cleaning newborn after birth

[alton]

I've been reading that washing a baby right after birth and cleaning away the protective vernix coating isn't necessarily a good idea. But I'm not clear on how long it would be recommended to leave the baby unwashed. In hospitals they seem to be in a great hurry to clean the baby, so are there any reasons or situations where it would be important to clean the baby up straight away?
Interested in hearing how long you/ your midwife left the baby before cleaning. Thanks

[alton]

just posting a link to an article on this in case anyone is interested
http://roseysrelaxingremedies.co.uk/...oticfluid.aspx

[crunchy_mama]

My baby just got her first bath - she is 1 week today. I waited until the cord stump fell off. She really hasn't had a chance to get dirty other than her butt and of course that is washed for diaper changes.

[nashvillemidwife]

Vernix is believed to be beneficial and there's no reason physiologically that your baby needs to be bathed right away, but bear in mind that your baby is born covered in vagina, blood, and amniotic fluid and is a biohazard until washed. If they do not bathe the baby, the care providers and staff will have to wear gloves for any and all interaction with the baby.

[MsBlack]

What Nashvillemw said, from the hospital perspective. From a homebirth perspective, there's nothing on your baby that is dangerous to you or your family. Some babies get enough blood on them, or even a tad of mom's poop, that you might want to do at least a spot wash. But bathing a newborn most often isn't really necessary, and it's good to let vernix soak in, and to keep the cord stump dry so it falls off easiest and quickest.

[jtrt]

Our last two were waterborne and pretty "clean" so we waited to bathe each of them. I think they were each about 5 days old before we gave them a bath. I love the newborn baby smell!

Amy

[laughingfox]

I had a home water birth with P, and the MD helped me rub/massage P's vernix into her skin. P had more vernix than the MD had ever seen before (despite being post dates), but it rubbed in pretty easily.
She had a bath at 5 days, when her stump fell off.

[JorgieGirl]

Agreeing with the pp's. My homebirthed water babe wasn't actually bathed until just after a week old. She just didn't need it. Even after that, I limited bathing. But I can see from a hospital perspective how they would prefer it for the ease of nurses and doctors. But it's still your choice.

[RedPony]

My homebirthed babies were bathed the first time around 9 or 10 days each. They both lost their cord stumps at 5 days. Even now we infrequently bathe our kids, either when they're really dirty/stinky or every couple of weeks or so.

[ErinsJuneBug]

We had a water birth so he was pretty clean when he came out. We did give him a bath the next day to include DD (4) and wash the gunk off his head. She loved jumping in the tubby with her new brother and helping mommy clean him. After that i waited until the cord fell off to submerge him again.

[Belle]

We had a waterbirth also so she was pretty free of blood and poop. She had a ton of vernix on her though. We just rubbed it into her skin. I think she got her first bath when she was around two weeks old. I only bathed her then because she had spit up all over herself. (and me)

[turnquia]

TBH I'd prefer in a hospital for the staff to consider my baby "dirty" and as a biohazard so they wear gloves. it also helps keep my baby clean and free from germs the hospital staff passes around. (and trust me I work in a hospital not everyone washes the way they are supposed to... except the NICU.. they are all handwashing gods there)

[beckyand3littlemonsters]

my lo's where just dried off and dressed (but not straight away) with the exseption of chloe who was wiped down a bit but not bathed cos i remember her having blood in her hair for the first day or so

[Astraia]

There was meconium in my water when it broke, and we still waited almost a week to bath DD.

DH was scared to do it and I thought it felt so mean to bathe her. I don't know why. But the stickiness of her hair faded away after a few days, and she was wiped down a lot from spit up, etc, so I didn't worry about it.

We did think it was a bit weird. We commented sometimes on how kissing her poopy head was kinda gross... but then we'd do it anyway

[craft_media_hero]

Originally Posted by Astraia

We did think it was a bit weird. We commented sometimes on how kissing her poopy head was kinda gross... but then we'd do it anyway

hee hee, that gave me a kick. sounds like something me and dp would do.

[LiLStar]

It was a couple weeks before we bathed ds. And my midwives happily held and snuggled him with their *gasp* BARE HANDS!. I just went through the birth pics.. for the birth and immediately pp, they were gloved. I have pics of them bare-handed weighing him, putting on his first diaper, and holding a stethoscope to his back while I hold him. They weren't scared of his unbathed cooties! We wiped the meconium off. There was a lot! LOL. He pooped as he was coming out and it was all over both of us. There's pictures of it oozing between my fingers as I held him for the first time. And I didn't care one bit!

[ann_of_loxley]

I just wait until the cord falls off.

[cstellar86]

With DS1, he was coated in vernix, but also with blood and mec. so the next morning after birth the MW quickly rinsed him off but left the vernix. DS2 was born 9 days past 40 weeks without a drop of vernix anywhere... his skin was so dry that despite having some mec in his hair, I didn't really bathe him until after the cord stump fell off. Any nice oil that is suitable for baby can be rubbed in the hair and wiped off to get out the mec.

[channelofpeace]

My first vbac was in the hospital and they asked if I wanted to wash him myself. It ended up being about 15 hours after he was born. They hospital staff didn't care at all, honestly. They even recommended that I wait that amount and that I did skin to skin before he was bathed so that he wouldn't have temperature issues.

With my home waterbirth babe, we waited until her cord fell off. She was about six days. I just rubbed the vernix in.

[GoBecGo]

My babe was homebirthed and pooped and peed as she was emerging so we wiped her off with a damp cloth in the poopy areas there and then (about 3 hours after birth) and then left it about 4 or 5 days before we bathed her properly. Her cord stump didn't drop off until day 10, but i reckon that's because i didn't fold her MCN's down at the front to let air get to the stump for the first 5 days...