Will Hospital allow a child to go home in an out-dated car seat?

U

Unregistered

Guest
A co-worker is going to have a baby next month. Her car seat may be outdated. Will the hospital release the child in this seat? She does NOT want to buy a new one. The main reason is that the one she has includes a strap like a purse for carrying the baby and she finds it so easy. I have one that is NOT outdated that she could use but she refuses. However, she told me that she may be calling me if they won't let her take the child home. Anyone know the hospital rules about this? I know they check the fitting of the child, but do they check the expiration?
 
ADS

Gypsy

Senior Community Member
It depends.

Are there techs who discharge every baby? or do they just send the nurse or hospital staff out and make sure a carseat is present?

I don't think they can legally stop her any way as long as she has a seat, it's a parental decision to use an expired seat.

What seat does she currently have?
 

Guest

New member
At the hospital where DS was born, a nurse just checked to see if you had a car seat. They're not trained to tell if the seat fit the baby or not or if it's properly installed. Or expired. Just that you have one. State has a rule that hospitals must ensure the baby has a seat, but hospitals are only required to check if a seat is there. As long as it's there, they'll discharge. Not trained to check seats.
 

shellebelle

Senior Community Member
Sounds like a Stay in View:

Fisher_Price_Stay-in-View_Infant_Car_Seat-resized200.jpg
 

kaysmom

New member
I live in Minnesota and they did not let my cousin take home her 3rd baby in the car seat she had from her first because it was expired. I never thought to ask her if she was required to show them the seat or if it was something someone just noticed... but they ended up buying a new seat that day!!
 

An Aurora

Senior Community Member
It really depends on the hospital. At the hospital here, part of my job is checking the date on the carseat and checking it for recalls. If it's expired, no the baby cannot go home in it.

Aren't the SIV seats good for 8 years? So there is a possibility it's not actually expired.

ETA: We require that the parents bring the seat in with them, and no baby goes home without the carseat being checked for date and recalls, and we also do a fitting with the parents.
 

snowbird25ca

Moderator - CPST Instructor
Aren't the SIV seats good for 8 years? So there is a possibility it's not actually expired.

Yep, not all of them are expired yet.

Here they wouldn't prevent a regular parent from going home with an expired seat. I'm 99% sure they wouldn't allow an adoptive parent to take custody of their son or daughter in an expired seat though - they won't allow adoptive parents to take a baby home with a cuddle bag is in use, so I doubt they'd let an expired seat be used...
 

GirlFriday

New member
The hospital DS was born in didn't even look at our carseat, much less come down to the car to see if it was installed. At some point on the day we left they asked if we had one, we said yes and that was it. I was kind of annoyed.
 

SPJ&E

New member
At the hospital where DS was born, a nurse just checked to see if you had a car seat. They're not trained to tell if the seat fit the baby or not or if it's properly installed. Or expired. Just that you have one. State has a rule that hospitals must ensure the baby has a seat, but hospitals are only required to check if a seat is there. As long as it's there, they'll discharge. Not trained to check seats.

Same here...all they do is make sure you HAVE a carseat.
 

ketchupqueen

CPST and ketchup snob
Staff member
My hospital has 3 nurses certified and makes sure one is always on duty for discharges. She checks every seat going out and if it's not appropriate, she can't stop the parents taking the baby in it, but these nurses have been known to call 911 once parents are in the car and report it if they won't listen! (It's hospital policy.)
 

christineka

New member
We brought our first home in a second hand t-shield seat, wearing a puffy bunting suit. I don't know whether the car seat was expired by then or not, but no one checked the manufacture date or told me anything about that kind of stuff. (The seat was discontinued 4 years before dd was born.)

They have never checked doms for any of my kids, but they wouldn't allow me to use the aftermarked headrest for second dd. Instead they gave me a hospital blanket to roll up around her head. The first child had an afterwarket headrest thing, but no one said a word about it.

Both dds were born in the same hospital.

No one checked at the other two.
 

Pixels

New member
Our hospital made us bring the seat in so that they could make sure we had one. The nurse commented that it looked like we had the harness tight enough, but I don't know if all the nurses checked that, or if it was just this one. We already had DD in it by the time the nurse came around to check. She never physically touched any part of the seat, it was strictly eyes only. No checking DOM, certification stickers, or recalls.
 

Pepse

New member
here at my hosiptal in CDN, they checked the expiration sticker, checked for a canada sticker, and made us put her in and tighter her up.

Since the old tech sucks around here, i was shocked lol

but we have a new one now ;)

wondering how that happened :)

Wished it was me though lol
 

britfish

New member
Yep, not all of them are expired yet.

Here they wouldn't prevent a regular parent from going home with an expired seat. I'm 99% sure they wouldn't allow an adoptive parent to take custody of their son or daughter in an expired seat though - they won't allow adoptive parents to take a baby home with a cuddle bag is in use, so I doubt they'd let an expired seat be used...

I don't get it, whats the difference whether adoptive or birth parent??
 

ketchupqueen

CPST and ketchup snob
Staff member
I don't get it, whats the difference whether adoptive or birth parent??

I would guess the difference is that the burden of proof is on the adoptive parent to demonstrate they are parenting well and following all laws and regs, per CPS rules, while the natural parent has no such burden but rather a presumption of, well, innocence to continue the metaphor. The presumption in law is that the natural parent is the best person to care for the child unless proven or demonstrated otherwise (whether by an investigation or by voluntary forfieture of parental rights.)
 

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