potential induction: delaying the first bath/passing meconium questions...

[Ashley84]

As suggested by Hypnobabies, we were planning on delaying DS's first bath. The benefits of rubbing the vernix into the skin after birth sound wonderful to us.

Question #1: If you delayed your LO's first bath, how long did you delay it for?

Unfortunately, I'm facing a potential induction on Friday. I'm already at 41+5 and they won't let me go any longer than Friday. I've been striving for a natural birth and I'm very fortunate to have wonderful midwives that are letting me handle my potential induction on my own terms. They are starting simple - breaking my water, having me pump, and sending me on a long walk. I have eight hours to make some sort of progress. If I don’t progress in those 8 hours then I have to start pitocin. I'm really hoping that the bare minimum will be all that is needed. I want nothing to do with a chemical induction but I realize that if it comes down to an induction that I may need pitocin to get the ball rolling.

As Friday will be 42+3 and an induction may potentially cause DS stress, I am concerned about him passing meconium before he comes out.

Question #2: Should we allow DS to be bathed right away if he has passed meconium before he is born?

[Belle]

Question #1: If you delayed your LO's first bath, how long did you delay it for? Our first baby was bathed on the day after she was born. I did it myself though. If we had known at the time about the benefits of not bathing we could have declined the bath. They weren't pushy about bathing her. Babies don't maintain their temperature very well the first couple days and baths can make them too cold.

For our second baby we waited a couple weeks until she had her first bath. She did just fine.

Question #2: Should we allow DS to be bathed right away if he has passed meconium before he is born? I guess it would depend on how thick the mec is and how much is on him. If its only a little bit they can just wipe it off. If its pretty thick then a bath might be in order.

[lunita1]

Originally Posted by Ashley84

As suggested by Hypnobabies, we were planning on delaying DS's first bath. The benefits of rubbing the vernix into the skin after birth sound wonderful to us.

Question #1: If you delayed your LO's first bath, how long did you delay it for?

Unfortunately, I'm facing a potential induction on Friday. I'm already at 41+5 and they won't let me go any longer than Friday. I've been striving for a natural birth and I'm very fortunate to have wonderful midwives that are letting me handle my potential induction on my own terms. They are starting simple - breaking my water, having me pump, and sending me on a long walk. I have eight hours to make some sort of progress. If I don’t progress in those 8 hours then I have to start pitocin. I'm really hoping that the bare minimum will be all that is needed. I want nothing to do with a chemical induction but I realize that if it comes down to an induction that I may need pitocin to get the ball rolling.

As Friday will be 42+3 and an induction may potentially cause DS stress, I am concerned about him passing meconium before he comes out.

Question #2: Should we allow DS to be bathed right away if he has passed meconium before he is born?

After my first was taken to the nursery for a bath and then kept under observation in a warmer for a few hours (?!?) to make sure she was maintaining her body temperature, I refused baths at the hospital for the second two. I think we did them at home at about day 4 or 5? I honestly don't remember.

My third was a precipitous labor at 41 weeks, and there was quite a bit of mec in the water when it broke. I think it must have all just wiped off (maybe we used a washcloth a little?) I remember something about some crustiness in her hair that we just kind of worked out. It just wasn't really an issue. A real post-term baby with staining might need a real bath?

I'd ask about bathing baby in your room if you do want him/her to have a bath in the hospital.

[Mosaic]

DD passed mec on her way out, and we just wiped it off. Her first night we gently freshened half of her up with a warm cloth because of a disposie disaster, but then we switched immediately to cloth and had no more leaks, so the only cleaning she got was after diaper changes. Her cord fell off at about 8 days, and she had her first bath then.

Honestly, we didn't intentionally "delay" her first bath; we just didn't think she needed one. She wasn't dirty! She smelled AMAZING... holy smokes I never ever wanted to wash that smell off.

[Addie]

Our son was bathed two days after birth, we were in the hospital but no one seemed to be in a hurry to get him bathed. He was born at 41 weeks, and there wasn't much vernix to speak of - other than a little blood/goo, he was pretty clean when he came out.

[Engineering_Mama]

Our DD was 2-3 weeks old when we gave her her first bath. There was TONS of mec when she was born. We just wiped it off with a towel. They were kind of funny about it at the hospital. She was born at 5 in the morning. They offered to take her and bathe her later that day and we said no, but if they really wanted to give her a bath they could bring the bath to our room and DH and I would bathe her. Apparently that was more trouble than it was worth because the bath never showed up. The rest of that day all the nurses and even the LC said they had to wear gloves when they touched her because she hadn't had a bath. Please people, her gut was sterile until she was born. All that mec in the waters was sterile. And amazingly enough no one said anything about it the next day. Like I said, weird.

[wombatclay]

They weren't wearing gloves because of the mec... they were wearing gloves because of the "body fluids" (yours more than the babe's). Just like a nurse would put on gloves to assist any patient who had blood/fluids on them. It's usually hospital policy and a reason that some mamas refuse the bath... they want to maintain a "hands off" policy!

~~~~~~~
DD1 was a c/s and had a bath in my recovery room, next to my bed. DD2 was a vbac and DH gave her a bath a few hours after her birth, again in my room next to my bed. DS was another vbac (at a different hospital) and he had a bath an hour or two after the birth, again in my room with DH bathing him. I should say in each case the "bath" was more of a wipe down with a damp cloth dipped into a bowl of warm water.

In terms of vernix... dd1 was a 42+ week babe, dds was 40 more or less on the nose, and ds was 42 weeks. None of them had much in the way of vernix. A bit in the ears and foldy bits (I grow big babes so there were a lot of folds ). The bath didn't really affect how much vernix they had.

Meconium- a lot depends on how much there is! Just stay flexible and if you want to wipe them down just ask that water and a cloth be brought to you. There's no reason for the babe to leave your side.

Good luck... I hope everything goes smoothly! Happy birthing!

[etsdtm99]

my DS passed meconium shortly before he was born (induction at 41 weeks) .. they wiped him off after birth and then about 3 hours later we wiped him with a damp cloth to get the rest of the mec. off - the hospital counted this as a bath, even though he was not submerged in water or anything like that.. they were pretty insistent that was got the green/brown stuff off him..

[Engineering_Mama]

Originally Posted by wombatclay

They weren't wearing gloves because of the mec... they were wearing gloves because of the "body fluids" (yours more than the babe's). Just like a nurse would put on gloves to assist any patient who had blood/fluids on them. It's usually hospital policy and a reason that some mamas refuse the bath... they want to maintain a "hands off" policy!

Thanks Wombatclay! I hadn't thought of it like that. At the time it just seemed really, really strange. But I was pretty out of it since I hadn't slept in 36 hours.

[erin_brycesmom]

Ds2 was born with mec and we declined the bath in the hospital but chose to give him a bath ourselves the next day. He was born with absolutely NO vernix left so there was no risk in washing that away and there was enough mec present that I felt a bath was a good choice at that time. Ds3 was also born with mec and we didn't bath him for a couple of weeks although he was a waterbirth (at home) so he automatically got some rinsing at birth. He actually still had some vernix left on him when he was born.