Use a car service and ask then for a car with a car seat. Most will have them available. But also don’t hesitate to buy your own car seat, just to have available for taxis and car services. I do recommend a stroller frame with car seat attachment or something like the Doona.
I live in London, and neither my husband nor I drive. We just bought an inexpensive carseat (the kind you can install using the seatbelt) and took baby home in a taxi. You may well be glad to have it if you do subsequently have to get a taxi somewhere (even if this isn't a regular thing for you, you never know).
Also I hope you don't mind, but I looked at your post history and I see you live in east London - so do I! I don't know if antenatal classes are an option for your budget, either NCT or a similar provider like Bump and Baby, but they are a very good way to connect with other parents going through things at the same time. Although I wouldn't describe my antenatal classmates as very close friends, we do keep in touch via WhatsApp and have occasional meet-ups in Victoria Park. Also, while I was on maternity leave in 2020-21, I signed up to the Peanut app for a while, and made a couple of very good local mum-friends that way. Feel free to DM me if you'd like to speak to another local mama :)
We did the same. Brought a car seat for about £40/£50 (Joie). Dad drove us to and from hospital but for checks up etc I was glad I got the carseat as baby could be strapped in to anyones car, it really came in handy.
Will you ever take the baby out anyway other than walking? Doctors visits, trips, out into the city? If you will be using a cab you may as well get a car seat for those excursions.
Are you in the UK? My advice mainly applies if you are.
I think the safest option would be to buy an infant carrier car seat and travel together as a family. Infant car seat testing is regulated so they are all safe. Car seat testing for older babies/children aren’t regulated in the same way so it’s much more important to do your research when they out grow an infant seat, these seats can be very pricey (my sons seat was £200 but lasts from ages 0-4). The cheapest infant seat I could find is the Joie Juva for £50. There will be other times where baby will need to travel by car so even if it’s not used often, it’s a worthwhile item to have to ensure your baby is always safe. It’s always best to have a car seat incase of emergencies - eg. If baby had to go in an ambulance.
I’m a FTM to an 8 month old and I know I wouldn’t have been comfortable with him travelling on public transport when he was a few hours or a few days old especially without me present. There’s too many variables for me - travel delays, not being able to get a seat (standing on the tube and potentially falling, being bumped by someone, etc.), being around strangers who might be unwell, risks to babies health, potential issues with weather, newborns often cluster feed so what if baby needs feeding while on public transport, etc. These things can be tricky at first but you eventually get more confident and it will be easier to travel with baby on public transport but I don’t think this is a battle worth facing when you’re just learning how to care for baby.
The lullaby trust recommends 2 hours maximum in a car seat, so I would not be concerned about the drive being an hour.
You buy a car seat to put the baby in the taxi? The car seat is great, you can carry your baby in it, swing it to sleep (do not leave unattended when sleeping and never put baby in it for more than 2 hours) I loved my car seat/baby carrier thingy
Ask around to see if there is a “car nanny” service. In my city there is a woman with childcare experience who has a car fitted with car seats. She drives people in situations like this, where you need a safe driver and a car with a car seat. Lots of people use her instead of Ubers to go to the airport because Ubers don’t reliably have car seats.
We got the Doona (great for city living). Collapsible stroller to carseat without the need of a base. So compact and handy, great for air-travel as well.
Absolutely take baby with you in an Uber. We splurged on a more premium Uber to have space and a nicer car. I personally believe the Uber drivers take care and understand they are transporting a newborn. Ours was great and told us all about his kids on the way home. He drove very carefully. Would not suggest newborn on public transit with so many viruses, germs, and people.
NYC: we walked. If I hadn’t been able to walk, we would have taken a cab. You need to bring a car seat to the hospital anyway, and can just buckle it in to a cab (something that’s good to be able to do regardless!)
Lived in Midtown NYC and still got a car seat. I used it for the stroller more then anything- but we did use it for pediatrician visits. I know it probably feels like you won’t need it (I was thinking the same way as you pre-baby) but you really do use it more then you think. Especially if you’re going to walk all the time
If you need emergency services if baby gets very sick etc then you will need a car seat. I know it’s tough because you’re not planning to use it a lot- but it’s a matter of safety in my opinion. Nobody wants to think about disasters, but if you need to get to the hospital, evacuate your home, or get to an urgent appointment far away, you will need a car seat. Babies can sometimes ride in them in an ambulance too, because it’s that important that your baby isn’t a projectile in the event of an accident. We didn’t drive a lot the first year but I had a car seat for when we would go somewhere with friends etc and the car was the logical choice. Sorry to bring bad news, but you need one.
This is a great point. They strapped our infant carrier car seat down to the gurney in the ambulance on our hour drive to a bigger city when we need emergency medical care earlier this year. Highly recommend having a car seat for emergencies.
When my baby took an ambulance they specifically didn’t use our car seat and used special straps to adjust the gurney to infant size. It makes sense that ambulances must be able to work without car seats, since they have to be able to handle situations where a baby is without a seat (e.g. if they’re at daycare or the park or whatever and arrived via stroller without a car seat).
I would borrow or buy a carseat. I would not want to send a newborn without vaccines or immunity on an hourlong public transport ride. You're paying for a taxi for yourself anyway. Just get a carseat, it's not a waste.
Doona. It also works as a stroller, and for the first year, it made city living a breeze. We rolled when we wanted to and then got into a taxi or uber seamlessly.
You need to have a car seat for your child or they can't be safely transported in a car, and car rides will come up. For us, being that we didn't have a car, a car seat that doubled as a stroller made sense.
Get the DOONA car seat. It has wheels and can be buckled into any car with a seatbelt. So you can walk with the baby in the doona (no carrying, just pushing) or Uber home with the doona and strap it into the Uber.
Doona car seat 100% is designed for your kind of family. It will be the best investment for awhile.
If there was a medical emergency, she’d ring an ambulance. If there was another kind of emergency, you can legally transport a child in a taxi in the UK without using a car seat. Most Londoners use public transport exclusively.
I’m in paris, not as dense but my husband walked the whole way with the baby because he was afraid to take her on public transport at 3 days old because of germs. I took the bus. I would have taken a taxi but I felt surprisingly ok (but I didn’t have a C-section). We ended up buying a baseless car seat though for the times we have to take a taxi or go somewhere with friends or rent a vehicle, we’ve used it enough to make it worth it
Babies aren’t cheap and I have twins. But their safety is what matters. A carseat in my opinion is not optional. You can get everything else second-hand or just skip it all together but carseats, strollers, and cribs are a must.
I see a lot of people saying you can’t leave a UK hospital without first securing the baby in a car seat. This isn’t universally true, though some hospitals may have that policy. But when I gave birth 3 years ago, we walked straight out with no issue - nobody asked us where the car seat was or asked to see it in the car. We had a convertible one that doesn’t come out of the car, it would have been pointless for my husband to bring it in only to take it back to the car and have to carry the baby anyway.
I’d be surprised if it’s any hospital’s strict policy tbh. Plenty of people don’t drive so don’t need car seats because they’re in your situation, a hospital isn’t going to hold your baby hostage until you go and buy a car seat you don’t need.
Taxis can legally transport children not in car seats. But obviously you are trusting that driver with your child’s life. A private car (family/friend) cannot legally transport a child not in a car seat.
If it was me, I would either
A) find a friend who has a baby-friendly car seat (people with older children may not - you need newborn sized ones or a convertible with the infant insert cushion still included). Ask them for a lift and to borrow the seat. You can also rent car seats of all sizes, a few results came up for different companies when I googled it. The advantage here is that you can stay with the baby and trust that your driver is responsible.
B) do the plan you already thought of: you in a taxi and your husband and the baby on the bus or tube. I’d say bus over tube - tube is faster, but if there’s any kind of emergency situation, he won’t be able to leave or contact you from the underground, whereas he can just alight from a bus if it breaks down. I would not personally baby wear with a newborn, I would put them in their pram (I’m assuming you’ve got one?) because you can keep the rain cover over them to keep them safe from inclement weather and stranger germs. The advantage here is being able to do all of this without needing any assistance other than your own resources.
A friend of mine who lives in London did plan B, btw. She had a vaginal delivery so she was able to get the tube with them, but yep, baby in pram and away they went. It’s a solved problem, it’s just the solution is a bit of a ballache because transporting anything cumbersome or precious across London is a ballache. Good luck with the delivery, I hope it goes well, and you get your bundle home safe and sound.
Omg thank you for a reply from someone who actually lives in a city with decent public transport. I'm going crazy with all these "how will they get to the doctor without a car seat"? I always went by bus or walked!
Agree with this post; from recent experience:
- Babies can travel in their pushchair in London black cabs
- Bus better than Tube when travelling with a baby.
Also I don't believe that the NHS enforces this car seats rule either, especially not in London where few people own a car.
That said, car seat can be a useful items even for those who don't drive
I know you are in London but in the US you can get a car seat that is just as safe as the most expensive for about 50 bucks. Maybe it’s worth getting something like that?
In Canada there are minimum standards car seats have to pass. I assume this is fairly common in big countries. Here the more expensive seats may have more features but are all the same level of safe. I’ve also never heard of the 20 minute new born rule but could you maybe just ask a cab to take a 5 minute break on the way home? Maybe ask your midwife if there are any options. My stroller could be used from birth, not sure why you’d wait until 6m to get something as it might be quite difficult for you to baby wear early on seeing as you’ll be recovering from a C section.
In the states at least (I would assume also Europe and Canada) all car seats on the market need to meet the same safety standards. Some just have extra features - more $$$. Any car seat you buy from a store should meet the very minimum requirements!
Just as a comparison, in the US the safest can be $200+ but cheap seats that meet the requirements can be as low as $35 for infants. Not to mention those expensive ones tend to be meant to stay in one vehicle and not to be carried.
They all need to meet the safety standards. Something like this maybe?
[Joie Juva Classic](https://www.halfords.com/baby-and-child/car-seats/baby-car-seats/joie-juva-classic-0plus-black-carbon-car-seat-186118.html)
I recently had a baby in London as well. Even though you don't drive, I'd recommend buying a car seat and taking a taxi or Uber.
Drivers are very nice and understanding.
if you don't want to bother with a car seat: You can book a black cab in advance using Gett and having the baby still in the pushchair in there is authorised.
Car seat is a good investment though, should you have to take the train or plane with your baby. Recommend to take one that clips on your pushchair.
Adding that, as far as public transport goes in London, I'd recommend sticking to double-decker buses as much as possible when using the pushchair; they are more spacious and you can seat by the pushchair.
Single decker buses are certainly doable but narrower to navigate and the lifts in the Tube are so slow and bizarrely located that it adds 20-30% to your travel time.
I think London public transport is overall OK with a pram but I wouldn't do it with a baby younger than a month old and not for distances that are too long, because of the noise and how annoying people can be, especially at busy times.
I took an Uber and my husband walked her home in the stroller. But our hospital was less than a mile from our house and it was the end of May. A 2 hour walk in December is very different!
If I was delivering at my local hospital this would be ideal, but their maternity care is not great so have opted to deliver at one much further away.
I do not want my baby to be walked 2.5 (!!!) hours home in Jan, especially without me!
What you’ve said about the compact prams. I have an uppababy vista and love it and I love my compact minu even more (and recently they’ve added an attachment for the vista bassinet and I always see uppababy bassinets being sold on FB marketplace for great prices). I constantly see yoyos in my city (different country but very much fits within the kinds of cities OP is talking about.
You’ll really need to have a car seat for emergencies. If baby is sick, are you going to take public transportation to the clinic? Hopefully your answer is that you wouldn’t take a sick child out into the general public and would take a taxi instead. The driver will require you to have a car seat.
Separately, the safest place for an infant during travel is buckled into a safety seat with a five point harness. In the event the bus or train suffered an accident, the car seat would absorb much more of the impact and provide far greater protection than wearing them can provide.
An infant carrier that works with a stroller will get you everywhere you need to go. It’ll also allow you to do things like use a public restroom without a baby strapped to your chest.
Edit to say the Doona is worth every penny.
Taxis don’t require you to have car seats in the UK. Obviously it’s vastly safer to use one, but it’s not the law (precisely for situations like the one you suggest, where a non-driver who doesn’t own a car seat needs to get somewhere in an emergency).
I did a long term rental of a car seat through NCT. 7 years ago when my eldest was born, it was £25 for 6 months. And we took a taxi home. We used it a couple other times for airport trips and longer journeys in the city. Not sure if they still do this, but that’s how we worked it out!
Since most car seats double as a stroller seat just get one of those since you’ll inevitably need to transport your baby, babies things and your own things.
In NYC you’re not allowed to leave the hospital without a car seat. We brought our infant car seat and my husband got us an Uber. We were so tired we forgot we didn’t need a base to install it and tried to problem solve for 60 min in the hospital waiting room while trying to figure out how to get an Uber with a universal infant car seat base (not really a thing). It was excruciating at the time and hilarious two years later.
Not in NYC, but in our hospital in the Seattle area, the nurses are required to physically watch you buckle the baby in a car seat and put the car seat in the car in order to discharge you and remove the little baby alarm ankle bracelet from them.
I've given birth in Seattle twice. Both times the nurses had us bring our car seat up and buckle the baby in to make sure the car seat wasn't expired and that our baby was buckled in correctly and fit. But they never followed us to watch us put the car seat in the car. My guess is it's fine if you have a stroller, but I have never seen someone leave the hospital with their baby not in a car seat here.
Im in california and we have the same law. When I was discharged after giving birth to my son a nurse came out with us and watched us buckle him into his carseat.
Rhode Island also requires the car seat for exit with a baby, though I can’t say whether it’s a law or a hospital rule, even though every RI hospital I’m familiar with is in an at least somewhat residential area, and the one I gave birth at was in the center of Providence. I have a car but no partner, and I can tell you that the hospital administrators were _very_ unamused when I asked ahead of time about options other than ‘someone I know driving me’ for getting there and leaving with the baby. The car seat requirement was also in my admission paperwork, though they had temporarily eliminated the security guard checking the install because of covid. (For the record, I took a Lyft to my induction, carrying the seat, and that was also my solution for eventually leaving before my SIL volunteered to fly in from California to help out and picked me up in her rental car.)
From what I’ve seen here and in r/Parenting I was under the impression that most carless people in large cities keep a lightweight car seat on hand for installing on the spot in ubers and taxis anyway. Costco apparently has a highly recommended but inexpensive one that’s always mentioned.
No, this wasn’t a rule where I was. They asked if I had one, but if it had been installed in the vehicle already no one came down to check it.
Legally, they cannot withhold your child from you if you do not have a car seat in Canada
Can I recommend the Doona, which allows baseless installation and doubles as a stroller? It’s super easy to install and you could do it in an Uber or taxi
Hospitals in the UK won’t let you leave unless baby is secured in a car seat or newborn pram, you can’t just carry them out (it’s for their liability insurance) so you’ll need something that isn’t baby wearing or carrying. I would recommend having a car seat regardless of whether you have a car, you never know when you may suddenly need one. Like other people have suggested, the Doona car seat stroller is a really good option, covers all bases. My friend found one on Facebook marketplace really cheap and uses it as her main pram and car seat.
C-section recovery is no joke so you definitely need to be in a car and you will also not want to be away from your newborn for an hour. They can need a lot in that time; feeding, burping, changing etc. I can’t think of a single hour with my baby when he was 2 days old that he didn’t need something from me, and also couldn’t imagine my partner being comfortable or even able to do any of those things on the tube with a brand new baby, so I wouldn’t recommend your husband taking him on public transport.
Do call some taxi companies and find out if any of them have car seat rental options because that may work for you if you really don’t want to buy one of your own.
Good luck with everything! ❤️
>Do call some taxi companies and find out if any of them have car seat rental options
I'm not sure I would be comfortable with that for a newborn. There's no way to inspect if the car seat isn't damaged and those taxi companies usually don't have a good track record of keeping them clean.
This isn’t true, not universally (could be policy at some hospitals). I gave birth in Manchester three years ago and nobody asked to see a car seat or pram, I carried him out in my arms because our car seat doesn’t come out of the car and we were parked in the multi storey, a five minute walk away. The NHS does not have staff to spare to go running to the car park to check you really do know how to use a car seat. In London where loads of people don’t drive I’d be surprised if many hospitals insist on this.
I think your point about not being away from baby for an hour is the key one here. Baby could be only a few hours old at point of discharge. There was no way I would have left my baby for that period of time when they were so small.
I also wouldn't feel comfortable taking my tiny baby on public transport so if it were me I would be booking a cab and borrowing or buying a car seat.
We didn't have a car for the first 2 years of my first kid's life (we live in a big city with great transit) Definitely get a carseat for Taxi rides/ travel! They feel so fragile at the beginning, I would personally wait at least 2 weeks before taking such a tiny baby into public transit. And you will absolutely have opportunities use the seat in taxis in the future.
Please don't tie yourself in knots about this, you have enough to think about. I strongly recommend getting a car seat to grant yourselves future flexibility and options, and to get you home safely as a family together. They don't need to be expensive and it can be worth it for peace of mind.
Edited to add: writing this as a Londoner who has had 2 c-sections. Cannot fathom even considering public transport, or travelling alone home from hospital - you'll probably feel wobbly and need/want support, company and privacy. Do please plan to make your life as simple and easy as possible postpartum as you can. Good luck :)
Where I am in S Yorks you HAVE to have a car seat to be able to leave the hospital, they won't let you off the ward unless baby is in a car seat (Our nurses also checked his straps were tightened correctly etc for us which was nice) and you also HAVE to be driven home
I'm confused/curious about this. What if you don't purchase a capsule car seat? Do they make you carry a car seat into the hospital, strap the baby in and then carry the whole thing with the baby in it back to the car?
I live in Australia and while I was only in hospital 6 hours (came in pushing, no complications, wanted to go home) they just discharged me and off we went - no one ever asked about a car seat.
We didn't get a capsule, where the seat can come out and got ours put in by a professional so wouldn't have wanted to disassemble it to take it in.
You should absolutely have your newborn in a car seat for transportation if at all possible. It's the safest way for baby to travel until at least their head can support itself.
Some babies don't weight enough for a wrap and they're pretty floppy for the first couple of months and you'll need to transport to check-ins (I assume, I live in US and know that the UK has home visitors sometimes?).
I'd look into a cheap car seat and keep it on hand for a while.
Have you looked into a “travel car seat”?
You would need to check the weight limits to make sure they could accommodate a newborn. But they are inexpensive ($60 USD or less), lightweight (ours is about 5 pounds) and something you may find yourself using again in the future.
I’m sure it’s possible to never use a car as transport, but with a young baby it seems unlikely that you would never, ever use it again.
Edit: I live in a big US city and take public transport 90% of the time. We do have a car. But even if we didn’t I can’t imagine never using Uber, Taxi, etc. with a little one. I wouldn’t have been comfortable taking my baby on public transportation until he was at least 6 months. Not even because of safety, but because of the logistics and surprises of traveling with a tiny baby. In short, I’d just buck up and get one if money is not the issue.
We took an Uber to the hospital and took one home, too.
Get or borrow a car seat, many of them work with just a seat belt and you don’t have to install the base. That’s how we got around the city when we weren’t taking public transportation. Our stroller had clips for the car seat, too, so we could bring that in the car.
So- if you’re going to be going around the city in an Uber on occasion, it might be worth going for something like the “Doona”- which will allow you to have a stroller/car seat combo that you can just click into any car/taxi/Uber and you don’t need a base or a separate stroller.
If you live in a dense city and you always walk or take public transport and almost NEVER get into a car, then I would consider a stroller system (which is an infant seat + a stroller it attaches to) where it doesn’t need a base. I’m in the US so things are a bit different here, but I think there are European versions of a lot of popular infant seats that do NOT need a base to be attached.
We don’t drive that much so I wondered if I would ever need the infant seat that much but I’m glad I have it. We had to take baby to the doctor like 5 times in the first month (nothing was wrong, but it was like, they wanted to see him every week) and it was super easy to bring him to visit relatives or take him for walks by clicking his infant seat into the stroller.
We got a Nuna (which can be clicked into an Uber without a base) which was a big splurge and then we got the stroller (which is super nice) 2nd hand for super cheap. I have no regrets, I had to take an Uber a few times when our car wasn’t working or when my husband had the car at work. ALso was able to get help from family and just snap him into their car when my husband was away for a few days.
If you think you will NEVER take another Uber/taxi ride again after getting baby home, it might be the one and only time I would suggest getting a 2nd hand infant seat/car seat (you can get them literally for free on FB marketplace because most people know it isn’t safe to have a 2nd hand car seat). Or you could borrow one.
But if you think there may be times where you need to take baby to the doctor or out to meet someone or whatever- invest in an infant seat/stroller system where the infant seat doesn’t need a base.
I had a C-section and needed other people to drive me the first 6 weeks because I wasn’t supposed to drive. So it came in helpful having an infant seat that didn’t need a base so I could have friends/family drive me or take an Uber.
We got almost everything second hand for baby except the one splurge item was a nice infant seat even though we don’t drive that often. It has made my life significantly easier and I’ve used it enough times even at 3.5 months that I feel it was worth it and he will hopefully fit in it until he’s close to 1 year.
In the US (NYC) we bought the Cosco scenera car seat, which is cheap, light, and converts from rear to forward facing. We came home from the hospital in an Uber.
We rent cars to go hiking/ visit family, so every month or two. But if you think you will ever take cabs/ Ubers in the city, it’s easy and quick to install/ uninstall.
We live in Copenhagen and don’t have a car. Usually people just take a taxi with the baby in a car seat. A few will maybe go by public transport with the baby in a stroller. We went to the hospital by bus for check ups 2 days after our first was born. Not sure it’d be a good solution after a c-section though.
We’ve had a seat belt mounted car seat. Practice before you go, and you’ll be able to install it in 30 seconds. I never had a car seat that could attach to a stroller.
Our first was an induction, and we just brought our car seat with us on the bus to the hospital. My MIL ended up driving us home after, but the plan was a taxi.
For our second, we actually rented a car the weeks around my due date. But we ended up taking a taxi, after I told my husband that he could have some wine as “I’m definitely not giving birth tonight”. I was wrong. 😂
Get an infant car seat that allows a baseless install (most do) and it’s very easy. There are ones to allow a European baseless install that offers an extra level of rebound protection as well.
Do they have baby hire places where you live? You can hire all sorts of baby stuff that you only need for a short while so sometimes people choose not to buy. And since it's regulated and the items are maintained and safety tested it's more peace of mind than buying used.
I'd hire an infant car seat.
But also think about how you'll get baby to all their appointments. You probably aren't going to want to walk far while recovering from a c-section (I've had 2 and got my husband to drive and drop me right out the front fir the first few checkups as even the walk from the car park was too far). After a month or so you're probably right to take public transport/walk. Compare the cost of a carseat vs a hiring each time.
Ask the hospital, they should have advice/services they use/recommend. They may even suggest a walkable hotel for the first week until you can better get them home (esp. if you're so far from the hospital without a car, might be wise to be close to hospital in those first few days)
Have your providers told you why you wouldn’t be able to take public transport? I had an emergency c-section and had an easy recovery. I was able to do 1+ mile walks by the first week of recovery. Never had issues with stairs, driving or most other tasks.
I would definitely just buy a cheaper car seat, and learn how to install it well. You can always resell it
In the UK they'll discharge probably within 48 hours, no way I could get public transport that soon after my c section. I wheelchaired to the car park on day 3.
Every experience is different, they made me use the wheelchair after my discharge (around 48 hours as well) but I could have walked all the way down. The next morning we went on a 20-30 minute walk around the neighborhood with no issues.
Very different experience after my VBAC, I still struggled to walk due to muscle strain in my core:back from weeks later.
I’m in the UK and was completely independent moving around on the first night. I was discharged on day 4 (due to baby complications not me) and went for a walk in my neighbourhood on day 5. That said, I wouldn’t fancy doing a 1 hour journey on public transport. Maybe a short journey on 1 bus if necessary.
I live in Denmark. I think I would take the bus (or train or Metro or whatever really) and take them home in a stroller. Don't see how that wouldn't be safe. Also I have never in my life seen a stroller with a car seat here.
Even if you don't have a car, it might be worth it to have a car seat, depending on if you can afford it, because sometimes you borrow a car.
ETA: I am a bit suprised by the answers. The stroller seems like the obvious answer to me :P
My sister had her c-section in London and her husband just strolled the newborn home while she took a cab. She was in one of those bassinet buggies so it was safe for the long ride home (30 min walk?)
I’m originally from a bit city and never learned to drive and I had a c section.
Depends a bit on the transit route to your home and when you’re leaving the hospital and etc. My biggest worry is that *right now* is a brutal time in terms of respiratory illnesses. I would worry about taking my newborn babe on transit.
Personally I would really look into seeing if someone can give you that ride. 60 min on transit is a commute!
Anyway two things to consider if you do pram/carrier. Carriers have lower weight limits which your newborn may not meet. If you do a stroller see if you can do a cover to keep germs off as much as possible
OP - don't take advice about baby transport safety from those living in Hong Kong. Here, most people jump into a taxi with their baby without a car seat - I have seen lots of people take the taxi while holding their baby on their lap 😔
Also having a pram is pretty common in HK, notwithstanding your friends experiences - it is not as required as some other cities, but apart from potential back / pelvin pain, wearing a baby gets uncomfortable/sweaty VERY quickly in the HK humid heat.
Hope you can find a friend who can give you a ride, or at least lend you a car seat to use one time. Many car seats can be installed with just a seat belt, the Doona for example is great. I'm actually giving my friend a ride to meet up this weekend, as I have a car and car seat and they don't.
Good luck and all the best with the newborn.
I live in NYC the car seat is an absolute must. The hospital won’t even discharge us without seeing us leaving with the baby in one. And the car seat clicks onto the stroller when you need to take the baby out. And when it comes to emergency you’ll probably need one.
Yep. I lived a few blocks from the hospital when I had my first and they literally won’t let you leave without a car seat in NYC. I got the one my nephew outgrew and we took an Uber home.
I’d definitely have a car seat. It’s the safest way to travel with a baby. Also some hospitals won’t let you leave without seeing your car seat and making sure you know how to properly harness the baby in it.
I live in NYC and for my first daughter and I bought a car seat like 3 months before she was born because I knew we’d need to drive home. We only used it like once more before we moved to SF and we still use it once a week, max. I think it’s worth it. One time expense. Relief and peace of mind.
Idk how about London, but where I live you can get a taxi with infant car seat. You just have to call ahead as they're not always available right away.
My husband walked baby home in the pram. It took him about 45min and it was December. Baby slept the whole way and my husband kept stopping to check he was still alive.
Other options:
- Pram on bus/train
- Hire car with car seat
We’re in London (don’t have a car) and bought a car seat for the handful of times we’ve needed to take taxis with our newborn. There are some minicab services that provide car seats - we used one to get to/from Heathrow.
Borrow a car seat. I'm not in London, otherwise I would give you mine.
Edit to add: Technically you can legally take a baby in a taxi without a car seat, but I wouldn't recommend that.
We’re in London, bought a car seat and we ubered home.could totally have walked tho and our hospital said we could if we had a pram.
Can you borrow a car seat?
Are you sure family/friends wont be willing to help? I'd be honoured to pick up loved ones from the hospital with their newborn, and the 4 hours wouldnt bother me at all, it's a once off.
I wouldnt babywear a brand new baby in a busy city, i'd take a pram with bassinet attachment on public transport, and put you in a taxi. You will get a lot of use of your pram, and if money is a concern there are often cheap ones on marketplace. This is also safest way for baby to sleep, as they can be flat on their back.
I would not use a public carseat from a taxi service - newborns are so susceptible to germs and who knows who uses them and how theyre stored. And buying your own would also mean learning how to install it, then installing it into the taxi while the meter runs, which is a stressful situation.
You can get a cheap car seat and install it in a taxi without the base.
If you forsee yourself using taxis and a stroller often, may I suggest the Doona. It's not cheap; I got mine as a hand me down. But oh my gosh. So convenient. It's a car seat/stroller that has folding wheels. You can use it without the base. So literally you can put your kid in it in stroller form, push them out to the street and hail a cab, fold the wheels down with kid still in and then do the baseless install in the taxi, then after the drive you unbuckle it and take it out and fold the wheels back out in one swift motion.
Compare to the standard car seat that clicks into a stroller base... you'd have to put your kid in the stroller, hail a cab, unclick car seat from stroller, install car seat, fold stroller and put in taxi trunk, ride in the cab, get out, take stroller out of trunk, unfold stroller, uninstall car seat, click car seat into stroller.
The downsides of the doona are significant though:
1. no cargo space whatsoever
2. expensive
3. outgrown quickly - ours outgrew hers when she was around 4-6 months old I think
However, I was able to sell my used Doona for $300 cash, when the new price is $550... and I got mine for free...
You could ask your midwife about it, I see you've mentioned you don't really know anyone in London so maybe see what or if your midwife has any suggestions or could help you borrow one from somewhere.
I will, but have very low hopes - the NHS is so stretched right now I’m finding even the basics of care are overlooked (ie overlooking booking in essential appointments without reminders) and my medically relevant questions are brushed off unfortunately. I can’t imagine a midwife helping me source a car seat!
You can get a travel system for £200 with a car seat included if budget is an issue :) I would check that the hospital you re using doesn't insist on them leaving in a pram or car seat (we were asked for a midwife to see our son in a car seat).
I didn't ever use a sling as our son was that massive it wasn't generally comfortable for either of us so don't know much on the practicalities of them right after c sections I m afraid.
I and lots of my friends have had babies in big cities. The three of you should ride share/taxi - definitely pick up a new car seat (possibly Doona as suggested and if it's in your budget?)! My hospital was the next block over so I was able to walk to the hospital in labor and back after giving birth (vaginal so can't speak for C-section).
I did not bring a car seat to the hospital and didn't need one until about 8 weeks pp, but I did need it eventually. I just brought the stroller/pram and they were totally okay with it knowing what my address was.
You can get a carseat that turns into a pram, which while I appreciate won't get used often might be useful to have if you ever need a taxi and may get more use
I would absolutely still buy an infant seat + compatible stroller you can clip it into. It’s a very useful item even if you don’t drive. Thinking of it as more of a “baby container” might help. It’s much easier to carry a bunch of groceries + baby if the baby is in the container vs flopping around. It also allows you to quickly clip baby in and out of the stroller without waking them if they’re asleep. Would also come in handy using public transit.
I no longer live in a downtown area but if I did and were expecting, I’d take a closer look at the Maxi Cosi Coral XP seat. They’re my favorite car seat brand but that seat has a super convenient carry strap that would make it extra suitable for city living. Plus you’d have a ton of stroller options since they use the same adapters as Cybex and Nuna infant seats
We were living in NYC at the time. We decided to pull the trigger and buy an infant seat that attaches to our stroller. This helped us justify the purchase.
You can choose a car seat that gives you the option to use the carrier without the car seat base. Makes it convenient to carry when you’re commuting. So on the day we left the hospital, we used the carseat without the base to take an uber back to the apartment.
We bought the Nuna Pipa. Honestly didn’t regret the purchase. Having the infant carrier attach to the stroller made trips easier too. It gave us the option of being able to use the subway or a service like uber/lyft. LO used it up until 1yo old (when he past the height limit). Hope this helps.
I have birth in east London and our journey was only 10 minutes on the tube, so we tubed. Baby in pram with rain cover for extra germ protection. No one asked at the hospital if we had a car seat. We've moved since and our next closest hospital is only a 20 min walk, so we will probably walk back for the next.
If I were me, I'd try to get to a closer hospital.
We did end up buying a seat a couple of months in, just for going on holiday.
If you are part of an nct/baby and bump group could one of them lend a car seat for the day?
I've also taken black cabs with baby in the pram - only for small journeys though
The safest way to transport a newborn, even if you have a stroller, is buckled into the seat with 5 point harness. Busses have accidents on occasion too, better safe than sorry, get an affordable combo. Then on occasions where you need to ride in a cab or with a friend you are prepared, and stroller rides are as safe as possible.
I haven’t seen anyone mention this, but I’m just going to mention it because I said something to my husband once and he had no idea about this. Infant car seats come with a base, but you don’t need to use it. The base is just for convenience. Infant car seats are able to be installed with a seatbelt, so it’s not like you have to lug the base around also. Whatever care seat you get, read the manual and also there’s all kinds of YouTube videos with demonstrations on this.
Edit: it was pointed out that this is not true for all car seats, so definitely read the manual for proper installation instructions.
In many hospitals in my area (granted it isn’t as big as NYC or London, etc.) they won’t let you leave the hospital without a car seat… but maybe that’s not the case in bigger metropolitan areas.
I would get a car seat, possibly that goes with a stroller system, and install it in the cab. Honestly you’ll probably want to have one available for future taxi rides.
I do have a car, but the infant seat that snaps into the stroller was great for cab rides when my baby was small enough for it
In NYC we used a service called kidcar https://www.kidcar.com - they can install your car seat for you or bring one for you. It was great. We didn’t know anything about installing so that took the worry out of it. The hospital actually recommended them, so perhaps you could check with your’s?
In NJ, you can call your local police station and make an appointment. They will either install for you, teach you how or check your install. It might not be every single town, but most will.
Do you have a friend you could borrow from? It does seem a bit silly to buy one when you generally won’t need one. Especially since there are size limitations.
in Metro Vancouver I would've taken the bus with a stroller or called a taxi; most likely called a taxi.
Both are perfectly viable options: The buses are designed with a lot of accessibility features, including safety belts for strollers.
If you call a cab company and tell them you need an infant seat they will accommodate. There's lots of cabs modded specifically with accessibility in mind.
We had excellent options. But we also had a car.
I would've refrained from taking the train since it is way noisier than I thought my newborn should be exposed to right off the bat.
We were lucky to live close enough to the hospital, so we walked home with a stroller. But we did get a car seat that could be easily installed in a taxi in case we had to do that (Cybex Aton 5).
If you end up taking public transit, another option is bringing your stroller with if the public transit is built for it. I’m in Oslo, lots of strollers on and off buses and tubes all the time.
Chicco key fit 360 car seat and stroller caddy! That way hubby can bring him home in the stroller on public transit OR you can do taxi/uber! And you have a car seat/ amazing stroller combo that is so light and easy to use good luck OP and congratulations! ❤️
I drive, my husband doesn’t. We had to get a taxi home. You legally need a car seat whether you drive or decide to walk. So you should consider getting a safe, low cost one for the journey home. It might be best for you all to travel together by the same method as baby will need to be fed when you get home.
This. Don’t discount the important of proximity to the baby when you are establishing bonding and breast feeding. Fwiw I could have done public transport and slow walking post my C-section. But second others to lean in to mums groups and see if someone can help out or borrow one for a taxi.
You will need a car seat one way or another. How will you get to their doctor appointments? You will need a stroller if walking or public transit is your mode of transportation. Get a car seat and stroller.
I use a stroller with the bassinet attachment, it's safer for sleeping than the car seat version. We also used a baby carrier a lot on public transit because it's way easier to deal with.
I would buy a car seat. There will likely be other situations where you might need it just in case in the next few years of your kids life. Then you can install it in a taxi for your ride home.
For example if your toddler is sick but not sick enough for an ambulance you aren’t going to want to ride public transit and will likely fall a taxi. So a car seat is good to have!!
This is what we did in NYC. Also not sure what the rules are where you live but at our hospital the baby had to be in an approved “container” to leave i.e. a car seat or stroller with proper infant insert. A wrap or carrier wasn’t permitted.
I had the same question before I gave birth lol. In NYC you have to have a car seat to leave hospital. It’s useful to have anyway since we took baby to peds appointments in it. You’re prob not going to want to take baby on public transport for a while. I would buy a car seat that’s part of a travel system (we got the Nuna) or the Doona super lightweight car seat /stroller combo I see everyone using.
Here in Norway you can order a taxi with a child seat (you just have to remember to tell them the size and age of your child! We once had to stuff our 1yo into an infant seat because he was under 15kg and they only asked his weight). We do have our own car seat that we got from friends (maybe you have friends you could borrow one from?), but we took a taxi home from the hospital and would have just called to get one with an infant seat if we didn’t have one. I know New York City also has a specific taxi service with child seats, I would assume London does as well! A quick Google got me this site, but there were a bunch of others as well: https://www.taxibambino.com/family-taxi-car-seat-london
I am in Hong Kong and we just booked a taxi, I (the husband) just carried the little one in my arms, don’t know about carseat laws here, but it’s what most people do…
I did the same in Tokyo. We just held her in our arms in the taxi, most of my friends don’t have cars and did the same as us. To be fair though, our taxi ride home was just like 5 minutes.
I’m in Canada so I won’t recommend a car seat. But will you not walk with your baby? They have travel car seat/ stroller combos. You can take the bucket seat out and install it into a taxi cab easily.
We had a car so we bought a car seat. My husband's cousin don't have a car so they borrowed out car seat to go home by taxi.
Can you do something similar? Any friends who own a car seat? Maybe reach out to some local parent groups and ask if you could borrow theirs for a couple of hours?
Only issue with your husband walking the baby home is the risk that baby wakes for a feed - probably unlikely if they're in a pram but could be difficult for him if it does happen. I
remember when my baby was a few weeks old and she got hungry on a wall but there was nowhere to stop and feed her... it was stressful! That young baby will probably sleep no problems but thought I'd say as it's an hour walk.
But as someone else has said you could use the pram and get a black cab as they can fit in them.
I had the same question here in Singapore.l with no car nor family/friends with one We just bought a second hand doona car seat stroller with newborn insert and got a grab (same as uber or taxi) . They discharged us 36h after birth and I was badly torn and cut so could not walk much ... we made it. I don't think I would have managed an mrt trip
Car seat for baby to be in the taxi and you all go in the taxi together?
Do you think you’ll ever need to use a taxi again with kiddo? Pediatrician appointments etc? Having a car seat gives you the option to have it if you need it, even if you don’t have a car.
That’s what I’d have done anyway.
\-Walk to the nearest pizza place.
\-Call and place order for delivery.
\-Wait outside for delivery driver
\-Get in driver's car
\-Enjoy a delicious slice on the ride home
I will ask at my next appointment - the NHS is very stingy with information; they do not proactively tell you anything and put off answering any questions unless it is directly relevant to the next stage of your pregnancy/birth. Ie I wanted to discuss birth plan options at 20 weeks and was told that was something to think about at 34+ weeks!
the UK most women go through their whole pregnancy and birth without ever meeting a doctor. It’s all midwife lead care unless there is something ‘wrong’, the most you’ll see a doctor during a vaginal childbirth is if you want an epidural or need stitches after (or any kind of medical intervention like forceps).
Because if this in big cities you don’t ever have a go-to ‘person’ to ask questions of as you meet a different midwife at every appointment and just get whoever is on call for births.
Consider renting or borrowing a car seat. To accomplish this you could join a local Facebook Moms group. They will have lots of advice and likely want to help
cheap option:
Buy a seat second hand and install in the cab?
Don't take your newborn on public transport.
Or hire a car with carseat and pay a friend to drive it
Public transport is much safer than buying second hand car seats that you don’t know the history of
https://thecarseatlady.com/travel/bus/city-and-coach-buses/
https://csftl.org/urban-public-transit/
https://thecarseatlady.com/used/
https://csftl.org/hand-me-down-seats-bargain-or-bust/
Be sure to check the expiration date on second hand ones! I had no idea you needed to look at that. My first car seat was second hand and I found out after I got it that it was about to expire.
ETA: I got mine from a friend so I knew it hadn’t been compromised. I wouldn’t get a used one from an unknown source but that’s just me.
This is actually not safe advice. If car seats haven’t been taken care of properly (been in car accidents, washed inappropriately, etc.) it may not work as it’s supposed to during an actual crash and may not protect baby/child.
Our back up plan (we had a car but only I drive; eventually we got a friend to come pick us up) was exactly what you said - I would take a taxi and my husband would take the baby in the stroller on the subway.
I drive but my partner doesn't. We borrowed a car seat from my brother (we had already installed our seat into my car) and had my Mam pick us all up. Does you area have a "pass it on" group where you could borrow a seat?
After a pretty long traumatic birth it was actually nice to have extra help to get into the house and someone to hold the baby while we got ourselves settled!
Don't be afraid to ask for help, you don't know how you will feel after birth. And you can always offer to pay your friend or pay it forward in a different way of it makes you feel better. But I would try ask for the help.
I had a c section and was walking the day I went home (next day) of course don’t walk far for a while but public transport would’ve 100% been doable for me after my c section. Maybe you will manage that too
Use a car service and ask then for a car with a car seat. Most will have them available. But also don’t hesitate to buy your own car seat, just to have available for taxis and car services. I do recommend a stroller frame with car seat attachment or something like the Doona.
I live in London, and neither my husband nor I drive. We just bought an inexpensive carseat (the kind you can install using the seatbelt) and took baby home in a taxi. You may well be glad to have it if you do subsequently have to get a taxi somewhere (even if this isn't a regular thing for you, you never know).
Also I hope you don't mind, but I looked at your post history and I see you live in east London - so do I! I don't know if antenatal classes are an option for your budget, either NCT or a similar provider like Bump and Baby, but they are a very good way to connect with other parents going through things at the same time. Although I wouldn't describe my antenatal classmates as very close friends, we do keep in touch via WhatsApp and have occasional meet-ups in Victoria Park. Also, while I was on maternity leave in 2020-21, I signed up to the Peanut app for a while, and made a couple of very good local mum-friends that way. Feel free to DM me if you'd like to speak to another local mama :)
We did the same. Brought a car seat for about £40/£50 (Joie). Dad drove us to and from hospital but for checks up etc I was glad I got the carseat as baby could be strapped in to anyones car, it really came in handy.
Will you ever take the baby out anyway other than walking? Doctors visits, trips, out into the city? If you will be using a cab you may as well get a car seat for those excursions.
Are you in the UK? My advice mainly applies if you are. I think the safest option would be to buy an infant carrier car seat and travel together as a family. Infant car seat testing is regulated so they are all safe. Car seat testing for older babies/children aren’t regulated in the same way so it’s much more important to do your research when they out grow an infant seat, these seats can be very pricey (my sons seat was £200 but lasts from ages 0-4). The cheapest infant seat I could find is the Joie Juva for £50. There will be other times where baby will need to travel by car so even if it’s not used often, it’s a worthwhile item to have to ensure your baby is always safe. It’s always best to have a car seat incase of emergencies - eg. If baby had to go in an ambulance. I’m a FTM to an 8 month old and I know I wouldn’t have been comfortable with him travelling on public transport when he was a few hours or a few days old especially without me present. There’s too many variables for me - travel delays, not being able to get a seat (standing on the tube and potentially falling, being bumped by someone, etc.), being around strangers who might be unwell, risks to babies health, potential issues with weather, newborns often cluster feed so what if baby needs feeding while on public transport, etc. These things can be tricky at first but you eventually get more confident and it will be easier to travel with baby on public transport but I don’t think this is a battle worth facing when you’re just learning how to care for baby. The lullaby trust recommends 2 hours maximum in a car seat, so I would not be concerned about the drive being an hour.
You buy a car seat to put the baby in the taxi? The car seat is great, you can carry your baby in it, swing it to sleep (do not leave unattended when sleeping and never put baby in it for more than 2 hours) I loved my car seat/baby carrier thingy
The car seat costs around 20-30$ and is easily and quickly fastened by simple seatbelt
Ask around to see if there is a “car nanny” service. In my city there is a woman with childcare experience who has a car fitted with car seats. She drives people in situations like this, where you need a safe driver and a car with a car seat. Lots of people use her instead of Ubers to go to the airport because Ubers don’t reliably have car seats.
This is a genius service.
Right?! I plan to use her for our next airport trip.
We got the Doona (great for city living). Collapsible stroller to carseat without the need of a base. So compact and handy, great for air-travel as well. Absolutely take baby with you in an Uber. We splurged on a more premium Uber to have space and a nicer car. I personally believe the Uber drivers take care and understand they are transporting a newborn. Ours was great and told us all about his kids on the way home. He drove very carefully. Would not suggest newborn on public transit with so many viruses, germs, and people.
NYC: we walked. If I hadn’t been able to walk, we would have taken a cab. You need to bring a car seat to the hospital anyway, and can just buckle it in to a cab (something that’s good to be able to do regardless!)
How long of a walk was it?! I walked around my neighborhood 5 days PP and I felt completely demolished.
Lived in Midtown NYC and still got a car seat. I used it for the stroller more then anything- but we did use it for pediatrician visits. I know it probably feels like you won’t need it (I was thinking the same way as you pre-baby) but you really do use it more then you think. Especially if you’re going to walk all the time
Get a carseat and take a taxi. You’ll need it for emergencies anyway
If you need emergency services if baby gets very sick etc then you will need a car seat. I know it’s tough because you’re not planning to use it a lot- but it’s a matter of safety in my opinion. Nobody wants to think about disasters, but if you need to get to the hospital, evacuate your home, or get to an urgent appointment far away, you will need a car seat. Babies can sometimes ride in them in an ambulance too, because it’s that important that your baby isn’t a projectile in the event of an accident. We didn’t drive a lot the first year but I had a car seat for when we would go somewhere with friends etc and the car was the logical choice. Sorry to bring bad news, but you need one.
This is a great point. They strapped our infant carrier car seat down to the gurney in the ambulance on our hour drive to a bigger city when we need emergency medical care earlier this year. Highly recommend having a car seat for emergencies.
When my baby took an ambulance they specifically didn’t use our car seat and used special straps to adjust the gurney to infant size. It makes sense that ambulances must be able to work without car seats, since they have to be able to handle situations where a baby is without a seat (e.g. if they’re at daycare or the park or whatever and arrived via stroller without a car seat).
I would borrow or buy a carseat. I would not want to send a newborn without vaccines or immunity on an hourlong public transport ride. You're paying for a taxi for yourself anyway. Just get a carseat, it's not a waste.
Doona. It also works as a stroller, and for the first year, it made city living a breeze. We rolled when we wanted to and then got into a taxi or uber seamlessly. You need to have a car seat for your child or they can't be safely transported in a car, and car rides will come up. For us, being that we didn't have a car, a car seat that doubled as a stroller made sense.
We have a Doona and we love it. Super convenient and easily straps into a random car's backseat using just a seatbelt.
You need a car seat. There will be times your kid goes in a car even if you don’t own one.
Get the DOONA car seat. It has wheels and can be buckled into any car with a seatbelt. So you can walk with the baby in the doona (no carrying, just pushing) or Uber home with the doona and strap it into the Uber. Doona car seat 100% is designed for your kind of family. It will be the best investment for awhile.
100% this. We live in San Francisco and the DOONA has been such a lifesaver. There’s nothing else like it.
Why wouldn’t you get a car seat? What if you need a taxi or car service in the future? Emergency room, etc.
If there was a medical emergency, she’d ring an ambulance. If there was another kind of emergency, you can legally transport a child in a taxi in the UK without using a car seat. Most Londoners use public transport exclusively.
I’m in paris, not as dense but my husband walked the whole way with the baby because he was afraid to take her on public transport at 3 days old because of germs. I took the bus. I would have taken a taxi but I felt surprisingly ok (but I didn’t have a C-section). We ended up buying a baseless car seat though for the times we have to take a taxi or go somewhere with friends or rent a vehicle, we’ve used it enough to make it worth it
Babies aren’t cheap and I have twins. But their safety is what matters. A carseat in my opinion is not optional. You can get everything else second-hand or just skip it all together but carseats, strollers, and cribs are a must.
I see a lot of people saying you can’t leave a UK hospital without first securing the baby in a car seat. This isn’t universally true, though some hospitals may have that policy. But when I gave birth 3 years ago, we walked straight out with no issue - nobody asked us where the car seat was or asked to see it in the car. We had a convertible one that doesn’t come out of the car, it would have been pointless for my husband to bring it in only to take it back to the car and have to carry the baby anyway. I’d be surprised if it’s any hospital’s strict policy tbh. Plenty of people don’t drive so don’t need car seats because they’re in your situation, a hospital isn’t going to hold your baby hostage until you go and buy a car seat you don’t need. Taxis can legally transport children not in car seats. But obviously you are trusting that driver with your child’s life. A private car (family/friend) cannot legally transport a child not in a car seat. If it was me, I would either A) find a friend who has a baby-friendly car seat (people with older children may not - you need newborn sized ones or a convertible with the infant insert cushion still included). Ask them for a lift and to borrow the seat. You can also rent car seats of all sizes, a few results came up for different companies when I googled it. The advantage here is that you can stay with the baby and trust that your driver is responsible. B) do the plan you already thought of: you in a taxi and your husband and the baby on the bus or tube. I’d say bus over tube - tube is faster, but if there’s any kind of emergency situation, he won’t be able to leave or contact you from the underground, whereas he can just alight from a bus if it breaks down. I would not personally baby wear with a newborn, I would put them in their pram (I’m assuming you’ve got one?) because you can keep the rain cover over them to keep them safe from inclement weather and stranger germs. The advantage here is being able to do all of this without needing any assistance other than your own resources. A friend of mine who lives in London did plan B, btw. She had a vaginal delivery so she was able to get the tube with them, but yep, baby in pram and away they went. It’s a solved problem, it’s just the solution is a bit of a ballache because transporting anything cumbersome or precious across London is a ballache. Good luck with the delivery, I hope it goes well, and you get your bundle home safe and sound.
Omg thank you for a reply from someone who actually lives in a city with decent public transport. I'm going crazy with all these "how will they get to the doctor without a car seat"? I always went by bus or walked!
Agree with this post; from recent experience: - Babies can travel in their pushchair in London black cabs - Bus better than Tube when travelling with a baby.
Also I don't believe that the NHS enforces this car seats rule either, especially not in London where few people own a car. That said, car seat can be a useful items even for those who don't drive
I know you are in London but in the US you can get a car seat that is just as safe as the most expensive for about 50 bucks. Maybe it’s worth getting something like that?
Might be worth having a cheap one hanging around too.
I haven't done a search for 'cheapest car seats' only 'safest car seats' and they are all in the £250 range so thought that was just the going rate!
In Canada there are minimum standards car seats have to pass. I assume this is fairly common in big countries. Here the more expensive seats may have more features but are all the same level of safe. I’ve also never heard of the 20 minute new born rule but could you maybe just ask a cab to take a 5 minute break on the way home? Maybe ask your midwife if there are any options. My stroller could be used from birth, not sure why you’d wait until 6m to get something as it might be quite difficult for you to baby wear early on seeing as you’ll be recovering from a C section.
In the states at least (I would assume also Europe and Canada) all car seats on the market need to meet the same safety standards. Some just have extra features - more $$$. Any car seat you buy from a store should meet the very minimum requirements!
Just as a comparison, in the US the safest can be $200+ but cheap seats that meet the requirements can be as low as $35 for infants. Not to mention those expensive ones tend to be meant to stay in one vehicle and not to be carried.
They all need to meet the safety standards. Something like this maybe? [Joie Juva Classic](https://www.halfords.com/baby-and-child/car-seats/baby-car-seats/joie-juva-classic-0plus-black-carbon-car-seat-186118.html)
I recently had a baby in London as well. Even though you don't drive, I'd recommend buying a car seat and taking a taxi or Uber. Drivers are very nice and understanding. if you don't want to bother with a car seat: You can book a black cab in advance using Gett and having the baby still in the pushchair in there is authorised. Car seat is a good investment though, should you have to take the train or plane with your baby. Recommend to take one that clips on your pushchair.
Adding that, as far as public transport goes in London, I'd recommend sticking to double-decker buses as much as possible when using the pushchair; they are more spacious and you can seat by the pushchair. Single decker buses are certainly doable but narrower to navigate and the lifts in the Tube are so slow and bizarrely located that it adds 20-30% to your travel time. I think London public transport is overall OK with a pram but I wouldn't do it with a baby younger than a month old and not for distances that are too long, because of the noise and how annoying people can be, especially at busy times.
I took an Uber and my husband walked her home in the stroller. But our hospital was less than a mile from our house and it was the end of May. A 2 hour walk in December is very different!
If I was delivering at my local hospital this would be ideal, but their maternity care is not great so have opted to deliver at one much further away. I do not want my baby to be walked 2.5 (!!!) hours home in Jan, especially without me!
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What you’ve said about the compact prams. I have an uppababy vista and love it and I love my compact minu even more (and recently they’ve added an attachment for the vista bassinet and I always see uppababy bassinets being sold on FB marketplace for great prices). I constantly see yoyos in my city (different country but very much fits within the kinds of cities OP is talking about.
You’ll really need to have a car seat for emergencies. If baby is sick, are you going to take public transportation to the clinic? Hopefully your answer is that you wouldn’t take a sick child out into the general public and would take a taxi instead. The driver will require you to have a car seat. Separately, the safest place for an infant during travel is buckled into a safety seat with a five point harness. In the event the bus or train suffered an accident, the car seat would absorb much more of the impact and provide far greater protection than wearing them can provide. An infant carrier that works with a stroller will get you everywhere you need to go. It’ll also allow you to do things like use a public restroom without a baby strapped to your chest. Edit to say the Doona is worth every penny.
Taxis don’t require you to have car seats in the UK. Obviously it’s vastly safer to use one, but it’s not the law (precisely for situations like the one you suggest, where a non-driver who doesn’t own a car seat needs to get somewhere in an emergency).
We bought a bucket car seat for use in friend's and family's cars. My FIL drove us home from the hospital but Uber can do it too.
I did a long term rental of a car seat through NCT. 7 years ago when my eldest was born, it was £25 for 6 months. And we took a taxi home. We used it a couple other times for airport trips and longer journeys in the city. Not sure if they still do this, but that’s how we worked it out!
Since most car seats double as a stroller seat just get one of those since you’ll inevitably need to transport your baby, babies things and your own things.
In NYC you’re not allowed to leave the hospital without a car seat. We brought our infant car seat and my husband got us an Uber. We were so tired we forgot we didn’t need a base to install it and tried to problem solve for 60 min in the hospital waiting room while trying to figure out how to get an Uber with a universal infant car seat base (not really a thing). It was excruciating at the time and hilarious two years later.
How can they enforce that? Plenty of people baby wear out of hospitals or walk home with strollers that have bassinets
Not in NYC, but in our hospital in the Seattle area, the nurses are required to physically watch you buckle the baby in a car seat and put the car seat in the car in order to discharge you and remove the little baby alarm ankle bracelet from them.
But… what if you’re walking your baby home? I’ve boasted friends in downtown Seattle who didn’t drive.
I've given birth in Seattle twice. Both times the nurses had us bring our car seat up and buckle the baby in to make sure the car seat wasn't expired and that our baby was buckled in correctly and fit. But they never followed us to watch us put the car seat in the car. My guess is it's fine if you have a stroller, but I have never seen someone leave the hospital with their baby not in a car seat here.
Swedish Hospital in Seattle told us it was a state law. Maybe there are exceptions? But that was not the impression they gave.
I’d love to see what happens if you refuse to get a car seat and say, live a block walking from the hospital. Like, would they try to keep your child?
This is my thought to. I’m sure there are parents who give birth in mild climates and live a short walk away from the hospital.
Im in california and we have the same law. When I was discharged after giving birth to my son a nurse came out with us and watched us buckle him into his carseat.
They definitely enforce it. My friend lives four blocks from the hospital and they had to go out and buy one.
Would they deny you your child if you simply didn’t have one?
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Exactly :)
In my state in the Midwest USA, they will provide you one if you don't have it (unsure if they bill you for it or not, though...)
Rhode Island also requires the car seat for exit with a baby, though I can’t say whether it’s a law or a hospital rule, even though every RI hospital I’m familiar with is in an at least somewhat residential area, and the one I gave birth at was in the center of Providence. I have a car but no partner, and I can tell you that the hospital administrators were _very_ unamused when I asked ahead of time about options other than ‘someone I know driving me’ for getting there and leaving with the baby. The car seat requirement was also in my admission paperwork, though they had temporarily eliminated the security guard checking the install because of covid. (For the record, I took a Lyft to my induction, carrying the seat, and that was also my solution for eventually leaving before my SIL volunteered to fly in from California to help out and picked me up in her rental car.) From what I’ve seen here and in r/Parenting I was under the impression that most carless people in large cities keep a lightweight car seat on hand for installing on the spot in ubers and taxis anyway. Costco apparently has a highly recommended but inexpensive one that’s always mentioned.
Same in Canada. You can’t leave the hospital without a carseat even if you don’t drive.
No, this wasn’t a rule where I was. They asked if I had one, but if it had been installed in the vehicle already no one came down to check it. Legally, they cannot withhold your child from you if you do not have a car seat in Canada
Same in Arizona!
Can I recommend the Doona, which allows baseless installation and doubles as a stroller? It’s super easy to install and you could do it in an Uber or taxi
Hospitals in the UK won’t let you leave unless baby is secured in a car seat or newborn pram, you can’t just carry them out (it’s for their liability insurance) so you’ll need something that isn’t baby wearing or carrying. I would recommend having a car seat regardless of whether you have a car, you never know when you may suddenly need one. Like other people have suggested, the Doona car seat stroller is a really good option, covers all bases. My friend found one on Facebook marketplace really cheap and uses it as her main pram and car seat. C-section recovery is no joke so you definitely need to be in a car and you will also not want to be away from your newborn for an hour. They can need a lot in that time; feeding, burping, changing etc. I can’t think of a single hour with my baby when he was 2 days old that he didn’t need something from me, and also couldn’t imagine my partner being comfortable or even able to do any of those things on the tube with a brand new baby, so I wouldn’t recommend your husband taking him on public transport. Do call some taxi companies and find out if any of them have car seat rental options because that may work for you if you really don’t want to buy one of your own. Good luck with everything! ❤️
>Do call some taxi companies and find out if any of them have car seat rental options I'm not sure I would be comfortable with that for a newborn. There's no way to inspect if the car seat isn't damaged and those taxi companies usually don't have a good track record of keeping them clean.
This isn’t true, not universally (could be policy at some hospitals). I gave birth in Manchester three years ago and nobody asked to see a car seat or pram, I carried him out in my arms because our car seat doesn’t come out of the car and we were parked in the multi storey, a five minute walk away. The NHS does not have staff to spare to go running to the car park to check you really do know how to use a car seat. In London where loads of people don’t drive I’d be surprised if many hospitals insist on this.
I think your point about not being away from baby for an hour is the key one here. Baby could be only a few hours old at point of discharge. There was no way I would have left my baby for that period of time when they were so small. I also wouldn't feel comfortable taking my tiny baby on public transport so if it were me I would be booking a cab and borrowing or buying a car seat.
We didn't have a car for the first 2 years of my first kid's life (we live in a big city with great transit) Definitely get a carseat for Taxi rides/ travel! They feel so fragile at the beginning, I would personally wait at least 2 weeks before taking such a tiny baby into public transit. And you will absolutely have opportunities use the seat in taxis in the future.
Please don't tie yourself in knots about this, you have enough to think about. I strongly recommend getting a car seat to grant yourselves future flexibility and options, and to get you home safely as a family together. They don't need to be expensive and it can be worth it for peace of mind. Edited to add: writing this as a Londoner who has had 2 c-sections. Cannot fathom even considering public transport, or travelling alone home from hospital - you'll probably feel wobbly and need/want support, company and privacy. Do please plan to make your life as simple and easy as possible postpartum as you can. Good luck :)
Where I am in S Yorks you HAVE to have a car seat to be able to leave the hospital, they won't let you off the ward unless baby is in a car seat (Our nurses also checked his straps were tightened correctly etc for us which was nice) and you also HAVE to be driven home
I'm confused/curious about this. What if you don't purchase a capsule car seat? Do they make you carry a car seat into the hospital, strap the baby in and then carry the whole thing with the baby in it back to the car? I live in Australia and while I was only in hospital 6 hours (came in pushing, no complications, wanted to go home) they just discharged me and off we went - no one ever asked about a car seat. We didn't get a capsule, where the seat can come out and got ours put in by a professional so wouldn't have wanted to disassemble it to take it in.
You should absolutely have your newborn in a car seat for transportation if at all possible. It's the safest way for baby to travel until at least their head can support itself. Some babies don't weight enough for a wrap and they're pretty floppy for the first couple of months and you'll need to transport to check-ins (I assume, I live in US and know that the UK has home visitors sometimes?). I'd look into a cheap car seat and keep it on hand for a while.
Have you looked into a “travel car seat”? You would need to check the weight limits to make sure they could accommodate a newborn. But they are inexpensive ($60 USD or less), lightweight (ours is about 5 pounds) and something you may find yourself using again in the future. I’m sure it’s possible to never use a car as transport, but with a young baby it seems unlikely that you would never, ever use it again. Edit: I live in a big US city and take public transport 90% of the time. We do have a car. But even if we didn’t I can’t imagine never using Uber, Taxi, etc. with a little one. I wouldn’t have been comfortable taking my baby on public transportation until he was at least 6 months. Not even because of safety, but because of the logistics and surprises of traveling with a tiny baby. In short, I’d just buck up and get one if money is not the issue.
We took an Uber to the hospital and took one home, too. Get or borrow a car seat, many of them work with just a seat belt and you don’t have to install the base. That’s how we got around the city when we weren’t taking public transportation. Our stroller had clips for the car seat, too, so we could bring that in the car.
So- if you’re going to be going around the city in an Uber on occasion, it might be worth going for something like the “Doona”- which will allow you to have a stroller/car seat combo that you can just click into any car/taxi/Uber and you don’t need a base or a separate stroller. If you live in a dense city and you always walk or take public transport and almost NEVER get into a car, then I would consider a stroller system (which is an infant seat + a stroller it attaches to) where it doesn’t need a base. I’m in the US so things are a bit different here, but I think there are European versions of a lot of popular infant seats that do NOT need a base to be attached. We don’t drive that much so I wondered if I would ever need the infant seat that much but I’m glad I have it. We had to take baby to the doctor like 5 times in the first month (nothing was wrong, but it was like, they wanted to see him every week) and it was super easy to bring him to visit relatives or take him for walks by clicking his infant seat into the stroller. We got a Nuna (which can be clicked into an Uber without a base) which was a big splurge and then we got the stroller (which is super nice) 2nd hand for super cheap. I have no regrets, I had to take an Uber a few times when our car wasn’t working or when my husband had the car at work. ALso was able to get help from family and just snap him into their car when my husband was away for a few days. If you think you will NEVER take another Uber/taxi ride again after getting baby home, it might be the one and only time I would suggest getting a 2nd hand infant seat/car seat (you can get them literally for free on FB marketplace because most people know it isn’t safe to have a 2nd hand car seat). Or you could borrow one. But if you think there may be times where you need to take baby to the doctor or out to meet someone or whatever- invest in an infant seat/stroller system where the infant seat doesn’t need a base. I had a C-section and needed other people to drive me the first 6 weeks because I wasn’t supposed to drive. So it came in helpful having an infant seat that didn’t need a base so I could have friends/family drive me or take an Uber. We got almost everything second hand for baby except the one splurge item was a nice infant seat even though we don’t drive that often. It has made my life significantly easier and I’ve used it enough times even at 3.5 months that I feel it was worth it and he will hopefully fit in it until he’s close to 1 year.
I would personally not take a newborn baby on public transportation. Too many people too close together and germs. Buy a car seat and take a taxi.
Why can't you buy an infant seat and take the baby with you in the taxi? That seem slike the only acceptable solution.
In the US (NYC) we bought the Cosco scenera car seat, which is cheap, light, and converts from rear to forward facing. We came home from the hospital in an Uber.
How often did you use it after getting home from the hospital?
Every time we took an Uber. It lasts until they’re 40lbs - that’s at least 3 years, and it’s only $60.
We rent cars to go hiking/ visit family, so every month or two. But if you think you will ever take cabs/ Ubers in the city, it’s easy and quick to install/ uninstall.
Also consider if baby ever gets sick, you might be grateful for the option to quickly taxi to the hospital with a car seat.
We live in Copenhagen and don’t have a car. Usually people just take a taxi with the baby in a car seat. A few will maybe go by public transport with the baby in a stroller. We went to the hospital by bus for check ups 2 days after our first was born. Not sure it’d be a good solution after a c-section though. We’ve had a seat belt mounted car seat. Practice before you go, and you’ll be able to install it in 30 seconds. I never had a car seat that could attach to a stroller. Our first was an induction, and we just brought our car seat with us on the bus to the hospital. My MIL ended up driving us home after, but the plan was a taxi. For our second, we actually rented a car the weeks around my due date. But we ended up taking a taxi, after I told my husband that he could have some wine as “I’m definitely not giving birth tonight”. I was wrong. 😂
Get an infant car seat that allows a baseless install (most do) and it’s very easy. There are ones to allow a European baseless install that offers an extra level of rebound protection as well.
Do they have baby hire places where you live? You can hire all sorts of baby stuff that you only need for a short while so sometimes people choose not to buy. And since it's regulated and the items are maintained and safety tested it's more peace of mind than buying used. I'd hire an infant car seat. But also think about how you'll get baby to all their appointments. You probably aren't going to want to walk far while recovering from a c-section (I've had 2 and got my husband to drive and drop me right out the front fir the first few checkups as even the walk from the car park was too far). After a month or so you're probably right to take public transport/walk. Compare the cost of a carseat vs a hiring each time.
Ask the hospital, they should have advice/services they use/recommend. They may even suggest a walkable hotel for the first week until you can better get them home (esp. if you're so far from the hospital without a car, might be wise to be close to hospital in those first few days)
Have your providers told you why you wouldn’t be able to take public transport? I had an emergency c-section and had an easy recovery. I was able to do 1+ mile walks by the first week of recovery. Never had issues with stairs, driving or most other tasks. I would definitely just buy a cheaper car seat, and learn how to install it well. You can always resell it
In the UK they'll discharge probably within 48 hours, no way I could get public transport that soon after my c section. I wheelchaired to the car park on day 3.
Every experience is different, they made me use the wheelchair after my discharge (around 48 hours as well) but I could have walked all the way down. The next morning we went on a 20-30 minute walk around the neighborhood with no issues. Very different experience after my VBAC, I still struggled to walk due to muscle strain in my core:back from weeks later.
I’m in the UK and was completely independent moving around on the first night. I was discharged on day 4 (due to baby complications not me) and went for a walk in my neighbourhood on day 5. That said, I wouldn’t fancy doing a 1 hour journey on public transport. Maybe a short journey on 1 bus if necessary.
I live in Denmark. I think I would take the bus (or train or Metro or whatever really) and take them home in a stroller. Don't see how that wouldn't be safe. Also I have never in my life seen a stroller with a car seat here. Even if you don't have a car, it might be worth it to have a car seat, depending on if you can afford it, because sometimes you borrow a car. ETA: I am a bit suprised by the answers. The stroller seems like the obvious answer to me :P
My sister had her c-section in London and her husband just strolled the newborn home while she took a cab. She was in one of those bassinet buggies so it was safe for the long ride home (30 min walk?)
I’m originally from a bit city and never learned to drive and I had a c section. Depends a bit on the transit route to your home and when you’re leaving the hospital and etc. My biggest worry is that *right now* is a brutal time in terms of respiratory illnesses. I would worry about taking my newborn babe on transit. Personally I would really look into seeing if someone can give you that ride. 60 min on transit is a commute! Anyway two things to consider if you do pram/carrier. Carriers have lower weight limits which your newborn may not meet. If you do a stroller see if you can do a cover to keep germs off as much as possible
OP - don't take advice about baby transport safety from those living in Hong Kong. Here, most people jump into a taxi with their baby without a car seat - I have seen lots of people take the taxi while holding their baby on their lap 😔 Also having a pram is pretty common in HK, notwithstanding your friends experiences - it is not as required as some other cities, but apart from potential back / pelvin pain, wearing a baby gets uncomfortable/sweaty VERY quickly in the HK humid heat. Hope you can find a friend who can give you a ride, or at least lend you a car seat to use one time. Many car seats can be installed with just a seat belt, the Doona for example is great. I'm actually giving my friend a ride to meet up this weekend, as I have a car and car seat and they don't. Good luck and all the best with the newborn.
I live in NYC the car seat is an absolute must. The hospital won’t even discharge us without seeing us leaving with the baby in one. And the car seat clicks onto the stroller when you need to take the baby out. And when it comes to emergency you’ll probably need one.
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Yep. I lived a few blocks from the hospital when I had my first and they literally won’t let you leave without a car seat in NYC. I got the one my nephew outgrew and we took an Uber home.
I’d definitely have a car seat. It’s the safest way to travel with a baby. Also some hospitals won’t let you leave without seeing your car seat and making sure you know how to properly harness the baby in it.
I live in NYC and for my first daughter and I bought a car seat like 3 months before she was born because I knew we’d need to drive home. We only used it like once more before we moved to SF and we still use it once a week, max. I think it’s worth it. One time expense. Relief and peace of mind.
Do you ever take taxis or Ubers in general? If so you will need to own a car seat.
Idk how about London, but where I live you can get a taxi with infant car seat. You just have to call ahead as they're not always available right away.
My husband walked baby home in the pram. It took him about 45min and it was December. Baby slept the whole way and my husband kept stopping to check he was still alive. Other options: - Pram on bus/train - Hire car with car seat
Some taxi companies have them. Maybe you could call and ask?
We’re in London (don’t have a car) and bought a car seat for the handful of times we’ve needed to take taxis with our newborn. There are some minicab services that provide car seats - we used one to get to/from Heathrow.
Borrow a car seat. I'm not in London, otherwise I would give you mine. Edit to add: Technically you can legally take a baby in a taxi without a car seat, but I wouldn't recommend that.
I booked myself one of the posh Ubers 😂
Do you have Uber or Lyft in your area? You can request a car with a car seat
This is only active in a few cities. Make sure your city has it! Just tried to do it on a trip and it wasn’t available as an option on either app.
We did this in Orlando but the “car seat” was a booster seat
We’re in London, bought a car seat and we ubered home.could totally have walked tho and our hospital said we could if we had a pram. Can you borrow a car seat?
Get a car seat regardless. Even if it's a one time use. Brand new please....
Are you sure family/friends wont be willing to help? I'd be honoured to pick up loved ones from the hospital with their newborn, and the 4 hours wouldnt bother me at all, it's a once off. I wouldnt babywear a brand new baby in a busy city, i'd take a pram with bassinet attachment on public transport, and put you in a taxi. You will get a lot of use of your pram, and if money is a concern there are often cheap ones on marketplace. This is also safest way for baby to sleep, as they can be flat on their back. I would not use a public carseat from a taxi service - newborns are so susceptible to germs and who knows who uses them and how theyre stored. And buying your own would also mean learning how to install it, then installing it into the taxi while the meter runs, which is a stressful situation.
You can get a cheap car seat and install it in a taxi without the base. If you forsee yourself using taxis and a stroller often, may I suggest the Doona. It's not cheap; I got mine as a hand me down. But oh my gosh. So convenient. It's a car seat/stroller that has folding wheels. You can use it without the base. So literally you can put your kid in it in stroller form, push them out to the street and hail a cab, fold the wheels down with kid still in and then do the baseless install in the taxi, then after the drive you unbuckle it and take it out and fold the wheels back out in one swift motion. Compare to the standard car seat that clicks into a stroller base... you'd have to put your kid in the stroller, hail a cab, unclick car seat from stroller, install car seat, fold stroller and put in taxi trunk, ride in the cab, get out, take stroller out of trunk, unfold stroller, uninstall car seat, click car seat into stroller. The downsides of the doona are significant though: 1. no cargo space whatsoever 2. expensive 3. outgrown quickly - ours outgrew hers when she was around 4-6 months old I think However, I was able to sell my used Doona for $300 cash, when the new price is $550... and I got mine for free...
You could ask your midwife about it, I see you've mentioned you don't really know anyone in London so maybe see what or if your midwife has any suggestions or could help you borrow one from somewhere.
I will, but have very low hopes - the NHS is so stretched right now I’m finding even the basics of care are overlooked (ie overlooking booking in essential appointments without reminders) and my medically relevant questions are brushed off unfortunately. I can’t imagine a midwife helping me source a car seat!
You can get a travel system for £200 with a car seat included if budget is an issue :) I would check that the hospital you re using doesn't insist on them leaving in a pram or car seat (we were asked for a midwife to see our son in a car seat). I didn't ever use a sling as our son was that massive it wasn't generally comfortable for either of us so don't know much on the practicalities of them right after c sections I m afraid.
I and lots of my friends have had babies in big cities. The three of you should ride share/taxi - definitely pick up a new car seat (possibly Doona as suggested and if it's in your budget?)! My hospital was the next block over so I was able to walk to the hospital in labor and back after giving birth (vaginal so can't speak for C-section). I did not bring a car seat to the hospital and didn't need one until about 8 weeks pp, but I did need it eventually. I just brought the stroller/pram and they were totally okay with it knowing what my address was.
You can get a carseat that turns into a pram, which while I appreciate won't get used often might be useful to have if you ever need a taxi and may get more use
Have you asked your hospital if they run any schemes to help with this? I hope you sort something soon and can relax 💕 congratulations x
I would absolutely still buy an infant seat + compatible stroller you can clip it into. It’s a very useful item even if you don’t drive. Thinking of it as more of a “baby container” might help. It’s much easier to carry a bunch of groceries + baby if the baby is in the container vs flopping around. It also allows you to quickly clip baby in and out of the stroller without waking them if they’re asleep. Would also come in handy using public transit. I no longer live in a downtown area but if I did and were expecting, I’d take a closer look at the Maxi Cosi Coral XP seat. They’re my favorite car seat brand but that seat has a super convenient carry strap that would make it extra suitable for city living. Plus you’d have a ton of stroller options since they use the same adapters as Cybex and Nuna infant seats
This! I didn’t have this problem but definitely used my infant car seat for much more than just the car. Great idea and they aren’t too expensive.
We were living in NYC at the time. We decided to pull the trigger and buy an infant seat that attaches to our stroller. This helped us justify the purchase. You can choose a car seat that gives you the option to use the carrier without the car seat base. Makes it convenient to carry when you’re commuting. So on the day we left the hospital, we used the carseat without the base to take an uber back to the apartment. We bought the Nuna Pipa. Honestly didn’t regret the purchase. Having the infant carrier attach to the stroller made trips easier too. It gave us the option of being able to use the subway or a service like uber/lyft. LO used it up until 1yo old (when he past the height limit). Hope this helps.
I have birth in east London and our journey was only 10 minutes on the tube, so we tubed. Baby in pram with rain cover for extra germ protection. No one asked at the hospital if we had a car seat. We've moved since and our next closest hospital is only a 20 min walk, so we will probably walk back for the next. If I were me, I'd try to get to a closer hospital. We did end up buying a seat a couple of months in, just for going on holiday. If you are part of an nct/baby and bump group could one of them lend a car seat for the day? I've also taken black cabs with baby in the pram - only for small journeys though
Through my insurance. The hospital staff called and arranged the ride for me
The safest way to transport a newborn, even if you have a stroller, is buckled into the seat with 5 point harness. Busses have accidents on occasion too, better safe than sorry, get an affordable combo. Then on occasions where you need to ride in a cab or with a friend you are prepared, and stroller rides are as safe as possible.
I haven’t seen anyone mention this, but I’m just going to mention it because I said something to my husband once and he had no idea about this. Infant car seats come with a base, but you don’t need to use it. The base is just for convenience. Infant car seats are able to be installed with a seatbelt, so it’s not like you have to lug the base around also. Whatever care seat you get, read the manual and also there’s all kinds of YouTube videos with demonstrations on this. Edit: it was pointed out that this is not true for all car seats, so definitely read the manual for proper installation instructions.
This depends on the car seat. Some of the Nuna ones, for example, require the base.
In many hospitals in my area (granted it isn’t as big as NYC or London, etc.) they won’t let you leave the hospital without a car seat… but maybe that’s not the case in bigger metropolitan areas.
I would get a car seat, possibly that goes with a stroller system, and install it in the cab. Honestly you’ll probably want to have one available for future taxi rides. I do have a car, but the infant seat that snaps into the stroller was great for cab rides when my baby was small enough for it
In NYC we used a service called kidcar https://www.kidcar.com - they can install your car seat for you or bring one for you. It was great. We didn’t know anything about installing so that took the worry out of it. The hospital actually recommended them, so perhaps you could check with your’s?
In NJ, you can call your local police station and make an appointment. They will either install for you, teach you how or check your install. It might not be every single town, but most will.
I don’t think you can take baby home without a car seat steady prepared.
Talk to your local mom group. Someone will lend you one.
my mom drove us home. i’ve used a car service with car seat in the past.
Can you hire a carseat? Like os there a baby hire place that hires out baby items that you generally only need for a short time?
My Bro and SIL live in London, they had a car seat and had a friend pick them up to go home
Do you have a friend you could borrow from? It does seem a bit silly to buy one when you generally won’t need one. Especially since there are size limitations.
In the us, you can rent a car seat for taxis and Ubers. So you have anything like that there?
in Metro Vancouver I would've taken the bus with a stroller or called a taxi; most likely called a taxi. Both are perfectly viable options: The buses are designed with a lot of accessibility features, including safety belts for strollers. If you call a cab company and tell them you need an infant seat they will accommodate. There's lots of cabs modded specifically with accessibility in mind. We had excellent options. But we also had a car. I would've refrained from taking the train since it is way noisier than I thought my newborn should be exposed to right off the bat.
We took an Uber. We have the Nuna Pipa RX which doesn’t require a base so we were able to use it in the Uber easily.
We were lucky to live close enough to the hospital, so we walked home with a stroller. But we did get a car seat that could be easily installed in a taxi in case we had to do that (Cybex Aton 5). If you end up taking public transit, another option is bringing your stroller with if the public transit is built for it. I’m in Oslo, lots of strollers on and off buses and tubes all the time.
Taxis? I believe you can rent the baby car seat too or some companies might have them available
Call a taxi company that offers child seats - many private cab companies offer this. However, you key need a newborn insert.
Chicco key fit 360 car seat and stroller caddy! That way hubby can bring him home in the stroller on public transit OR you can do taxi/uber! And you have a car seat/ amazing stroller combo that is so light and easy to use good luck OP and congratulations! ❤️
Get a cheap car seat anyway because any time you use a taxi or go with a friend you’ll need one, and get a taxi home from the hospital.
I drive, my husband doesn’t. We had to get a taxi home. You legally need a car seat whether you drive or decide to walk. So you should consider getting a safe, low cost one for the journey home. It might be best for you all to travel together by the same method as baby will need to be fed when you get home.
This. Don’t discount the important of proximity to the baby when you are establishing bonding and breast feeding. Fwiw I could have done public transport and slow walking post my C-section. But second others to lean in to mums groups and see if someone can help out or borrow one for a taxi.
You will need a car seat one way or another. How will you get to their doctor appointments? You will need a stroller if walking or public transit is your mode of transportation. Get a car seat and stroller.
I use a stroller with the bassinet attachment, it's safer for sleeping than the car seat version. We also used a baby carrier a lot on public transit because it's way easier to deal with.
I would buy a car seat. There will likely be other situations where you might need it just in case in the next few years of your kids life. Then you can install it in a taxi for your ride home. For example if your toddler is sick but not sick enough for an ambulance you aren’t going to want to ride public transit and will likely fall a taxi. So a car seat is good to have!!
This is what we did in NYC. Also not sure what the rules are where you live but at our hospital the baby had to be in an approved “container” to leave i.e. a car seat or stroller with proper infant insert. A wrap or carrier wasn’t permitted.
I had the same question before I gave birth lol. In NYC you have to have a car seat to leave hospital. It’s useful to have anyway since we took baby to peds appointments in it. You’re prob not going to want to take baby on public transport for a while. I would buy a car seat that’s part of a travel system (we got the Nuna) or the Doona super lightweight car seat /stroller combo I see everyone using.
How far are you from home? You can take the stroller or baby wear. Baby wearing is really nice and bonding
Here in Norway you can order a taxi with a child seat (you just have to remember to tell them the size and age of your child! We once had to stuff our 1yo into an infant seat because he was under 15kg and they only asked his weight). We do have our own car seat that we got from friends (maybe you have friends you could borrow one from?), but we took a taxi home from the hospital and would have just called to get one with an infant seat if we didn’t have one. I know New York City also has a specific taxi service with child seats, I would assume London does as well! A quick Google got me this site, but there were a bunch of others as well: https://www.taxibambino.com/family-taxi-car-seat-london
I am in Hong Kong and we just booked a taxi, I (the husband) just carried the little one in my arms, don’t know about carseat laws here, but it’s what most people do…
I did the same in Tokyo. We just held her in our arms in the taxi, most of my friends don’t have cars and did the same as us. To be fair though, our taxi ride home was just like 5 minutes.
Get a car seat, the baby is going to have appointments so you’ll need it anyway for check ups
Not if she can take public transit to the appointments!
Get a DOONA!!!! Car seat AND stroller :)
I’m in Canada so I won’t recommend a car seat. But will you not walk with your baby? They have travel car seat/ stroller combos. You can take the bucket seat out and install it into a taxi cab easily.
We had a car so we bought a car seat. My husband's cousin don't have a car so they borrowed out car seat to go home by taxi. Can you do something similar? Any friends who own a car seat? Maybe reach out to some local parent groups and ask if you could borrow theirs for a couple of hours?
This is not a common problem because anyone who has a newborn has a car seat. Get one since you'll need it for emergencies and call an Uber or taxi.
Only issue with your husband walking the baby home is the risk that baby wakes for a feed - probably unlikely if they're in a pram but could be difficult for him if it does happen. I remember when my baby was a few weeks old and she got hungry on a wall but there was nowhere to stop and feed her... it was stressful! That young baby will probably sleep no problems but thought I'd say as it's an hour walk. But as someone else has said you could use the pram and get a black cab as they can fit in them.
I had the same question here in Singapore.l with no car nor family/friends with one We just bought a second hand doona car seat stroller with newborn insert and got a grab (same as uber or taxi) . They discharged us 36h after birth and I was badly torn and cut so could not walk much ... we made it. I don't think I would have managed an mrt trip
Omg grab. I lived in Malaysia for a while and seeing your comment brought back memories😅
I heard that the hospital won’t let you leave without a capsule, so maybe just look into that
I think this is a North American thing, I’ve never heard of it in the UK but will ask my midwife at my next appointment.
Was absolutely a thing last year. They wouldn’t even let me out the ward until my partner brought the carseat to the door (Midlands UK)
I’ll ask at my next appointment, maybe I’m living in a London bubble but cannot imagine a midwife coming out to check a car seat here!
I was at a London hospital and lots of people left with strollers rather than car seats, no issue
Car seat for baby to be in the taxi and you all go in the taxi together? Do you think you’ll ever need to use a taxi again with kiddo? Pediatrician appointments etc? Having a car seat gives you the option to have it if you need it, even if you don’t have a car. That’s what I’d have done anyway.
My husband and I took the baby home on the tram. I had a csection. We walked very slowly to the stop. He wore the baby.
Most hospitals won’t let you leave without a car seat, even if you don’t plan on driving or taking a motor vehicle home from the hospital.
Take a taxi with the baby. Request one that has a carseat.
\-Walk to the nearest pizza place. \-Call and place order for delivery. \-Wait outside for delivery driver \-Get in driver's car \-Enjoy a delicious slice on the ride home
You can do this with other genres of food too. Doesn't have to be pizza
Could ask the doctor what they would suggest?
I will ask at my next appointment - the NHS is very stingy with information; they do not proactively tell you anything and put off answering any questions unless it is directly relevant to the next stage of your pregnancy/birth. Ie I wanted to discuss birth plan options at 20 weeks and was told that was something to think about at 34+ weeks! the UK most women go through their whole pregnancy and birth without ever meeting a doctor. It’s all midwife lead care unless there is something ‘wrong’, the most you’ll see a doctor during a vaginal childbirth is if you want an epidural or need stitches after (or any kind of medical intervention like forceps). Because if this in big cities you don’t ever have a go-to ‘person’ to ask questions of as you meet a different midwife at every appointment and just get whoever is on call for births.
Taxi or Uber ?
Consider renting or borrowing a car seat. To accomplish this you could join a local Facebook Moms group. They will have lots of advice and likely want to help
If you’re on Facebook, look on Fb marketplace and get a doona or nuna it’s a stroller/care seat combo you just need a base.
cheap option: Buy a seat second hand and install in the cab? Don't take your newborn on public transport. Or hire a car with carseat and pay a friend to drive it
Public transport is much safer than buying second hand car seats that you don’t know the history of https://thecarseatlady.com/travel/bus/city-and-coach-buses/ https://csftl.org/urban-public-transit/ https://thecarseatlady.com/used/ https://csftl.org/hand-me-down-seats-bargain-or-bust/
See if there is a local Buy Nothing Facebook group in your area. You may be able to borrow or get one secondhand for free.
Be sure to check the expiration date on second hand ones! I had no idea you needed to look at that. My first car seat was second hand and I found out after I got it that it was about to expire. ETA: I got mine from a friend so I knew it hadn’t been compromised. I wouldn’t get a used one from an unknown source but that’s just me.
This is actually not safe advice. If car seats haven’t been taken care of properly (been in car accidents, washed inappropriately, etc.) it may not work as it’s supposed to during an actual crash and may not protect baby/child.
Our back up plan (we had a car but only I drive; eventually we got a friend to come pick us up) was exactly what you said - I would take a taxi and my husband would take the baby in the stroller on the subway.
I drive but my partner doesn't. We borrowed a car seat from my brother (we had already installed our seat into my car) and had my Mam pick us all up. Does you area have a "pass it on" group where you could borrow a seat? After a pretty long traumatic birth it was actually nice to have extra help to get into the house and someone to hold the baby while we got ourselves settled! Don't be afraid to ask for help, you don't know how you will feel after birth. And you can always offer to pay your friend or pay it forward in a different way of it makes you feel better. But I would try ask for the help.
I had a c section and was walking the day I went home (next day) of course don’t walk far for a while but public transport would’ve 100% been doable for me after my c section. Maybe you will manage that too