Why not have the baby bathed at the hospital? - Page 3

[K&JsMaMa]

I'm really glad this was brought up. I've never thought about the bath before. I'm definately going to discuss this with dh.

[pumpkinhead]

Originally Posted by BugMacGee

The best media for growing e.coli contains bile salts (chocolate agar). Which are an element of meconium. Better than blood. So not all bugs grow as well in all bodily fluids.

Are you sure that chocolate agar contains bile salts? MacConkey and Bile Esculin agar do. We only ever use chocolate for Nisseria, M. cats and H. flus. E. coli grows best on sheep's blood agar for us. I thought only selective medias contained bile salts. Chocolate is most definitely not selective.

AFAIK, chocolate is used for fastidious organisms and most E. coli is non-fastidious.

[BugMacGee]

According to one of our attendings. I just draw the cultures

[pumpkinhead]

Originally Posted by BugMacGee

According to one of our attendings. I just draw the cultures

I checked my recipe. Our chocolate has buffer salts, but no bile acids/salts. Perhaps your attending's chocolate is different. Chocolate is the prettiest, but PEA smells the best .

[mwherbs]

so I know nothing about the agar stuff what i will comment on in support of washing is in the dilute hibiclens studies they did not only rinse mom off every 6 hrs in labor but the baby is rinsed after birth with the same dilute solution and it not only reduces GBS but ecoli colonization as well- and presence of mec is another issue entirely- if the baby has been in mec water not just passed it as he/she was coming out then the bacteriostatic effects of amniotic fluid are diminished and the chances of infection are greatly increased - yes mec is similar to some type of culture medium it consists of skin oils, old dead skin and hairs as well as bile salts and digestive enzymes-- just the stuff bacteria like to live on... so there might be a reason you would want to give the baby a bath but I would want it done in my room by myself or a family member--

[meganmarie]

so there might be a reason you would want to give the baby a bath but I would want it done in my room by myself or a family member--

I am one of the passionate proponents of skipping the bath after birth, but I should be clear, that is based on the premise that hospital bathing would involve separation. In the two hospitals I've used for birth, having the baby bathed by parents in the L&D or postpartum room was not an option. Period. They would only give baby a bath in the official nursery tub, no mom allowed, and when I allowed that at my first birth the result was a 3-hour separation for ds to lie on the stupid baby warmer to regulate his temperature. To this day I still regret that he spent 3 of his first 5 hours on the planet in that way.

Obviously if the hopsital will allow the bath to be given by or with mama, and allow for him to warm up afterwards skin-to-skin, then by all means this is a sensible action if there are some potential bacteria to clean off!

[pumpkinhead]

The hospital I birthed at is developing a policy where if mom and baby are both doing well, both are wrapped up together in warmed blankets and essentially left alone for as long as possible. Mothers are encouraged not to bathe in the delivery room and babies aren't bathed until they are holding their temps well. Sometimes a little sponge bath is offered in mom's arms if warranted. Help is offered in initiating breastfeeding if it is necessary. They are already noticing a difference in latching issues. Babies are less fussy and sleepy as well. It's such a little thing, but it's making a big difference. Ideally, no heavy washing/showering is done for at least 12 hours following the birth. Of course, this isn't always possible.

Dr. Nils Bergman says that the mother's skin is the baby's natural environment. I think that is so profound and if you think about it, it's true. THey have existed inside of us for 9 months. Our scent and our bodies are the only world they have ever known. Being taken away from that has got to be traumatic for them. He says that babies need time to recover skin to skin with mom, or another warm body if mom is not available, after any kind of separation or trauma. Reaching screaming mode is really taxing on their whole physiology and giving them skin to skin contact helps them to recover. It's really quite fascinating and makes intuitive sense.

More here: http://home.mweb.co.za/to/torngren/eng-berg.html

This is all kind of hard for me to read because I knew none of this when my first was born. Luckily the hospital staff were awesome, but I still feel guilty for allowing him to be taken from me and bathed while he screamed.

[Robinna]

Originally Posted by meganmarie

I am one of the passionate proponents of skipping the bath after birth, but I should be clear, that is based on the premise that hospital bathing would involve separation. In the two hospitals I've used for birth, having the baby bathed by parents in the L&D or postpartum room was not an option. Period. They would only give baby a bath in the official nursery tub, no mom allowed, and when I allowed that at my first birth the result was a 3-hour separation for ds to lie on the stupid baby warmer to regulate his temperature. To this day I still regret that he spent 3 of his first 5 hours on the planet in that way.

Obviously if the hopsital will allow the bath to be given by or with mama, and allow for him to warm up afterwards skin-to-skin, then by all means this is a sensible action if there are some potential bacteria to clean off!

This is me. I resented being in the hospital at all and I was gosh-darned (insert stronger language of your choice) if I was going to have my baby's first bath stolen from me.

[Robinna]

Originally Posted by mytwogirls

I worked L&D as an RN and I would always return the baby asap to the mom. I once got written up because I was being "careless to the health of the baby" because I suggested the mom breast feed right away after I gave her the baby so she could warm him up. Yep, got written up, did not get my raise, and it was in my permanent record.

That is astonishing. I hope this was a long time ago. If it's recent, they need to be seriously enlightened about mother-baby friendly procedures. :

[mytwogirls]

Originally Posted by Robinna

That is astonishing. I hope this was a long time ago. If it's recent, they need to be seriously enlightened about mother-baby friendly procedures. :

It happened about a year ago. I now work for my Ob/Gyn as his RN. This was the same hospital that told me I had to figure out a different pumping schedule because I was leaving too often (every three hours) to pump. This is labor and delivery for god's sake! Yeah, that hospital is backasswards for sure.

[cileag]

I'm also a labor nurse and it's our hospital policy not give baths until at least 2 hours after the birth for the reasons mentioned above--mostly temperature instability. We also give parents the option of warming up their baby using skin to skin--usually covering both with warm blankets to assist with that. I've seen really "messy" babies and really "clean" babies, but in general after the initial wipe off, the only way I can tell if a baby has been bathed is by checking the chart or by checking his or her hair.

I also ask every parent if they'd like me to bathe their baby or if they'd like to do it themselves--and I'd say about 20% take me up on it to do it themselves. We also do it in the LDRP room, so there is no separation. And I never mind if they say they'd like to postpone it or decline to have it done at all. Less work for me!

I'm planning on home births when I'm pregnant, but in general, I think it would depend on how covered the baby is blood, mec, etc. Mostly I think I'd just leave the baby alone--at the very least until we'd breastfed and cuddled for quite sometime.

Oh, and a note on the scrub brush mentioned in an above post--I was skeptical, but I've found that almost all the babies LOVE it. It's a very soft bristled brush with a sponge on one side--great at getting the gunk out of the hair (if you want it out).

[leila1213]

My sis is very particular about cleanliness, and although I've given her the info about not bathing the baby, I think she will want to shower herself shortly after birth. Is it crucial that she not bathe for X number of hours after birth for bonding and breastfeeding purposes, or is it not really critical? Maybe I could tell her to bathe from the waste down. but not wash her chest/breasts or hair?

[BugMacGee]

There're a lot of cultural differences with regards to bathing as well. Some moms aren't supposed to bathe for a while after birth (I think that's true with some Asian cultures which make up a huge %age of our patient pop)

I bathed as soon as I could. But that's me. I hate being sweaty, bloody etc, for any length of time. Had zippo probs with bonding/bfing. (babies were bathed too after a couple of hours, to stay on topic)

ETA the scrub brushes are great! I took them home to use. They're like head massagers.

[misswerewolf]

because...

vernix is good for the baby.

I had a water birth, and my baby was covered in vernix when she came out. I wiped off the water, wrapped her in a towel, and attached her to my chest. The vernix disappeared on its own. The babe got her first "real" bath (i.e., plain ol' warm water) 11 days later.

[kayleesmom]

great thread

[Robinna]

Originally Posted by leila1213

My sis is very particular about cleanliness, and although I've given her the info about not bathing the baby, I think she will want to shower herself shortly after birth. Is it crucial that she not bathe for X number of hours after birth for bonding and breastfeeding purposes, or is it not really critical? Maybe I could tell her to bathe from the waste down. but not wash her chest/breasts or hair?

I dont' believe that our personal smell goes away from bathing, especially if we just get in the water and sluice off the sweat etc. After my homebirth I was in the tub with ds after a couple of hours, it was lovely. No issues whatsoever. Of course, that's anecdotal, not statistical. And I think there's a difference between rinsing off and/or using gentle soap and "disinfectiing" yourself as a hospital shower soap might do. I certainly wouldn't purell myself, but I don't think I'd *ever* do THAT, and I don't believe my conventional soap to be an issue for my baby. I was leaking colostrum/milk constantly anyway, a bath didn't change that.

[elanorh]

I think our hospital requires the mom to shower sometime before discharge (they were really pushy about it with me). Maybe that's one of their check-offs to make sure the mom doesn't have PPD?

I hadn't ever thought of this. Will work towards the goal of not bathing babe or me after the next babe is born - it makes sense (especially since I've never wanted to get that worked up about showering after labor anyway - I usually shower before we go in).

[pumpkinhead]

That's odd. I can't imagine why they'd require that a new mom shower before discharge.

[Robinna]

Originally Posted by elanorh

I think our hospital requires the mom to shower sometime before discharge (they were really pushy about it with me).

Huh. I think my reaction would be something to the tune of, "who are you, my mother?"

that is seriously taking hospital routine bossiness WAAAAAAY too far. If I want to go home and wash in my own tub, that is NONE of their business.

[barefootpoetry]

Originally Posted by Robinna

Huh. I think my reaction would be something to the tune of, "who are you, my mother?"

that is seriously taking hospital routine bossiness WAAAAAAY too far. If I want to go home and wash in my own tub, that is NONE of their business.

Yeah, that's a little too high school gym class for me...they required us to take showers, and I never did. I just took the lower marks instead.