unfortunatly, they closed like 4 years ago and I havent seen a carseat check around here in the 3 yrs ive had a child.

jeminijad · Oct 11, 2011

One hospital, in southeast PA, just checked that we had a seat.

In another hospital, in south Jersey, I actually discussed with the discharge nurse whether DD should be on the bottom or next set of slots, since the infant insert boosted her up quite a bit. She knew her stuff.

Twinklefae · Oct 11, 2011

It depends on the hospital - the one local to me has a NICU nurse who is a tech and runs an infant seat class for nurses during lunch breaks. The difference between when I left with my son 4 years ago and when I left with my daughter this past Feb. was astounding. They have one or two people who know what's going on in each shift. The nurse I spoke to was very interested and when she found out I was a tech insisted on telling me all the things she tells other parents, just to double check that she had it right.

It's sad how interested I was in what she had to say at 12 hours pp.

cookie123 · Oct 11, 2011

Where I work the pp nurses aren't taught anything. They have a video on their tv channel which is hopelessly outdated and that was a few years ago. Our nurses in special Care Nursery had a brief thing on carseats at an education day about 5 years ago.

hospital nurses have ANY training re: proper carseat use?

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