Why am I baking my babies clothes? - Page 3

[alegna]

Originally Posted by greenhands

plenty of non-nurse midwives request clean sheets, towels, receiving blankets, hat etc. be prepped this way, so NO I don't think it is a medical background thing at all.

As has been mentioned by several midwives in this thread, this is an outdated and unneeded step.

-Angela

[the_lissa]

Originally Posted by greenhands

brown paper bags are readily available, something most every household has on hand, sturdy, & easily labeled.

a pan of water is placed in the oven with the bags to prevent scorching. paper doesn't burn until it hits 451 degrees F. (I did attend a birth where the bag in the oven caught on fire--later discovered the dad had turned the oven way up so he could make a pizza, without first checking to see if anything was inside!)

plenty of non-nurse midwives request clean sheets, towels, receiving blankets, hat etc. be prepped this way, so NO I don't think it is a medical background thing at all.

I think 'sterile' is overemphasized--really the purpose is to have clean items for the birth set aside and ready to go, so the midwife doesn't have to hunt for anything or be asking mama lots of unnecessary questions while she's in labor.

You can have clean items set aide without baking them or putting them in a paper bag.

[mama_ani]

I think having clean towels, blankets, baby clothes etc is a good idea... but baking them goes a bit far for me, if I was going to bake anything for my midwife I'd bake brownies.

[alegna]

Originally Posted by mama_ani

I think having clean towels, blankets, baby clothes etc is a good idea... but baking them goes a bit far for me, if I was going to bake anything for my midwife I'd bake brownies.

:

Much more practical

-Angela

[paintedbison]

I don't think it's a nurse thing. In hospitals, the clothes that go on babies and the blankets they are wrapped in are not sterile. The gowns that patients wear and babies rub up against are not sterile.

I delivered with CNMs at a birth center. They said "bring clothes and diapers for the baby". That was the end of the clothing instructions.

[layla983]

My son was a hospital birth & right after delivery, he was placed in clothes we brought from home for him & after my shower, I stayed in clothing brought from home as well. No way I was going to wear or keep DS in the hospital clothing. Even the "everything needs to be sterile!" people at the hospital didn't have a problem with us using our own stuff.

[NaturalMindedMomma]

I did that. It was for warmth. I was supposed to do them right before the birth. Have them ready and someone put them in the oven at 200 degrees. But yours sounds like a totally different reason. HMMM

[onelilguysmommy]

never heard of that1 ive heard of warming in the oven when in the last bit of labor but thats it..and could be more easily/safely done in the dryer (as far as zippers etc go) anyway.

[UptownZoo]

Huh. I didn't think anybody did that anymore! I remember doing it for my 13 yo DD's birth, but not when I was preparing for my 6 yo DS's birth.

[Christine4kiddos]

Hi... live in NH and it is pretty darn cold in the winter... have had pre-warmed packages in the oven at all of my homebirths... towels/hat for baby for right after birth.. first outfit/another dry hat... and a third which was just a nightgown/shirt for me...very cozy! Now that I am completing my internship, I have seen situations that cause a midwife to re-evaluate how she requests parents to assemble their birth kit. Drafty houses, mom who is extra hot in labor and has a fan going while the rest of us freeze , and a couple of... well, honestly, very dirty homes. Maybe the midwife in question just is covering all the bases and wants to know without a doubt that there are clean things for the baby... easier to ask everyone than to wait and snoop out the home and figure out who needs to "go the extra mile" lol.

In the end, the best thing to do is to always ask your midwife if you don't understand why she is asking you to do something... all part of informed choice/open communication.

I also think the heating pad works great, if you own one!

[CanidFL]

Wow this is really old school! I can understand in cool climates baking items for the warmth but not to sterilize them. If you don’t want to go through the hassle than just wash and dry like normal so they are clean.

Originally Posted by LiLStar

Last time, my MW didn't tell me to bake anything, but she did tell me to have sheets, towels, baby clothes, etc in *brown* paper bags, stapled shut. Emphasis on brown. Why brown?

She may have done that so everything is organized and ready for the birth. My midwife has all her clients put all the clean items (clothes, sheets, towels, etc), olive oil, etc for the birth in a laundry basket. That way it’s all together and organized and she doesn't need to be searching the house for the birthing items.

[amandamcgrady]

[QUOTE=Christine4kiddos;12875086]Drafty houses, mom who is extra hot in labor and has a fan going while the rest of us freeze , and a couple of... well, honestly, very dirty homes. Maybe the midwife in question just is covering all the bases and wants to know without a doubt that there are clean things for the baby... easier to ask everyone than to wait and snoop out the home and figure out who needs to "go the extra mile" lol.[QUOTE=Christine4kiddos;12875086]


I always wondered what happens in the situation of a VERY DIRTY HOUSE. I wondered if the Midwife would refuse, or be uncomfortable like not want to sit anywhere. I think the TV show "clean house" got me thinking about this LOL. Were all on here saying that our germs at home are fine etc etc, but some peoples ARENT. Anyway, thats just something I started wondering about.

[amandamcgrady]

Originally Posted by Christine4kiddos

Drafty houses, mom who is extra hot in labor and has a fan going while the rest of us freeze , and a couple of... well, honestly, very dirty homes. Maybe the midwife in question just is covering all the bases and wants to know without a doubt that there are clean things for the baby... easier to ask everyone than to wait and snoop out the home and figure out who needs to "go the extra mile" lol.

I always wondered what happens in the situation of a VERY DIRTY HOUSE. I wondered if the Midwife would refuse, or be uncomfortable like not want to sit anywhere. I think the TV show "clean house" got me thinking about this LOL. We are all on here saying that our germs at home are fine etc etc, but some peoples ARENT. Anyway, thats just something I started wondering about. I wondered if a home birth would be allowed in that kind of situation.

[Ruthla]

Two things:

One, the "bake the baby's clothing" birth was in late 1994, and I honestly don't remember if I did it again for my 2nd birth 16.5 months later. Maybe it wasn't the midwife's suggestion but that of a friend with older kids? Maybe the MW changed her mind on the necessity of baking birth supplies in the 16m between my two births?

Secondly, the MW made a home visit towards the end of pg. Partly it was so she could find the house so she'd have an easier time finding it when I was in labor, and partly it may have been to check things out. I wonder what she would have done for a client who lived in squalor; if she'd refuse to attend the birth after working with the woman for 8 months.

[UptownZoo]

Originally Posted by amandamcgrady

I always wondered what happens in the situation of a VERY DIRTY HOUSE. I wondered if the Midwife would refuse, or be uncomfortable like not want to sit anywhere. I think the TV show "clean house" got me thinking about this LOL. We are all on here saying that our germs at home are fine etc etc, but some peoples ARENT. Anyway, thats just something I started wondering about. I wondered if a home birth would be allowed in that kind of situation.

I actually asked my midwives about this once. I got to thinking about it after I visited a friend whose house smelled SOOO bad, I couldn't stand to stay there.

My midwives said they'd never encountered a house that was so dirty it was unsafe (they said they saw lots of houses crowded with too much stuff, and lots of cluttery, messy houses, but none that were truly filthy). If they did go to a house at the 37 week visit that was truly too dirty to be safe (or was unsafe for some other reason), they said they would offer to attend the birth at some other place - maybe at a friend or relative's house, but most likely at their own space (they had a birthing room in the little house where their offices were where some women chose to have their babies for a variety of reasons, mostly because they lived too far out of the city).

But, like I said, they'd never had it happen, and between the two midwives, they'd attended hundreds of births.

[rockportmidwife]

We have done a 2 births for a couple that had a really dirty house. The first time was when I was just starting out as a student. I thought the midwife would risk her out, because it was that bad. Her reasoning for not was that she was going to end up bringing the baby home to that anyway. We just made sure to keep our stuff sterile, brought camp chairs to sit on, and a blowup mattress to sleep on to compensate.

[amandamcgrady]

Originally Posted by rockportmidwife

We just made sure to keep our stuff sterile, brought camp chairs to sit on, and a blowup mattress to sleep on to compensate.

Wow. I know there are places like this out there from once again the TV show "Clean House" and the fact that when we were looking into buying houses and some of the houses we looked at were SOOO Dirty I couldn't stand the smell of being in them either.

Poor Midwives. But they are right- the baby is gonna end up right back in it as soon as it leaves the hospital, theres not much that can be done I suppose.

Thanks for all the comments Ladies, Since my OP I have bagged up all the necessities in yes *Brown* paper bags lol but I have yet to get around to the heating of it , but im gonna go ahead and do it.

[mwherbs]

I was taught this as well and although the baking may not be necessary - there are definate advantages to having everything pre-bagged so you can find it all-- in more recent times moms have been using plastic storage boxes (not heated in the oven obviously) and it seems that they get filled up with other storage items that we may end up searching through. And I have to say that in big families - clean towels or sheets for that matter can be at a premium at any given time there may be little freshly clean and ready to use.
Now a days I am thinking that having baby blankets and hats sterilized at the hospital is a good idea--tons of infectious stuff in a hospital.--
and although you may be thinking that sterilizing your baby stuff for birth may be overkill it may be of use now in the days of community aquired MRSA, just a thought.
I have done a couple births where yes frankly the living conditions were not clean- but filthy -- as in having the front door off the hinges and goats, dogs and what every wandered through the house- with "droppings" all over as well- no clean well water- the water had to be boiled- yes I did not blink an eye when I recommended bagging and sterilizing the stuff in prep for birth.
on a historic note these protocols were started by health departments and taught to old granny midwives- they also laid out how to sterilize your hat and apron and how to sterilize pads for mom-- all these things would still be useful in a 3rd/4th world setting.

[janasmama]

Originally Posted by NaturalMindedMomma

I did that. It was for warmth. I was supposed to do them right before the birth. Have them ready and someone put them in the oven at 200 degrees. But yours sounds like a totally different reason. HMMM

A heating pad can be a much easier way and maybe even safer way to heat towels, blankets or clothes for the baby.

[KBinSATX]

LOL. My midwife instructions have the same thing on it! (Geesh, my baby is 3 months old and I still have my midwife instructions stuck to the refrigerator!)
But it says: OPTIONAL
The purpose was to sterilize towels and baby clothes.
So we did it with our first child (same midwives; same instructions) but we got lazy on the second kid.
Both are fine