Bringing bub home - capsule or convertible car seat?

[chubbycheeks]

Hi,
We have a premmie bub who's still in the hospital's nursery. When she's ready to go home, her weight will be 1.8Kg only since she is premature. We bought a convertible carseat which is supposed to be suitable from birth but when we checked with the manufacturer they advised we should use a capsule carseat instead due to her size (which means more $$) :no:
Please let me know what do parents of premmie babies use to transport their bubs home... thanks.

[Chumps]

My bub wasn't premmie, but was tiny at 2.2kg. We took him home in a convertible car seat, but must admit, thought it was going to swallow him up whole :laughing: . The buckle took up almost his whole body size!!!!. I've seen in another post you can hire car seat capsules for very reasonable prices. Check out in your area what is available.

[Lirael]

I would use a capsule with a very small bub.

[mm85]

what about if you hire a capsule for a few months.... its not too expensive and that why you dont have to disturb her to take her in and out

[chubbycheeks]

Thanks all for your advice... sounds like capsule's the way to go. We made an enquiry for hire $50 a month plus $20 for instal. Seems like it's not that much cheaper than buying one??

[Milliner]

I would hire a capsule they cost around $60 for 6 months in melb so thats pretty cheap at only $10 a month. They make life a lot easier too.

[Shajbm]

My twins were premmies and we took them home in capsules. Here in Melbourne they cost $77 plus deposit. The company here is Maxam, perhaps they exist where you are too!!

Good luck with it.

[mum2my4]

I had capsules for my premmies as well as special head supports. Each time I paid $60 for 6months with a $30 deposit. Your hospital should be able to give you the number of the local company.

How is everything going with your girl? I had one of mine at 28wks.

[MummyCharmzy]

DS was 1890 grams when he came home from hospital at almost 6 weeks, he was in a capsule with special insert and also propped up with a towel but still tiny in it!

If your planning on having more children I'd buy a capsule but otherwise hiring might bethe cheaper option. Can always buy new and resell though as they seem to resell quite well :)

hope this helps

[chubbycheeks]

Made a few enquiries and Snug as a Bug offers the best - $64 + 7 (for capsule+special head support) for 3 mths + $20 deposit. I'm in Sydney btw. If you're in Syd, which company did you go with? 3 mths should be sufficient, do u think? After that I'm assuming we can use the convertible car seat.
Bub will be 4 weeks old this Saturday :yelclap: . She's doing well at SCN now weighing 1570gms. I had her at 29wks.

[Shajbm]

Chubbycheeks, great news about your little girl and great weight. Keep up the good work. I have hired it for 6 or so months, but they are starting to get heavier in them and I'm not sure how much longer I will leave them in there. You can also just leave the capsules in the car and use as a reversable car seat and take her out each time.

I find the capsules useful albeit heavy because premmies tend to sleep a lot and it's such a pain in the b*** to pick them up and wake them. If they are asleep you just take the capsule and they remain undisturbed. Use the capsule for as long as possible.

[mumo5]

I've had 2 prems (my oldest and youngest). With my oldest I used a capsule and it was convenient to just take the capsule out of the car with the baby sound asleep. With my youngest who's 3 months now but he left hospital weighing a smidge over 2kgs I used a convertible car seat. It was quite fidgety getting the little darling out (if I could find him hiding in the seat :laughing: ) but he didn't stir because he was so immature (he still wasn't full term when he was discharged). Anyway.. to get to my point.. I feel it's what you feel comfortable with as I found both to be sufficient. I couldn't afford to get a seperate capsule and car seat with my youngest so having both wasn't an option for me. When my oldest was born they still had the velcro strap in the capsules which was not very practical with such a little one.. her arms were up in the air cause the strap was too big and made it impossible for her to put her little arms down but I think they're made with buckles now which are the same size as the car seat buckles.
Good luck and I know this may have confused you more but from a personal point of view there are pros and cons with both. And congrats on your beautiful little treasure sweetie. Take care :)

[bootiful]

Steph was 1.9kg when brought her home from the hospital (born 31w 5d - released 4 weeks later).

I had a safe-n-sound royale retractor convertible car seat...i just put some blankets underneath and she was strapped in tightly.

You dont need to go into extra costs...just make sure she is in there snug as a bug...

[Sheer Bliss]

We have the safe'n'sound AHR convertible model - it has the extra padding etc for more head support, just like a capsule (i e-mailed britax to check - they said it provided the same safety levels as a capsule). DS was 2.2kg when he can home from hospy.

But if you already have a convertible - the capsule sounds like the way to go.

I'd definately advise AGAINST putting blankets etc under bubs. Our instructions specifically say not to do that, it is not safe.

[onabreak]

I had a prem baby at 29 weeks and we used a capsule for DD when we finally got to bring her home. We hired it from Qld Ambulance for 6 months for $60.

[Lozie]

u can hire cupsules from the ambos but u have to book it before ur due date and it gets fitted about 2 weeks before then but if u call and explain ur situation u might be lucky, the cost about $55 for 6 months. hope thats helped.

[Nowhere]

i would get a capsule my DD was at her dischrge weight 2.5 and way to samll for the convertabvle safe and sound royale i used lots of padding around her but i so wish i had bought a capsule they have soe really padded ones in target that are birth to 12 kilos the other good thing about them is you can get bub all organised in the capsule whilst in the house and then just clip into the car and also if bub fals asleep in the car its easier to take the whole capsule inside rather than disterbing and waking them up

[giblet]

I am brining my premmie home in one week. I spoke to car seat distributors and they said it depends on what convertible car seat you have. Some have a premmie setting, others dont and cannot be considered safe. Ask the people where you bought it and they can refer you to someone that knows. I have a safe n sound medina which come in 3 settings. Setting 1 is for a premmie and full term ones never even use it and goto setting 2. the cheaper models dont have this setting and so a capsule must be used. Hope this helps.

[mogsy79]

hey there my dd was premature,i used a convertable car seat to bring her home. she looked tiny but we always had a head support for her you get them in target for as little as $10 my daughter was fine in the car seat.

[defaipe]

i would definitely buy or hire a capsule. even just simple things like putting bub in before walking out the door of your house will make it so much easier.
my two youngest are in babylove carseats that have a special newborn setting on the straps.. much lower for smaller babies. if i had a prem or even just a small bub i would be getting a capsule for sure! i had one with dd#1 & #2 and loved it to bits. there wasnt really a point tho for dd#3 as she goes in a double pram.. we had the capsule that fit into the stroller. best buy ever! imo.

[HoopDeeDoo]

I've had too prems, and both came home in capsules we hired, even though I had already purchased convertable car seats, because they are just simply safer and more contained. Plus like someone else mentioned they sleep a lot and it's hard getting them in and out of the car if they are in a car seat, but you can just lift the capsule out without disturbing them too much :thumbsup:

[kirstyE]

Hi I had a prem bub and we brought her home in a convertible car seat but made sure we bought the dearer meridan safe and sound as it had extra padding that fits the carseat properly for smaller babies. She was tiny in it but snug as a bug with the extra padding.

[bugaboome]

We had a safe n sound unity capsule, which was great. However.... I had a c/s and found that it was too heavy to carry around, so there was no benefits for us, we may as well just had a normal car seat cos I had to get her in & out of the capsule the whole time... Next time around we'll go straight for the convertible car seat & save the money....
Hope this helps.

[sarahbelle]

our ds was 5 weeks premmie and 4oz. We bought him home in the convertable car seat but you can buy special premmie inserts to go in them so that they fit better. He did look tiny in it but it was safe and therefore did the trick.