Wow, the impending birth is starting to feel all that more real because tonight my midwife went over the various newborn procedures and gave me the consent forms for them.
I've never had all the procedures explained to me, so that was refreshing.
At this point I'm leaning towards declining the Eye Drops but going ahead with the Vit K and PKU test.
What is everyone else's thoughts on the various tests?
My mw doesn't do eye goop or anything. She does have vitamin k in her kit (which is currently in my closet on case she for some unseen reason doesn't make it again, I have all of her supplies except doppler here with me). But its only given if requested or needed. Like Reese was posterior and was a hard, fast labor. She came out super bruised on her face. So once mw got there, we gave her the injection. If there is no bruising, we won't worry about it. The pku I'll take her in for after my milk comes in. I think the pku stuff may come with our borth certificate forms...which I should probably call and get!
My midwife has oral vitamin K and she does it on a case by case basis.
I don't know if she carries the eye goop, but I am declining it and I know it won't be an issue!
The PKU is state law, and I'm fine with that test. I'm going to wait until after my milk has been in for about 48 hours so it will be metabolized...
With DD I declined the eye goop and vit. K at the hospital and they acted as if we were the. worst. parents. EVER. I even had to talk to a social worker. We were told to stop being selfish and to think of our baby, told that every baby who doesn't get the eye goop will get a terrible eye infection and we'll regret it, and on and on and on...
We do PKU. Haven't decided on vit K - DS got it, but we might do oral vit K for this one. No erythromyacin. It really is SO important IMO for baby to see well early on.
I haven't even thought about baby stuff yet, really. Yikes.
Unless it's an especially traumatic birth, we won't do Vit K, I will just supplement with superdoses for a bit afterwards. We will probably do eye goop after a while, (like after an hour or so) and we'll do the PKU, just because those are some pretty gnarly diseases that they screen for. Of course, the Hep B vax is out of the question for us.
Why do eye goop if there is no STDs? We don't do any of the NB stuff, cause we UC, but I am looking into the urine PKU strips this time around, more accurate, and no pain involved!
My husband and I discussed this pretty in depth. From his point of view, as the child of two nurses, hospitals are dirty and he'd rather see Cecilia get the erithromycin not because of STD risk, but because of other possible infections. I conceded, but only if they will wait to do it until she is settling down to sleep. I want her bright eyed and aware when we're first bonding. We're declining vit K, unless it's needed of course, and we're declining the bath too. Again, I'm willing to compromise on the bath, but only if they'll use my own bath stuff and not the chemically crap they have there.
The birth center doesn't do routine eye goop, so I don't think we'll ask for it or anything. Our birth instructor was saying that most places do it partly because they just don't believe moms don't have STDs, and partly because the tests for those STDs aren't overly accurate. But I still feel pretty comfortable not doing the goop. If we change our minds for some reason, we won't let them do it until she's had skin-to-skin time for at least a couple of hours.
I think we're going to do the vitamin K shot.
We're definitely going to do the PKU. Yeah, a blood draw sucks, and yes those diseases are rare, but they are scary scary diseases that can mostly be fixed so relatively easily, that I can't imagine not doing it. But it won't be done until the midwives come for my home visit, which will hopefully be after my milk is in.
We'll figure out the bath thing when the time comes. I'm considering, after she's born, getting back in one of the birth tub with her and just relaxing for a few minutes. Otherwise, we'll probably just do a quick sponge bath type of thing before we go home, especially if she's particularly mucky. If we end up at the hospital I will NOT let them give her a bath without someone from my labor party present. And I don't think this hospital allows that, so she will not have a bath at the hospital. It means they'll put "NO BATH!" signs all over her bassinet and treat her like a biohazard, but that's their issue.
no vit k (i may mindfully boost my own through diet and colostrum is high in vit k anyway), no eye goop.
definitely the pku, but not just pku, the battery of tests - in NC it's called the tandem mass spectrometry. we'll have to take baby to our (newly picked
) doctor around the first week, who'll send us to the lab for a blood draw. the only downside of homebirth i've encountered so far
As others have said, the only thing we'll do is the PKU, and I'm not sure how that will happen-- until reading this thread, I didn't know it was advantageous to wait until my milk had come in! I think we'll be taking him to the pediatrician two days after birth (?) and will probably ask for the test then.
Cecilia's Mama, I've never heard of the erithromycin being used to prevent other infections-- that may be my own misunderstanding, but I *know* that in my home state it is is explicitly and only for preventing blindness due to STDs. I'm not doing it because a) we have no STDs but also b) because I wonder if it played a role in DD's clogged tear ducts. I know SO many babies who have had clogged tear ducts... maybe that's totally normal, I can't find any research on it one way or another, but How to Raise a Healthy Child in Spite of Your Doctor suggested that it might be related to the eye goop.
Originally Posted by MaterPrimaePuellae
Cecilia's Mama, I've never heard of the erithromycin being used to prevent other infections-- that may be my own misunderstanding, but I *know* that in my home state it is is explicitly and only for preventing blindness due to STDs. I'm not doing it because a) we have no STDs but also b) because I wonder if it played a role in DD's clogged tear ducts. I know SO many babies who have had clogged tear ducts... maybe that's totally normal, I can't find any research on it one way or another, but How to Raise a Healthy Child in Spite of Your Doctor suggested that it might be related to the eye goop.
My DS didn't get the erythromyacin and he (still) has a blocked tear duct. I've heard the same thing, though - that most babies who have blocked tear ducts have had the erythromyacin. Not sure if that's a product of most parents not questioning the procedure or if it's causal, but I don't want to take the risk, even though it's not a serious thing.
Erithromycin is an antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections, so yeah, it will prevent other infections. I still don't want her to get it, but I am willing to compromise with my husband on that one, as long as they will wait on it.
Originally Posted by Cecilia's Mama
Erithromycin is an antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections, so yeah, it will prevent other infections. I still don't want her to get it, but I am willing to compromise with my husband on that one, as long as they will wait on it.
Well, yes, I know it's an antibiotic; I guess maybe what I should have asked is, What hospital-acquired eye infection is he worried about? My understanding (again, limited) is that even getting the ointment is just going to take care whatever bacteria is in her eyes at the time when she gets it-- so if you're worried about handling by nurses, etc, all the stuff that happens in the 48 hours after labor won't be helped by the ointment, as far as I can tell.
But yeah, in terms of marital compromise, it doesn't seem like a big deal either way
Sme, yes, every baby I know who had the clogged ducts had the ointment... but then, I maybe know one baby who didn't have the ointment
I wish there were some sort of evidence-based study on this, but I've looked and looked and can't find one.
so funny, i just talked to my doula/childbirth educator about this one. PKU we'll do, likely before we leave the hospital, but not right away - maybe try the draw while nursing. First bath? Mommy will do it, no nurses, again, we'll bond first, nurse, nap and then do a bath. Vit K only if necessary and no eye goop. Delay Hep vax.
We did everything w/my son, but I had no idea how upset it would make me to have my son out of my arms for even a second of all of it & I was upset I wasn't more practive speaking up for what I wanted. So this time, I'm just going to go minimal, and give us time to bond before doing anthing at all.
With our first child, we did it all but she was taken from us after my c-section and I don't remember seeing her again until about 14 hours later even though there was nothing wrong with her. The nurses just didn't wann to bring her to me untilu DH came back the next morning.
With our second child, we declined HepB at the hospital. The "bath" at the hospital consisted of a nurse wiping him off with a wet washcloth. It wasn't a true bath or rough at all. Doing that myself wasn't important to me but it might be to someone else. This child didn't leave our sight from the time he was born to the time we left the hospital the next day.
With our third child, he was born at home and only had the newborn screening (aka PKU) at about a week old. He didn't have erythymycin at first but his eyes were crusted shut for about the first week. We'd clean them out multiple times per day and squirt breastmilk in them but they never got better. Once we put the erythymycin cream in them, his eyes got better. Even though there wasn't a reason for the eye cream (no STDs), something still bothered his eyes. I will probably decline it again for this child but not wait as long to use the cream if needed. I didn't think abou VitK even though his birth was difficult and he did come out posterior. I might have made a different choice at this point and if I have another birth like that, I may choose it tuis time.
With our third child, he was born at home and only had the newborn screening (aka PKU) at about a week old. He didn't have erythymycin at first but his eyes were crusted shut for about the first week. We'd clean them out multiple times per day and squirt breastmilk in them but they never got better. Once we put the erythymycin cream in them, his eyes got better. Even though there wasn't a reason for the eye cream (no STDs), something still bothered his eyes. I will probably decline it again for this child but not wait as long to use the cream if needed. I didn't think abou VitK even though his birth was difficult and he did come out posterior. I might have made a different choice at this point and if I have another birth like that, I may choose it tuis time.
Wow, I've never heard of that before! Thanks for posting your experience.
We did not have trouble from the nurses when declining the bath. It was only to prevent her from ending up under the warming lamps, which she ended up under anyway. She was bathed on day two, in my room, by my SIL, who was one of my nurses. This was good for dh and I b/c she showed us how to to a nb bath & I got to take lots of pix. This time it is more b/c I want baby w/ us & we know how to bathe, so no big deal. We took our own lotion & baby wipes in w/ us last time & no one cared. It's not like the nurses are changing your baby anyway. Got the PKU test done whenever they do it in the hospital b/c then it is done & I don't have to remember it!
No eye goop, no Hep-B; yes Vitamin K and yes PKU. Bath when I'm ready (it's done in the room in our hospital).
One thing I'm going to request is that they give the hearing test in our room instead of the nursery. It wasn't something I was prepared for or aware of last time, and I didn't like that they took DD away (even thought it was for a relatively short period of time) for that.
Originally Posted by MaterPrimaePuellae
Wow, I've never heard of that before! Thanks for posting your experience.
His eyes didn't crust up until a number of days after birth. It was shotlrtly after my MIL came to visit. I'm inclined to believe that she ignore us when we asked her to not come if sick and to wash her hands before coming near the baby. DH had the baby with him while I was napping and she probably held the baby then. She had knee replacement in the fall and has had a bout with MRSA since then so she'll have to stay away this time around. The other likely possibility is my mother. She's a first grade teacher so she's around stuff like pink eye all the time.
They don't do Hep B shots on infants in my province, so I don't have to worry about that. I'll have to ask about the hearing screening because I know that's done in the hospital here.
no on all of it. lol. crazy stuff. i just looked up the tests and all of them are for very rare incidences (well besides the bath lol). less than 200 people under 14 get hep b in the US, 250 children get PKU in the US, and "low vit k" is under 80 (grams?). looks like a diet that consists of about 1 cup of spinach and a cup of dry bread crumbs or noodles will nix that easily. of course there's other foods that are high in vit k i was just looking at things that i ate normally on a daily basis.
the birth center didn't even attempt to bath dd but it might have been b/c we wanted to get home and left in the middle of the night...she had a big gob of stuff stuck on her head for a few days!
dhinderliter, the way my MW explained it to me, all babies are born Vit K "deficient"-- they have to be, in order to prevent clotting between baby and placenta, and then after they start breastfeeding their levels rise. As my midwife tells it, the need to supplementing Vit K really arose when so many babies started being delivered by forceps and were receiving birth injuries aggravated by failure for the blood to clot sufficiently.
Odds of finding anything in the PKU screen are so tiny, but-- it's just a draw, not something going into/onto the baby, so I'm not too concerned about it.
No eye goop, no vit k (unless birth seems traumatic for some reason), we will do PKU.
We are not having a hospital birth so no one will be snagging baby for a bath. As I understand it my mw will be preparing a wonderful pp herbal bath for us! That should be delightful.
Eye goop isn't done in this country at all that I am aware of so that is not an issue for me.
Baths depends on where you are I guess. As we are planning a home birth - I don't plan to bathe my baby for a few weeks at least. DS got his first bath at 2 weeks of age - and whilst in hospital it was never done. Some people I know gave their baby a bath in the hospital if they were in there for awhile - its certianly not 'proceedure' here though.
Also - as far as I am aware, our vaccine schedule does not start until 2 months - we don't vaccinate anyway.
We are declining Vit K - unless babe is born other than naturally/vaginally (and then it would be orally only and only after a first few feeds - not on an empty tummy! - This was DS who had oral vit K after c-section birth).
Our heel prick tests only tests for 4 things - no sooner than week old (unlike the billion things it can test for in America)... This is still a toss up for me - To do or not to do that is. I am leaning towards not. Shall see when the time comes.
Hearing test - no problem. It only takes a few seconds - doesn't hurt anyone.
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