[CookieCritter]

Originally Posted by Addy_NICU

Hey everyone!
I was wondering what other NICUs do as far as car seats go.
MANY MANY times our parents come in expecting nurses in my unit to show them HOW to use a car seat and also how to fasten the base to the car.
I once took a VERY young couple out to their car and the dad placed the car seat at the base and I checked only b/c it didn't look secure. I'm REALLY glad I checked it b/c the BASE WAS NOT SECURED DOWN AT ALL!! It was literally just sitting on the back seat and the dad claimed he didn't know any better (which is VERY possible, but a bit shocking).
So...
Do you help parents with car seats? Do you physically show them how to fasten it to the car or even do it for them?
What's the policy for your hospital/state?

I know about the websites and the actual laws...i'm just wondering what is actually being done!
Thank you

In my area a parent can go to the local sheriff's office and get a deputy who has training specifically in car seat safety (along with their other duties) to show them how to secure the seat and the belts properly. The service is free and all the parents have to do is show up with the vehicle and car seat. The blanket suggestion is to show up and get this done when one finds out they are pregnant to begin with. That way the early bird babies safety can be covered beforehand.

I have no idea what each hospitals saftey rules and actions are but I say it honestly doesn't matter what they are in this case because only the state's rules matter when it comes to vehicle safety and children.

[CookieCritter]

Originally Posted by Hopefull2009

Personally, I'm a little shocked that the car seat is being left as "the parent's problem"...I think this is a good solution that meets the needs of the child along with legal requirements.

When my children were in the NICU, I was told I had to bring in a car seat a few days before discharge for them to do a "carseat" test to see if they would brady during the ride b/c of positioning.

Granted, babies don't always stay the same amount of time in tne NICU.

However, I was told practically on the first or second day of their stay, to be sure to install the car seats early and go by a police department or fire department, and they would be happy to double check the installation for free, as they said the hospital wasn't allowed to.

My husband and I read the directions, put the car seats in, and rode by the fire department (which we passed every day) and found out it was installed wrong. They fixed it, showed us how to take the carriers in and out, and we were on our way.

So that FIRST TIME we used the car seats to bring the twins home, we knew exactly how they worked.

To me that is a better solution that just leaving parents in the dark over something that is so incredibly important, and 100% takes the liability off the hospital.

Hospitals give area resources for everything else...so why not educate parents on where they can get car seat advice?

Bingo I wish I had seen your post prior to what I posted since you covered it already. The fire departments and law enforcement agencies are the way to go in any area they know the laws, have employees that have training specific to this topic, and on top of that are the only ones who truely know which car seats, bases, weights, etc are in accordance with the area's laws. Where I work I can honestly say that 98% of the car seats seen are installed improperly.

[Gompers]

Same here - we are not allowed to place the baby in the seat or help with installation at all. We can do our carseat test, sure, but that's usually a few days before discharge. When the kids are actually going home, it's up to the parents. We can tell them things but can't physically get in there and do it. We cover car seat safety in our optional infant care class, and we also have a video for parents to watch if they wish. It drives me absolutely batty to see carseats on our unit with the bases attached - you don't need the base to do the carseat test, there is a line or an actual level on all infant seats that shows you what angle it needs to be at, plus the base is purely for parental convenience, not safety. We tell the parents to take the base HOME and have it installed properly in their cars, but few listen. Many times a discharge is held up because Dad is outside trying to get the base attached. It's amazing to me how confusing some of these seats and bases can be when it comes to both installation and infant strap adjustment!!! The seat we got for our daughter took one minute to install properly in the car and the restraint straps couldn't be easier to adjust. I can see, though, looking at some of these other seats, why so many are installed and used improperly!!!

The only seats we lend out are car beds for kids who fail their carseat test or have another medical reason for not sitting upright in a carseat. These kids are almost always followed by our unit's home care team, so we tend to get the seats back!

I don't think that we're being mean when we say it's the parents' problem to get the seats installed. We are not certified to install them so telling the parents that they need to make arrangements for installation isn't out of line, I don't think. If they were in the regular newborn nursery it wouldn't be any different. If a pregnant woman goes to any prenatal classes, reads pregnancy magazines, registers at a baby store, or talks to other people with kids, they should be well aware that they need to install the carseat BEFORE the baby is born.

While it would be nice to have nurses certified in car seat installation, the classes are very expensive and I believe one week long, 9-5, and most units aren't going to pay for a bunch of nurses to go through that. It would be hard to make sure one of those nurses is working every single shift, too, and we all know that kids can go home at 2am sometimes!

[JustAMom]

I am not a nurse, at all.....just have a lot of family members who are in the field.....

Anyway, my daughter was a preemie, and the day she was discharged from the NICU, we strapped her into the car seat in the unit, and then one of her nurses carried her out to our car, and watched as we put the seat in and prepared to leave, making sure we were doing things properly. The nurse said it was hospital policy that she was the one to carry the baby out and make sure she had a proper car seat.

My husband and I liked this, we felt like we had one final stamp of approval on taking our daughter home!

[chescat58, RNC-NIC]

It is mandatory that parents attend CRP/Car seat class or watch the videos. We have both class and videos in English and Spanish. At discharge, the parent has to place infant in seat and place infant in car. Someone has to accompany them to door but unless they are a certified car seat technician they can not offer any help with the car seat.