February 7, 2010

Baby Bath

One of the things that I like to do is the newborn bath. I'm not able to do it often because frequently I have another patient (or two or three), but it's something that I enjoy. I'm not talking about bathing the baby in the warmer with a basin and wash rags while it cries. I like to actually put the baby in a bath, or give a Leboyer bath. The nursery nurses about have a fit, thinking that it's "gross" to put the infant in a baby bathtub, and they worry about the cord. The kid came out of a fluid environment and it won't hurt the cord one bit by being in the water. After the bath, we apply triple dye to dry it up and keep it clean, so no harm done. And the babies love it. They aren't cold and I like to think that they feel a bit better by being back in water for awhile, kind of a way to ease into the world. I usually get the dads involved. I show them that all they need to do is support their child's head so it's above water and they will just float and kick around. Moms seem to enjoy resting a bit and watching their partner ever so gently give the baby it's first bath. Afterwards, the baby is still warm from the bath, and can be placed under the warmer for a bit while I give the baby meds (vit K, triple dye, ilotycin) and get mom to the bathroom and cleaned up herself. By the time mom is ready, the baby is nice and warm and can go with them to post-partum, bypassing time in the nursery completely. No separation from the parents for the bath, no screaming chilled baby, and the dad can take an active role in caring for the baby.

5 comments:

Melanie said...

That sounds awesome to me. I wish that's what could or would have happened with my babies. All three have been c-section. Luckily the first was born in a hospital that was "baby-friendly" meaning that as soon as I was moved back to my bed right after surgery he was given back to me. So we were only separated 30 mins instead of the 2-4 hrs like my other two.

Anonymous said...

That's so nice.
I had to wait forever (3-4 hrs) to get my daughter back from the nursery....

Anonymous said...

I wanna give my baby the bath myself. It just seems more natural to me...had 6 and never have thought to do it before. Then, when I'm getting cleaned up all the technical stuff can happen (of course all this AFTER I nurse ideally). I don't want the healthy baby taken from me for any of this until I'm ready....this has never happened before. Of course, if baby has an issue or I've got bleeding problems then the hospital staff needs to do what they need to do. I'd just love to mommy my baby right away.

Jamie said...

That sounds lovely (and logical!).

Tummy Tub USA said...

I was just wondering if you have ever tried or heard of using a TummyTub as the Leboyer bath? It is what they do in most hospitals in Germany and some now in the US. It's exactly as you describe here. More info: www.tummytubusa.com.