This will be my first HB. I think I'm going to delay the babys first bath. All my others were born in the hospital and give a bath within the first 2 hours or so.
Apparently, vernix is still important for life outside the womb. Id heard about it before, but finally researched it. Benefits of leaving the vernix on include antioxidant properties, skin cleansing, moisturizing, antibacterial properties and temperature regulation!
It says that the vernix has similar antimicrobial properties to breast milk and will actually protect the baby from GBS amongst other nasties!
So amazing! I wish I could post a link, but this mobile setup is challenging. Id encourage you mamas to research it for yourselves.
We waiting a long time to give my daughter a bath. And I'm almost embarrassed to say how long I waited to use soap on her (it might have been months ).
We delay bathing our babies until they get super pukie or something. Weeks. They never get the dry flakey skin or baby acne that my neices and nephews had so bad. We spot clean the blood off etc but other than that i have never felt the need for it.
Oh wow that's cool about the baby acne, that didn't even cross my mind. I've read about it preventing the flaky peeling newborn skin though. My DH was all grossed out when I told him I want to wait at least a day to bathe the baby lol. I thought it was funny how appalled he was. After all the crunchy things I've gotten him into, he was 100% mainstream at that moment lol
I personally am all for bathing within an hour or two of birth ( I bathe baby when I shower)....but I will say that I know someone that works as a nurse in the Ob ward at the hospital and she said the nurses use the vernix as moisturizer for their own hands! I was surprised!
My kids don't tend to get the flakey skin although some of them did have a little baby acne...nothing too bad and actually I noticed it cleared up after a bath. Outside of the first bath, my kids just get wiped down for the most part.
We didn't bathe Rosie for her first week. I wiped her hair down with warm water the second day because she has a ton of hair and it was all matted down with vernix. When my midwife was doing her baby exam she just rubbed the vernix into her skin and told me that it was very good for her; better than any baby lotion. :wink:
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Mothering Forum
16.5M posts
285.1K members
Since 1996
A forum community dedicated to all mothers and inclusive family living enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about nurturing, health, behavior, housing, adopting, care, classifieds, and more!