Question about car seats and premature babies

My wife and I brought our children home last night after 7 days in the NICU. They were born at 34 1/2 weeks and one weighs slightly over 4 pounds, and the other weighs slightly under 4 pounds.

The NICU informed us that they must use their own car seats, that we would take with us, for their car seat tests. Each baby passed and we were told we could talk them home. After all the paperwork, we packed up and were ready to go, except for one major problem-- we could not get the straps tight enough. Our nurse started to pack blankets around them, until another nurse told us that was not acceptable. We were told we could go home and get our own seats at that point, but I am stubborn and refused, since the refused to test their breathing in my car seats.

We ended up going home with both in car beds. We were very fortunate that we have an SUV with a third row, since the beds will only go in on the passenger side of the car.

So, my question is this-- we have our first peds appointment tomorrow. I am not sure if I should take them in the beds, or use our car seats (they do fit in ours, but their breathing has not been tested in them). The hospital freaked me out so much about breathing in the car seats that we were not planning to use ours until at least 3 months, but at the 11th hour, they were willing to switch to ours to get them home.

Has anyone had experience with this that can offer some advice?

Thanks!

 

Take them in the car beds until they have been retested in your seats. Bring your seats along to the appointments.

 

What kind of seats do you have? We had the Graco snugrides and they are supposed to be for babies over 5lbs. We brought the girls home a little over 4lbs each, but they passed their car seat tests in our seats. When we brought them home, we rolled up towels around them. Here is a picture: http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc66/ll...er/DSC00020.jpg

The other question is how far is the pedi's office from home? We only had a 5 minute ride and I rode in back with them in the car to our first pedi appointment. If in doubt, call the pedi's office and explain the situation and see if you need to use the car bed or your seats.

GL and congratulations on your babies! -Leighann

 

Please do not take offense to this, but cloths around them to hold them in is not safe enough for me. It does not really matter how far the office is from our house for me as I am not risking anything. I have a friend who was killed pulling out of his driveway, so distance is not a matter of discussion for me.

I never thought about having the peds dr retesting. That is a great idea.

 

We have the Graco snugrides as well and they tested them at the hospital. I'm not sure why they wouldnt' test your car seats/

Regardless, we did have to roll up receiving blankets and use them for a while. The nurses are the ones who showed us this.

Good Luck!

 

QUOTE(MarkL @ Feb 13 2008, 10:32 AM) [snapback]619689[/snapback]
Please do not take offense to this, but cloths around them to hold them in is not safe enough for me. It does not really matter how far the office is from our house for me as I am not risking anything. I have a friend who was killed pulling out of his driveway, so distance is not a matter of discussion for me.

I never thought about having the peds dr retesting. That is a great idea.



No offense taken. I totally understand! The NICU nurses were the ones who did this- and tested them that way since our girls were a little smaller than the recommended weight for the SnugRides. If you are at all uncomfortable continue to use the car beds and then talk to the pedi about when you can use your seats (and where you can get them tested in them). GL!

 

Ditto- use the car beds until you feel safe using the car seats. If that means retesting them in your seats (which I'm kinda confused why the hospital didn't do that to begin with...) but please retest them! Don't take your kids anywhere when you don't feel safe about! Trust your parental gut!

 

I had graco Snugrides for my girls when they came home too and they passed their breathing tests in them just fine and I also had no problems with the straps. They were born at just about the same time as yours and also spent just 1 week in the NICU.

I am totally neuotic (sp?) about how their car seat straps fit. For the trip home from the hospital we had 1 receiving blanket rolled up and used as the head positioner since the one with the seat was just way too big. Then my DH went out and got Snuzzlers for them. Those were the best things ever to have in the carseats. You should be able to find them at Babies R Us.

Here is a link to the Snuzzler: Snuzzler

 

My babies were small too. We rolled up two blankets and put them on each side of them in the seat to kind of wedge them in tighter. I know they say not to do this, but it works.

 

QUOTE(AliPaige717 @ Feb 13 2008, 11:21 AM) [snapback]619795[/snapback]
I had graco Snugrides for my girls when they came home too and they passed their breathing tests in them just fine and I also had no problems with the straps. They were born at just about the same time as yours and also spent just 1 week in the NICU.

I am totally neuotic (sp?) about how their car seat straps fit. For the trip home from the hospital we had 1 receiving blanket rolled up and used as the head positioner since the one with the seat was just way too big. Then my DH went out and got Snuzzlers for them. Those were the best things ever to have in the carseats. You should be able to find them at Babies R Us.

Here is a link to the Snuzzler: Snuzzler



We had to do car seat challenges as well as mine were born before 37 weeks and we had 2 snuzzlers. The hospital made us take them out and used rolled up blankets instead. Apparently the snuzzlers are a fire hazard and because they go between the baby and the seat increase the risk of them slipping.

That being said, as soon as we got home we put them in as they are designed for that purpose and the whole rolled up blanket thing seemed unsafe to me!

 

I would only do what you feel comfortable doing. If the car beds are the only thing that you have that passed inspection then I would use those until you get your carseats tested. I also used rolled up recieving blankets but it was for support not to make them fit in the seats better. Is that how yours worked leighann? Mine girls were 5lbs 13oz & 5lbs 11oz. good luck and hope you get everything worked out. I also had head rest for my carseats but they did not work and the nurses said that if the headrests came with the carseats we could use them but nothing else like my kiddopotamus snuggly thing.

 

Mine were born at 34 1/2 weeks and they never even checked to make sure the kids were safely strapped into their carseats. They just checked to make sure we had them????!!!!! No breathing tests, no buckle checks, nothing. So I have no clue?! I would have brought them in their carseats, since I would not have known any better.

 

ditto Kate except we did have them checked in the seats just no testing done. Mine were born at 35 weeks 4 days... We brought them home weighing 3 lbs 9 oz and 4 lbs 7 oz in the graco snugrides and they made sure they were secure but we got no arguements on them. By their two week appointment they were already 5.2 and 4.10 so all in all we made it work. Goo dluck do what seems safe to you.

 

QUOTE(CROSSTWINS @ Feb 13 2008, 11:53 AM) [snapback]619843[/snapback]
I also used rolled up recieving blankets but it was for support not to make them fit in the seats better. Is that how yours worked leighann?


Yup.. the straps were plenty tight even though they were tiny. The blankets were there to keep them from falling to one side.

 

We were not given a choice on what they would let us do. I am actually pretty peeved about the whole thing as their policy is bad. It is totally crazy that a hospital will dictate what car seat we can use, then tell us that their car seat will not work. It is just so stupid on so many levels. The story actually goes much deaper than what I posted, but I doubt many of you would want to read a novel, so I just gave you the most important parts.

 

QUOTE(MarkL @ Feb 13 2008, 12:45 PM) [snapback]619950[/snapback]
We were not given a choice on what they would let us do. I am actually pretty peeved about the whole thing as their policy is bad. It is totally crazy that a hospital will dictate what car seat we can use, then tell us that their car seat will not work. It is just so stupid on so many levels. The story actually goes much deaper than what I posted, but I doubt many of you would want to read a novel, so I just gave you the most important parts.


Sounds super annoying! Did they at least provide the car beds or did you have to go to a medical supply place and rent them? GL with everything, Leighann

 

QUOTE(Leighann @ Feb 13 2008, 12:47 PM) [snapback]619952[/snapback]
Sounds super annoying! Did they at least provide the car beds or did you have to go to a medical supply place and rent them? GL with everything, Leighann


The hospital gave us the car beds. What we will do with them now? No idea. Can't imagine having a use for them more than a week or two. THe kids are small, but they barely fit in them now.

 

We took a car seat safety class before ours were born - and they gave us some great pointers:

- the rolled up towels or blankets on the sides just help support their heads - they don't do anything to make the fit of the straps better, but it is perfectly safe to do this to help hold their heads up - as long as you aren't doing anything to interfere with the way the straps fit around their chest & shoulders. It also helps the baby feel more secure in the seat.

- they told us that if you can't get the straps tight enough, that you can roll up something (washcloth, burp cloth, small blanket, whatever fits) and put it between their legs - to take up the excess space between the center leg strap and the baby. this will help keep the baby in the right position in the seat (not sliding down), and allow you to snug up the straps tight enough without interfering with the 5-point harness fit. I don't have a picture to help illustrate this, as we never ended up needing to do it, but hopefully it makes sense.

this class was taught by a certified car seat safety instructor, so I believe the advice they gave is sound, and safe.

good luck. and congrats on getting them home!

 

Mine weren't quite as small as yours but were still under the 5 lb mark for our graco snugrides. We used those to bring them home from the NICU, but they had been tested in them. If I were you I would use the carbeds just until you talk to the Ped. Also, something we found out about in the NICU, unless the head supports you use for the babies came with the carseats (boxed as a set), you shouldn't use them. They haven't been tested for safety in those seats. We had to take them out and use the hospital blankets rolled around them. But the other pps were right, that the straps still had to be snug. The blankets were only for support so they wouldn't slouch in the seat (which could affect breathing).
I know your quite annoyed with the hospital, but maybe if you brought them back with your seats, they might be willing to put them on monitors to test them. Most likely, your seats are somewhat better than the hospitals.
I hope your not having to deal with monitors too. They are quite the pain (security yes), but so frustrating.
Hope that helps.
CONGRATULATIONS ON BRINGING YOUR NEW BABIES HOME!!!!!!!!!