Why you should delay baby’s first bath
Before she latched?before she even opened her eyes?my eldest daughter had her first bath in the hospital. She was just a few hours old when our skin-to-skin snuggle was interrupted by an efficient nurse who insisted it was time for the tub. I assumed the bath was next on the checklist (after the routine Apgar test and being weighed) and didn?t question the timing. But when my second baby was born at home, my midwife suggested we wait on the bath. She said vernix caseosa, the waxy coating on newborns? skin, is a natural moisturizer and cleanser, and protects against infection. Plus, babies are not good at regulating their temperature, and being bathed doesn?t help. After a full 10 days of enjoying that fresh baby smell?and after the first diaper explosion?we bathed her. ?Babies are not born dirty,? says Michael Farmer, head of the Department of Family Practice and postpartum medical director at BC Women?s Hospital & Health Centre. ?At BC Women?s, there is no urgent need to get the newborn baby bathed, and this can be delayed at the parents? request. Mother-baby bonding time is very important, and the caregivers would not want to interfere with skin-to-skin time and establishing breastfeeding. A baby?s first bath can certainly wait.? A good towel rub is all that?s needed to remove any amniotic fluid, blood and meconium, he adds.
It?s standard practice for nurses to bathe babies in hospital, and parents are usually encouraged to participate. How long after birth the first...
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