Some hospitals take CPS seriously

smurf · Oct 2, 2007

I was out for a walk with baby and I just bumped into an acquaintance doing the same with baby #4... and of course we got into talking about baby gear. She had a brand new Graco Snugride which she told me the hospital basically made her buy to leave the hospital. A CPS-trained person (not a nurse) on the maternity ward checked all car seats before babies can go home. She had 3 old baby buckets (hers and hand-me-downs) from her other kids (now age 7, 5 and 2) and was told that 2 had expired and the last one was a 3-point and was no longer considered safe.

Wow! I'm impressed!
And she told me that a few hospitals in my area have the same policy in place.
Definite progress going on here...

southpawboston · Oct 2, 2007

in MA, no one can leave the hospital without a carseat... even if you walk home! but we had no one on staff that would check them... only to make sure you *had* one.

chaoticoctopus · Oct 2, 2007

How cool! :2thumbsup:

Starlight · Oct 2, 2007

Both of my boys were checked in their seats, but not the seats in the car, which seems kinda silly.

ThreeBeans · Oct 2, 2007

southpawboston said:
in MA, no one can leave the hospital without a carseat... even if you walk home! but we had no one on staff that would check them... only to make sure you *had* one.

Same with my two. You had to have a seat, but it was against the rules for the nurses to look at the or manipulate them in any way, and they had no one CPST on staff to check them

DS was induced emergently a month early so we didn't even have the seat in the car yet. The day we were discharged, DH ran the car over to the check station to have it examined.

snowbird25ca · Oct 2, 2007

starlight said:
Both of my boys were checked in their seats, but not the seats in the car, which seems kinda silly.

:yeahthat: (Except I have a boy and a girl.

)

Although they must check the seat in the car when parents take a baby home in a convertible.

And although a 5pt is safer than a 3pt, a 3pt seat that's 2yrs old, never been in a crash & has all the parts/instructions is not inherently dangerous provided it's used properly. In all honesty, the nurse shouldn't have made your friend buy a new seat to replace a functional one that was only 2yrs old - that nurse should've been trained in how to assist a parent to get a good fit with the 3pt harness and then just recommended a 5pt... but if it's a safe seat with proper stickers, parts, not expired & baby is the right height for the strap heights, then it's not right for your friend to have been made to buy another seat to bring baby home. :twocents:

It is good for them to have someone on staff that is paying more attention and checking things more thoroughly though.

smurf · Oct 2, 2007

I agree with you snowbird (as the owner of a 2003 3-pt Snugride which I agonized over but in the end kept and used for 4 months) that "banning" all 3-pt seats is overkill but I think checking the seats more thoroughly (harness, exp. date) is better than just checking that you own one before leaving.

In an ideal world the install should also be checked. I remember when I left with DD (in 2003), a couple were in the parking lot next to us trying to install their seat FF

and I just said "hmmm, I think it goes the other way, no?"

Suzibeck · Oct 2, 2007

With my first two babies, I think they checked to be sure we had seats. With #3, dh left the seat in the car and I remember telling him he had to bring it up so they knew we had one. The nurse said "No, you don't have to. We cannot leagally keep your baby even if you don't have a seat, so we don't even check." I thought that was a really bad policy. Even if they can't legally do anything, which they should be able to, because it is the law to use one, they should at least encourage it.

I hope I find the policy changed with this baby. I'm not sure what seat we will have yet, but we will, obviously, have a seat.

I agree with the others, that forbidding use of the 3-pt is over kill. They are still legally sold, so they shouldn't be forbidden. It is good that your friend's baby is safer in a 5-pt now however.

BudgieStew · Oct 2, 2007

My children were both born in MTL and the hospital(that I gave birth in not by choice)didn't even so much as glance at our seat. Then again we left at 11pm, but honestly we could have left with no seat at all no one would have noticed.:thumbsdown:
DD was born in a Birth House and the Aide Natal looked over the seat before we left, if she was looking for anything specific I can't recall. I was less then 12 hours post birth and still on a massive high.
I did re adjust the harness height before we left. For some reason I thought I was having a giant baby

A friend in another province recently gave birth and had been given an expired seat( DOM 1999) which I pointed out to her. She then bought a new Evenflo Embrace They were later told by a friend that the nurses at the local hospital would not let you leave with an expired seat. They were very happy that I had pointed it out to them.

thepeach80 · Oct 2, 2007

We have several hospitals here I work w/ that have techs in L&D. I know when DH's cousin had her baby, a tech came and saw them before they left (which only reinforced what I had already told them), but I'm not sure she actually checked the base install. I know when I had Ilana no one came to see me, different hospital but same hospital system and I know there are techs there. I do tell the moms who come in pg to ask for a tech before they leave the hospital if they are having problems, but I do think that it should be mandatory to see one before you leave.

MagnificentMama · Oct 2, 2007

I work in postpartum and as long as they have a seat, they're free to go. I've never honestly seen one person use their seat correctly. Most new parents even have the base still on the actual seat in their hospital room.

ThreeBeans · Oct 2, 2007

MissMommy928 said:
I work in postpartum and as long as they have a seat, they're free to go. I've never honestly seen one person use their seat correctly. Most new parents even have the base still on the actual seat in their hospital room.

That must drive you nucking futs.

MagnificentMama · Oct 2, 2007

ThreeBeans said:
That must drive you nucking futs.

Seriously, there are some days where when i'm wheeling them out i mutter a little prayer under my breath b/c it takes a team of angels to safely transport that baby home.

My favorite girl was like 17 and on her 3rd kid (i can say that b/c i started gestating... *cough*.. umm... 15

) Anywhoo after listening to her just screaming and quite literally abusing her older children down the hallway about how "horrible" they were acting. She proceeded to get into this car and put her 1 and 2 year old (and i know their ages, we were talking on the way down) in lap belt only seats with backless boosters. I seriously had a little vomit in my mouth after discharging them. I wish I had something to tell her or someplace free to go to that handed out free car seats that would last you into toddlerhood but we have NOTHING like that here. You get a 3 point almost expired evenflo infant seat (which is sooo better than nothing) and after that, there is nothing for older kids. Of course this mom had the 3 point free seat which is great, but she put it in the front seat so she could see the baby and her older 2 wouldn't "mess" with the baby.

I wish I could say that's a rare scenario, but it's not. It's just something that happens everyday at my hospital.

Half of the moms I can't talk to because we have a HEAVY population of immigrant mothers who can't speak a word of english. I can't speak a word of Spanish so I can't even communicate with them. I've honestly given up. I know everyone on this board is so pro car seat education and whatnot. I've done my share of "on the side" education with parents who seem interested (i can't talk about car seats on my floor b/c the legal department wouldn't approve it) but for the most part, the parents I take care of don't care. It's so sad. I wish I could do something, but no one seems to care.

Kalinky · Oct 2, 2007

No one checked to see if we had a car seat or not when we left the hosp. with DD 14 months ago. Of course I didn't think anything of it at the time, not knowing the plethera of information I know now. So I nervously sat in the back seat with her and held her head from flopping forward because we didn't have it reclined properly.

They mentioned in my CPST course last week that the birthing hospitals around here can't make any requirements around it because they don't have any CPST's on staff to do the job.

That would be my dream job!!! LOL!!!

mimieliza · Oct 3, 2007

Our hospital had a carseat segment during our birth class. It was really quite nice. They didn't talk about ERF or extended harnessing (mostly focused on infant seats) but we did watch videos about how to install seats correctly, and we all brought our seats in to practice strapping in "babies" (dolls) correctly. The instructor advised us not to use 3-point seats and strongly encouraged that we get new seats rather than used if possible. She also talked about not using after-market products. She also directed everyone in the class to a seat check day that was coming up - DH went (I was on bedrest at that point) and saw several other class members there. :thumbsup:

After the birth, we were required to have a seat before we could leave and a nurse checked to make sure she was strapped in properly.

NZ Child Restraints · Oct 3, 2007

3 point harness unsafe? Is that the ones that buckle between the legs? or into a buckle over the pevlic bone?

CRS · Oct 3, 2007

NZ Child Restraints said:
3 point harness unsafe? Is that the ones that buckle between the legs? or into a buckle over the pevlic bone?

Almost all American three point seats buckle at the feet (think, evenflo discovery), as opposed to just between the thighs and at the crotch like a lot of European seats we have here. So many babies tuck their legs up under the harnesses - bad! Needless to say, a 5 point seat would win hands down (IMO) over a 3pt in a side impact any day anyway. I don't think they're "un-safe" just not as safe, perhaps.

stayinhomewithmy6 · Oct 3, 2007

When I left the hospital with all 3 kiddos, they checked their car seats inside and then went out to the car and grabbed the base to make sure it was tight. I thought that was pretty much standard. They have 2 techs on staff (according to SafeKids website) so maybe that's why. I don't know if they've ever checked the tightness of the straps or anything, but they don't need to with my babies... they can pretty much look at them and know that they're okay, so I don't know how far they go to check other babies. BUT, they also tell you that once your baby hits 1 yr and 20 lbs they can be turned FF and a good friend of mine was recently leaving the hospital with her twins and a nurse told her that there is a rumor now that the straps don't have to be as tight as they used to be... huh?!!!

It really disturbed me because most parents would listen to that nurse and loosen up the straps. Thankfully, my friend didn't listen and was shocked & mad to think that the nurse would tell her that.

NOAHSMOM · Oct 3, 2007

At the hospital that ds was born at they made us watch a carseat video, which was incredibly out-dated. When the nurse walked us out to our car, we asked about the recline of the base (I didn't yet know about pool noodles or rolled up towels) and she stated that she did not know. I think that was the only trip he took before I learned how to use a rolled up towel (he had a Discovery). I had never heard about CPST's at that point.

michelle3802 · Oct 4, 2007

With both my DDs the hospital had a policy that the baby had to be strapped into the baby bucket and held on your lap while they wheeled you out. They don't check the seat, they just make sure you have one.

With DD2 I called the CPS person on staff a couple weeks before and arranged to have her inspect the seat and base before we left. BTW, I passed. She was even impressed that I had installed the base myself and had gotten it tight enough. I guess sitting on it when your 9 months prego will put enough weight on it.

When I was visiting my friends at another local hospital we were watching some people argue with the hospital staff that they didn't need a car seat since they weren't leaving in a car, but the staff wouldn't let them leave without a seat.

Some hospitals take CPS seriously

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