Bathing baby after birth?

[MandyB]

I'm just wondering how soon after birth you have bathed your baby, or plan on doing so?

My first was born in the hospital, so they gave him a bath within the 1st hour after he was born. My second was a homebirth and she got her first bath when she was about 2 days old. She also got some red sores on her face though, that my MW said was due to the fluids sitting on her sking too long. My third daughter, also a homebirth, was born at 12:35am so we bathed her the next morning, probably about 10 hours after she was born. She ALSO got these yucky looking sores on her face and back that my MW attributed to the same thing.

Anyone else experienced this? I've never heard of anyone else's baby having them, so I'm curious....

This time, I do NOT want the sores on my baby, so I definitely want to give the baby a bath right away after the baby is born.

I'd love to know everyone else's experiences are with the whole bathing after birth thing! Thanks!

[MittensKittens]

My first birth was a mw attended homebirth and my DD was bathed right away. No sores. My second was a UC. I rubbed the vernix into his skin and head and bathed him the next day. I did wash his face immediately. No sores with him either. It would be interesting to see whether you get the sores or not with this babe if you bathe her/him right away. Could there be any other factors other than bathing?

[MandyB]

I don't think so....no STD's or anything. The sores are more like red blotches, not open sores or anything, they're wierd though and look uncomfortable! Both times, they appeared the day after the girls were born and they went away about a week or so later.

Here's a picture that was taken the morning after she was born, but it doesn't show them very well at all! There are two just starting out (they got worse) down on her lower right cheek by her lips.....

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y252/adroser/042.jpg

[Mrs.aLifeofReilly]

DS2 was a home waterbirth, so the water pretty much took off the birth goo, and we just rubbed the vernix in. No sores and we gave him a full bath at about 1 1/2 weeks old (just water, no soap) and prior to that just washed his face, neck and diaper area with a warm washcloth and water.

[femalephish]

nak

First; let me say what a sweet little babe!

Ok now, are you sure that isn't just normal baby acne? I don't think that bothers them.

My DD was born at home and wasn't bathed for almost two weeks. My MW dried off the birth goo right when she was born, but that's it.

[MandyB]

Thank you! No, it wasn't baby acne, because she DID get a really bad case of that too, but not until around 3-4 weeks of age. That picture just barely shows it starting out, not really a great example I guess.

I now vaguely recall my midwife saying we should give her a bath with antibacterial soap. Would there be bacteria coming from ME somehow? I'm so perplexed by this and am going to have to ask them all about it at my next appt. because it's driving me nuts!

[FrolicingMama]

I've always heard it wasn't good to bathe them right away. My daughter released her meconium as she was being born, so she was covered with it, but my midwife and doula cleaned her off with towels and olive oil. We didn't give her a bath for a few days.

[MandyB]

I just googled it, and am wondering if THIS is what the rash is....maybe it has nothing to do with a bath.....

Erythema toxicum
More than 50% of babies get a rash called erythema toxicum on the second or third day of life. The rash is composed of 1/2-to 1-inch-size red blotches with a little white or yellow pimple in the center. They look like insect bites. They are numerous, keep recurring for a week, and can be anywhere on the body (except palms and soles). The cause of this rash is unknown and it is harmless. The rash usually disappears by the time an infant is 2 weeks old, but sometimes not until a child is 4 weeks old.

I also found this link, which has a photo of the rash, although my girls did not have the rash NEARLY this bad, it's still what it looked like....http://http://www.drhull.com/EncyMaster/E/erythema_toxicum.html

[~Kristina~]

Dylan didn't have an actual bath until his belly button healed.

[ShwarmaQueen]

If it happens again, put breastmilk on them!

[bajamergrrl]

DS didn't have a full bath until he was about 2 weeks old. When he was born all we did was rub the vernix in and wipe off his meconium.

[moonglowmama]

I've had 3 homebirths and I bathed with baby in my herbal sitz bath (which is also very good for the umbilicus) within the first 3 hours. Very nice, and 2 of my babies fell asleep in the bath in my arms. so nice for so many reasons.

We kept doing baths like that until they were old enough to sit up unassisted in the tub.

[nkintzel]

First baby-hospital. They bathed her right away.

Second baby-home birth. We didn't bathe him for like, a week? It was a waterbirth,though, so the main junk kinda got rinsed away. He also released his meconium all over me within the first hour, so we just kind of cleaned him up with a warm washcloth.

[fruitfulmomma]

I've had 3 homebirths and 2 hospital births. I've never bathed any of the babies right away, at the hospital all they did was wash them down with a wet wipe but that was hours after the birth.

I would not bath a newborn with antibacterial soap. The bacteria in your vagina is good for them and helps them develop proper gut-health.

[averlee]

we also did not really bathe the baby till her cord healed, around 1 week old. no weird rash spots or sores, infant acne around 3 wks.

[Veritaserum]

Um, like a week maybe? I had waterbirths so they got rinsed on their way out. I do sponge baths until the cord falls off.

[HappyMommaBear]

DS was born in a hospital too, so he was scrubbed down before I even got to see him (cesarean) and then got a real bath before I got to hold him.

This time around, I want to play it by ear. Vernix is good for their skin so i don't want to bathe the Babe right away. But, I'm planning on giving birth in water anyway so that may not matter. I'm not sure how long I'll stay in the pool and how much that will effect the vernix, etc. (does it come off if they lie in the water very long, or is it lotiony so it has to be actually washed off? I haven't got a clue)
The one thing is that I loved showering with DS when he was a newborn. (it's still sweet now that he's 18 months old, when he's still and cuddly, but he's usually so squirmy and I'm so hugely pregnant...) so I have put in my birth plan that I may want to shower with baby after the birth. I think I'll play it by ear and see how long I wait to shower and all.

[Emmeline II]

Dd was at least a week old; maybe two before she was partially immersed in water (other than being born in water and me holding her in the bath tub).

With your history, I would put off the bath and avoid soap when you do for awhile.

[Casha'sMommy]

Originally Posted by ShwarmaQueen

If it happens again, put breastmilk on them!

This is so the cure all for everything baby related. LOL
DD had a blocked tear duct that got icky so I squirted some breastmilk in her eye. Her eye was perfectly normal the following day.

Makes me wonder why folks choose other options for nourishment.

[Gray's Mommy]

With our first (hospital) he was bathed within 2 hours of birth & with our second (home) we hopped in the tub within 6 hours of birth for the herbal bath.