We live 3 blocks from the hospital where my son was born. Under hospital policy, walking our newborn home was too deemed dangerous and so we were required to drive him home in a car instead.
And if you think that is crazy, consider that many States do not permit parents to bring toddlers on bicycles either. Because, you know, cars and SUVs are sooo much safer.
Systemic Failure 
I think part of the motivation is to prevent baby snatching, which is still a problem in many maternity wards. Hospital staff will notice you pulling up a car to take the baby away, but it’s easier to sneak off on foot.
Still, that shouldn’t limit the actual parent from checking out of the hospital and walking out the door. There are better ways to prevent baby theft.
Ok, I’m going to have to call BS on this. Baby snatching? I have no recollection of hearing of any babies snatched from any local maternity ward — and we live in the world of Amber alerts where any child that is 10 minutes late for dinner becomes the subject of live helicopter news coverage and 100 person manhunts.
I’m not saying it has never happened. I’m saying that the suggestion that snatchings are “a problem in many maternity wards” is preposterous.
A quick Google finds a Slate article took a look at this hysteria (and hysteria is exactly what it is). http://www.slate.com/id/2243732/
Time to turn the Lifetime Network off.
A problem? I don’t know – but it is certainly something maternity wards put a lot of effort, resources, and policy into preventing. When my nephew was born, both his parents were outfitted with RFID bracelets to match his – if he was anywhere but in the nursery, he had to be in range of Mom or Dad or there’d be an alarm. They take this shit serious – whether or not that’s justified is another matter.
If someone doesn’t have a car, are they expected to rent one? Will the hospital drive you home?
Theres an irony here in that constant car use is a bassinet for grown up babies.
But how?!? How can they ‘require’ you to do anything, at least outside of hospital premises? I’d have flipped them off.
That is exactly right! Under what authority does any hospital worker control your means of taking your baby home?
What would they do if you refused their direction? Take your baby from you? Call the police?
If you road off on the back of a motorcycle with your newborn, you would likely be reported to family services, but walking?
“I’d like to report an incident of child abuse. A family just left with their new born and walked 3 blocks”.
I agree entirely. While what you do on hospital grounds is covered (you MUST be transported from your room in a wheelchair, blah, blah), I can’t imagine them not handing over your kid.
What’s the nurse (unlikely) or hospital volunteer going to do — take the kid back?
In a similar vein, on the night after my daughter was born, I was carrying her, walking with her through the hallway of the maternity ward to try to get her back to sleep. A nurse saw me and gave me a tongue lashing for deigning to carry the baby and not use the rolling bassinets the hospital provides. Before my son was born a year ago, in a different hospital, I thought to ask whether this was policy there also, and of course, it was. I gather that liability is the issue here, but really? This was very jarring for me. Having a baby is sort of frightening with the weight and responsibility of it, and the message that the hospital sends is that you can’t even be trusted to carry the baby around.
With our kids, the hospital scheduled a final quick check of the child when you are readt to leave. You don’t get the child back til they see the car seats are properly installed.
Then they double check/assist you in putting the baby in the car seat.
If you’re planning to put the baby in a car, it makes sense (at least arguably) for the hospital to make sure you have a car seat, and that you’re using it correctly. A Car is are dangerous; it can go really fast, and it can cause damage to a baby if it comes to a sudden stop.
Walking is a lot less dangerous, even for a newborn. The hospital should encourage it.
I recognize that organizations put together rules they feel will allow a mass of people to work together smoothly. These rules inevitably will make some assumptions about how the world works, and some of these assumptions will lead to some rules being a PITA.
Thus, I’ll usually go with the flow until I hit a boundary condition, where my interests part ways with the organization, *and* I’m about to depart their jurisdiction. This sometimes requires a bit of preplanning, so that I can assert my right to unplug from their system with the best odds of success.
The fact of the matter is that you can’t be required to possess or utilize a car. So, the alternatives in this scenario are to either try to work with an anal hospital staff well ahead of time to recognize this reality, or plan to take advantage of your physical possession of your child as you’re signing out.
These systems and procedures were discussed in the Slate article I linked to.
What hospital was that?! Unbelievable. I’m giving birth at GW, and they are clear on the website that they only require the car seat install *if you are taking the baby home in a car.* Absolutely ridiculous!
Okay, so all I had was a simple operation on a broken thumb, but the hospital I was at would not let me walk back to my apartment nor in a wheelchair (my wife helping me of course) despite the fact that I lived not 600 feet from the hospital. I was driven home.
They’re likely trying to ensure that no one gets out of buying a carseat by claiming that they’re walking home and then jumping into a car parked down the block. On the one hand, I’d like to see them try to remove a child from parental care based on that report. On the other hand, all it takes is one judge to sign the order and now you’re in juvenile court. Far easier just to comply. Which is what lets them get away with these draconian rules. Who wants to make their own kid be the test case?
While also (I’m told) one of its greatest joys, there a few greater liabilities in life than being a parent. Pretty much any act of political cowardice, any refusal to get involved or stand up for yourself or your fellow citizens, any acceptance of shitty working conditions, police brutality, corrupt legislative systems, or any other injustice you’d like to name, any apathy at all, really, is immediately excused and forgiven by the magic words, “I’ve got kids to feed.”
Who can argue with that without coming off as the world’s biggest tool? Even when it’s clearly total bullshit, and the person in question would have done the exact same lazy/cowardly thing had they not reproduced a few years ago, their refusal to challenge the system is not only accepted but sometimes celebrated as the responsible course of action, even when it means condemning those precious children to the same miseries in 30 years that their parents are currently enduring.
Sorry, what were we talking about?
They have another weapon. They could refuse to discharge baby without a car and car seat. This would require the parents to sign the baby out against ‘doctors orders’ and in doing so risk the possibility that the insurance company would not pay the bill.
My mother winters in Florida and had a minor medical issue that hospitalized her. She wanted to leave to go home to her own doctor. She was advised that she could sign herself out, but that Medicare would not pay the bill. She had already been in 3 days so you can bet the bill was substantial.
Times are changing. I had an appendectomy almost 20 years ago, and the hospital let me walk out, in pajamas and robe with a rolling IV rack, to go to the park next door with a visiting friend.
I guess nowdays they wouldn’t like the joint we smoked, either.
Next time try a home birth. Is not for everyone or every situation, but if you live 3 blocks from the hospital, conditions sound ideal.
Proved a deeply fulfilling experience for us and you’ll enjoy the absence of nonsensical institutional directives.
This kind of hospital stupidity is not limited to the maternity ward.
My friend had minor day surgery. She was only allowed to leave with someone who drove their own car. She was not allowed to have a friend take her home by walking, transit, taxi, or in a rented car.
What possible purpose could it serve to prevent people from being driven home by a friend in a Zipcar?