Would you contact the hospital?

I had a family (well my brother in laws girlfriend's kids) come to me to show them how to install the car seat and how to use it. It is my safe seat that I gave to them. I told them to make sure they could not pinch the harness and I have told them a few mos back not to buy a head pillow because you want nothing behind baby. Well when they were leaving the hospital the nurse said they needed a 2 finger space in the harness and she said it was fine to leave with the balnket behind baby. My sister in law said the harness did not look right so she fixed it. They tell all moms at the tour that car seats will be checked so this family thought a few nurses were techs or atleast would give out right info. So the kids (who are 15 and 16) got confused between the info I gave them and the info the nurse gave them. Im thinking what if this was a family that did not know me at all got 2 differant set of info (right info from me and wrong info from the ob nurse) then I can see how they may think I was wrong (because this is a nurse that deals with babies everyday and is a nurse) and then tell everyone not to go to me becasue I give out wrong info.

I was thinking of calling and talking to the head of ob and tell them what happened (and just say a family I had helped) and tell them I would like to see them at least have a tech come in a teach the nurses the right way a baby should be in a car seat, get a few nurses certifed (I can give info for that), not tell parents at all how to do it or get a tech on at the hospital. I just think that is alot of liabilty on the hospital or me (if they family thought I was at fault) if the something were to happen to a baby. When I had my daughter 2 years ago all the nurse told us was make sure the harness is sung. I think that would be great for this hospital to tell moms leaving and leave it at that.

What would you do if a family had called confused because the hospital gave them differant info?

Yes, you should call. I am a mom baby nurse and have been for over 10 years. In our hosp, we are not allowed to check seats because of the liability for the hosp if we do and something happens. We are to make sure they HAVE a car seat and that is all. I am planning to talk to my boss and see if the hospital would be interested in me becoming certified. I would love to anyway, but DH is only on board if it would help in my job. I guess since it would take a 300+ mile each way trip to do it along with the cost of the class, I can see his point. I just hate that I am pretty knowledgable about proper use and am not allowed to help parents keep their babies safe. Sorry for the hijack...anyway, yes, absolutely call!

Here is a good handout that you may want to give the hospital:
Quick Checklist for Safety Seat Misuse

We check all the seats as they leave the hospital, but I know alot of nurses aren't up on things and we have lots of babies go home in BundleMes and such. I do know that the hospital can get in big trouble for not following AAP guidelines, so maybe bring that up?

Absolutely call! I don't know that you will get very far (I've tried that before). A friend of mine was sent home with some VERY scary wrong instructions. They had a Graco Comfortsport and the nurse told them to route the seatbelt through the FF belt path AND to put the harness in the top slots (for a NEWBORN!!) I was so upset! I didn't even see the seat until the child was 8 months old. I'm so glad they were not in an accident.

Andie said:

Here is a good handout that you may want to give the hospital:
Quick Checklist for Safety Seat Misuse

Click to expand...

Thanks Andie! I didn't know about that checklist.

I would definitely call! When I had DS (7 years ago) I had pre-term labor, which started the day after my baby shower, where we got our infant car seat. So I had not had time to read the manual or install. We didn't even take the car seat when we went to the hospital, so DH brought it in and didn't bring the manual. We got DS situated in the seat just fine and a nurse said she'd help up install it. She had us put the seat into the base and then put the seat belt over the infant carrier. When I actually got home and read the manual I was po'd - I mean if she didn't know how to do it, she could have just been honest with us!

Andie said:

Here is a good handout that you may want to give the hospital:
Quick Checklist for Safety Seat Misuse

Click to expand...

Thank you for that link.


I will be calling in the morning as long as my daughter is not yelling around the house.

you are a tech... I would call them and tell them who you are, and what you are and what happened.

They should understand that they are giving out incorrect info and that you and higher-up techs could make this a bad thing for them (*cough*news station story*cough*)