washing baby after its born

[Nikki_d72]

That sounds awful right enough! Put it in your birth plan? How ridiculous, to clean away the baby's natural defenses in a hospital environment, full of alien bacteria and sick people, doesn't make any sense at all! You tell em, girl!

 

[lozzy21]

Niamh was spot cleaned when she was a few hours old as she was coverd in meconium but they only cleaned where the poo was, she wasent bathed for a week.

 

[Kess]

Just been talking to my Mom and she ways when I was born she really wanted to leave me be, she knew the vernix is good for the skin and antibacterial and told them not to bath me. They over-rode her wishes with, "You don't want a dirty baby, now, do you? You want a nice clean baby," and took me to be washed anyway. Grrrr.

thats frustrating >.< and exactly what i dont want to happen. i think we will just be very firm and clear on our decision.

And perhaps keep a physical hold of your baby. Tbh my Mom is too nice a person, she won't get stroppy enough with anyone who's bulldozing her wishes even when she should. I think in those circumstances maybe Momma Bear needs to come out.

 

[chichestermum]

i didnt bathe my DD until about a week and a half when her body had absorbed al the vernix, its their own antibacterial moisturising layer of safeness, no need for it to get scrubbed off! I did wipe her face with cotton wool that had been dipped in cooed boiled water, i only used this for her botty too. i used to squirt a bit of breastmilk on her eyes daily, usually at the end of the day to prevent any infections. Her first bath was just warm tap water and i didnt introduce any soap until 3 months. if she had any scratches from her nails id express some breast milk onto a cotton bud and wipe it over and let it dry as a bit of a barrier and it seemed to help them heal faster.

im going to be doing the exact same thing with DD2.

Just stand your ground with the staff and they will realise you are not a woman to be messed with they can't make you do anything you don't want to do and if they try then you can have a go at them, complain, scream and shout your head of until they get flung out! OTT? i dont think so, its your baby and even tho he/she will only be a few mins old you are still the parent and so make all the parenting choices! xxx

 

[Greta Chick]

What you described your neice went through is awful!

None of my babies were bathed or even properly wiped down when they were born. DS was born on dry land and was passed straight onto me where I cuddled him and breastfed him for about half an hour then he was just wrapped in a blanket (not wiped or anything) and given to hubby for cuddles while I had lots of stitches. DD1 was born in the birthing pool striaight onto my chest so was naturally cleaned by the water. I cuddled and breastfed her for about an hour before she was wrapped and given to hubby for cuddles while I delivered the placenta - she was also not wiped at all. DD2 was born on dry land in my living room at home and was again not wiped at all. I brought her up to my chest and cuddled and breastfed her for about 30 minutes sat on the floor, then she had skin to skin with hubby while I had a small tear stitched up. At no point were my children ever wiped down or scrubbed, I wouldn't have allowed it.

DS was bathed in the hospital, DD1 wasn't bathed until about a week old and DD2 wasn't properly bathed until she was 5 weeks old. She had vernix still on her and I wanted to make sure that had properly soaked into her skin so we just topped and tailed her with cotton wool until then.

I also loved the smell that they all had when they were first born and when they were bathed, they only had plain water until quite a few months old. They don't need anything else.

I am very defiant with what I want to happen for my labours/deliveries so if they try and do something not what I want then I will tell them straight.

xx

 

[Saljae]

My boys were bathed in the hospital by a nurse on the second day (I think). The first time I was grateful because I was a first time mom and was scared of doing everything wrong. The second time I was kind of annoyed because I felt like they were treating me as though I'm incompetent to bathe my own son and the nurse just seemed very rushed and uncaring. But that was kind of the theme for my second time in the hospital. I was SO wanting to be out of there and away from the nurses who treated me like I didn't already have a child and hadn't been through this before.

 

[lynnikins]

neither of my boys were cleaned at all i requested warm water and cotton wool to clean Ds1's hair as it needed it and was messing with the ventouse brusing and to wipe his little cheeks etc.. and just to wipe ds2's face clean but stayed away from his eyes, they both only got cotton wool and water to clean them for the first week and had their first bath after a bout a week too

 

[moodle]

You can put "I do not consent to..." on your birth plan, I don't see what the issue is as there's no valid medical reasoning for washing a baby!

 

[Linzi]

Yeah seth didn't have a bath til after his cord dropped off (I topped & tailed him obvs but tbh I was too scared to put him in the bath on my own ) I think he was just rubbed with a towel. I would like to do the same this time although I would like to do it rather than a midwife.

Also with eyes, I think it's fairly common for babies to have gunky eyes after they're born, Seth had blocked tear ducts from birth & had them corrected at 3 yrs (although the majority clear up on their own by 1 yr). Best practice for gunky eyes when they're babies is breastmilk & massaging with your little finger between the nose & eye to get the gunk out. If there is no gunk there's not really any need to do anything.

xxx