Guide to you length of stay in hospital after birth
If you have access to community midwifery services	6-24 hours
If you don’t have access to community midwifery services and your baby was born by vaginal delivery and you are:
Breastfeeding	48-72 hours
Formula feeding	24-72 hours
If you had a caesarean section	3-5 days

Early Transfer Home (ETH) Service

The ETH service is provided by the community midwives who, if all is well, offer women and babies the opportunity to be discharged from hospital within the first 24 hours following birth.

The midwives visit the postnatal wards every morning to arrange for suitable women and babies to go home. If you would like to consider ETH, please phone 01 817 6849 or 817 6850. If you are not within the catchment area for the ETH service then your public health nurse (PHN) will visit you within two days of leaving hospital.

Travelling home with your baby

Leaving hospital with your new baby is one of the most exciting and scary parts of the whole pregnancy, birth and baby journey. You and your partner will remember your first night at home with your baby forever. If you are taking your baby home by car or taxi you must have an appropriate car seat. It is very dangerous and also illegal to travel without a properly fitted car seat.

You should buy your car seat well before your baby is due to be born. You and your partner should become very familiar with the seat and know how to fit it correctly and safely into a car. Babies up to 13 kgs (29 lbs) must be strapped into the seat, which must face the rear of the car – not the front. Never put a rear facing baby seat into the front passenger seat of the car where an airbag is fitted. If the airbag was ever activated, even in a small accident, the airbag could severely injure or even kill your baby. For further information on car safety, please check the website: www.rsa.ie