? re: baby boys' first bath after birth...

[AZbean]

Hi All,

My baby boy will be arriving soon & we will have a hospital birth. Thank goodness my DH has finally seen the light re: circ & Baby will remain intact without my having to play the "over my dead body" card. Now I can await my DS's arrival with a happy heart with the knowledge that DH will be helping to protect our boy. Feelin' all schmoopy about DH now... :.

Sadly, our area has a very high circ rate, so I know we will need to be extra vigilant in the hospital about staff trying to take him to be circ'ed & also trying to examine his penis. Of course, he will not be out of our sight during our hospital stay.

I'm wondering if we're likely to encounter nurses attempting to "gently retract" him "just a little" to clean during his initial bath after birth. There's a chance that it will only be DH with him during this time & I want to be sure that I really drill it into DH's head that nobody under any circumstances is to mess with DS's foreskin.

Did anyone encounter this situation w/nurses insisting that it's necessary to clean there initially?

Thanks,
Jill

[hypnohobbit]

I am a homebirthing mama so I can't really help you out there but I would write up statements and tell EVERYONE ahead of time that DS is NOT to be circ'ed, retracted or even touched by medical personnel and have them SIGN IT!

God Bless mama and I am so glad to hear that another baby boy is remaining intact!

[Susuhound]

Any reason why his mother and father wouldn't be doing his first bath?

[KMK_Mama]

Are you in AZ?? Just curious...I am. I don't know any other intact babies here.

If you are in AZ, I had my baby boy at Banner Baywood. I had about every single nurse ask me if I wanted him circ'd and one who told me his circ would be the next day, which I kindly said UHM, NO!

The first bath was in the room....you can watch it. The only time Keegan was away from me was when he went for his hearing test (DH went) and when they did a test for jaundice.

I too was paranoid that he would be circ'd or retracted without me knowing, but I just made sure to read all the papers and on the one I was unsure of, I just wrote NO CIRCUMCISION on the top very big. It was some paper that wanted consent to perform medical procedures on either Mom or baby I think in case of emergency, but I just wanted to be sure.

It was fine and my baby came out of that hospital intact and happy!

Oh yeah, and I had the on-call pediatrician who I was worried about because I had never met him, and when he asked about circ, I said NO and he said, "Good, they don't even recommend it anymore." WOOHOO! He never touched his penis.

[AZbean]

No flames, please, but I am having a repeat C-section & so will not be able to do the bath.

DH will likely be excitedly taking pictures of DS being bathed & even if he were to do the bath himself, I fear that he might have good-intentioned nurses trying to "guide" him.

Anyone encountered this?

Thanks,
Jill

[KMK_Mama]

I have had all my children in the hospital and have never been offered the chance to do the bath.

[Microsoap]

Originally Posted by AZbean

No flames, please, but I am having a repeat C-section & so will not be able to do the bath.

DH will likely be excitedly taking pictures of DS being bathed & even if he were to do the bath himself, I fear that he might have good-intentioned nurses trying to "guide" him.

Anyone encountered this?

Thanks,
Jill

I would make sure your husband uses the voice your son can't use. He has to state this before any clothes come off and in a strong manner (some nurses go "yeah, yeah, whatev'; I'm the nurse and you're the over-eager new parent). Check out that thread about "The good, the bad and the ugly" about the NEWBORN who got his foreskin retracted from an ignorant nurse!

Wishing you the best!

[Fi.]

and have never been offered the chance to do the bath.

Uh they can't just bathe your baby if you tell them not to . You just have to make it really clear before the birth.

[~Lolosoli~]

I would decline a bath and wait until we got home...
~Charlene~

[SunnyBabyIn2005]

First off, I am just curious as to why such a high circ rate in AZ? 2nd with my daughter, they did give her a bath without my knowlege shortly after she was born because it was before I even woke up. With my son (different hospital) they kindly asked us when we wanted to have him bathed and we did it after I was on my feet & moving around so both my husband & I were present. At no time did the nurse try to retract him. But if you feel like this might be a problem where you are birthing I would be very persistent and hubby too that he not be retracted or circed for that matter if you feel that they might do it without your consent.

[hypnohobbit]

I would write it into the birth plan (if you have one) and require signatures from all of the attendees. AND decline the bath.

[coco4cloth]

Originally Posted by ~Lolosoli~

I would decline a bath and wait until we got home...
~Charlene~

Yep. No reason to completely bathe them. Just wipe him off and save the first bath for home. My last baby was over a week before she got a full bath. Vernix is good for their skin.

[Doodlebugsmom]

Originally Posted by ~Lolosoli~

I would decline a bath and wait until we got home...
~Charlene~

That's what I did with both of my babies.

[Susuhound]

I had a c/s so my husband gave her a bath. It wasn't really necessary (the bath) but it was kinda nice to get all the green mec off her before she went home, and they both enjoyed it. With any other babies I would wait until home (or ideally have a hb lol) and his or her first bath would be in the tub with mama or daddy.
How kind of the hospital staff that they 'let you' watch while they bath the baby. Having been a midwife I would never presume to steal that moment from parents.

[Sijae]

My best suggestion is to refuse the bath entirely. There's no actual reason for the baby to be bathed so soon after birth. I would think for a c-section mama it would be especially nice to have the baby left alone till I was ready to do it myself. It may not be offered but as the parent you have the right to disallow anything and everything for your baby including a bath.

If that's not to your liking I would make sure that your DH has several copies of an intact care agreement and he presents them to each and every person who comes in contact with the baby. It's better to make a big deal of it before the baby is touched then to regret it after it happens. And it can happen faster than he has an opportunity to protest.

Good luck,

Laura

[iris0110]

I just told them I would be doing the bath. I didn't want the nurses doing it because of the fear of retraction (though my midwife assured me they all know better) and also because if the nurses bathe the babies they stay in the nursery under a lamp for 2 hours. : Ds2's delivery was a bit hard on me and I lost alot of blood and couldn't get out of bed for 12 hours after. I didn't let him leave the room at all during that time, dh held him for me. The nurse who was originally with me in the delivery room had told me she would help me bathe him when I was ready, but then by the time I could get out of bed she was gone. So I told the nursery nurse who came in to check on us that I was ready to bathe him, and she helped me down to the nursery to do it. I did the bathing and took him straight back to the room to cuddle skin to skin under the blankets to keep warm (and sleep ). I woudl just tell the nurses you want to give your baby his first bath, it doesn't have to be done right away, it can wait days or it can be done with one of those little basins and a wash cloth in your hospital bed if need be. If they throw a huge fit about it and you don't want to fight make sure your dh fully understands that no one needs to touch your son's penis period. Good luck and congratulations on your son.

[eepster]

Originally Posted by coco4cloth

Yep. No reason to completely bathe them. Just wipe him off and save the first bath for home. My last baby was over a week before she got a full bath. Vernix is good for their skin.

I so wish this had occured to me but it didn't. My pregnancy was hell and I was just so happy to be nearly full term that details like this weren't on the radar.

Skipping the bath not only saves you the worry of what the nurses might do during it but will help him get colonized by your healthy bacteria instead of the hospitals strep strains. Which is the most likely cuase of those UTIs they keep blaming on intactness.

Read more about it here
http://www.cps.ca/english/statements/FN/fn96-01.htm

[SleeplessMommy]

Make a little sign for the bassinet:

"Breast fed baby - no bottles, no paci
Intact baby - no circ"

It can be your husband's job to instal the sign ASAP

I know of lots of babies where hospital has sabotaged breastfeeding with a bottle, especially for c-seciton. So this is important.

You can also bring your own baby shirts to the hospital... with intactivist slogans.

And congrats to you!

[AZbean]

Thanks to all for your words of advice.

SleeplessMommy, I like your idea about bringing a little t-shirt w/an intactivist slogan. The hospital where I delivered DD was extremely pro-bf & I had no run-ins w/formula or paci suggesters & had lots of lactation support. I know this hospital is not so up to speed ~ but ~ I am extremely passionate & educated about breastfeeding & so is my DH, so no worries there. Baby Boy will not be out of our sight & rarely out of our arms, as I too have had friends that have had bf issues due to hospital staff intro'ing formula, etc.

Yep, I'm in AZ. I've met with a few new pediatricians lately & they all have told me that about 95% of their young male patients are circ'ed. I don't understand why this is so... I think for the most part it is quite honestly just b/c people don't know anything different. All of my friends w/little boys have had them circ'ed w/o researching it at all since "it's just what you do". Sad. These are all wonderful mamas, babywearers, CDers, extended bfers...

Thanks again.

[brackin]

Just wanted to say that I'm NOT in a progressive area, but at my recent hospital birth, DS never left my arms/side--even for the hearing test! The nurse made an exception and did it in the room!

Also, we waited and did the bath at home. Aside from a little blood on his scalp from my tear, he didn't need one at all, and I did NOT want anyone messing with him!