Chistina

Like you, I seldom use gloves to bath a baby.  Water always got in them and I wonder what sort of message we give parents when we wear gloves to touch their baby.  I chose to take the very small risk.  I feel that once the baby is dry and if the skin on my hands is intact, chances of catching something from the baby are slim to none, that is coupled with the knowledge that I have access to mother's prenatal records with screening for hep B HIV and probably hep C.  I also don't use gloved to handle newborns after they have dried off following delivery.

So far I have had one baby who missed his bath.  He started to smell after being under phototherapy, so mom and I gave him his bath, probably around the third day.  I have also had the experience of having babies get so comfortable in the basin, filled with pretty warm water that they nearly fall asleep.  Besides letting babies stabilize before bathing (wait at least 6 hours) another reason to delay bathing is to allow parents to be present for the bath which gives them the chance to see how it is done or to do it themselves with support of someone who has done it before.  For some reason baby baths seem to be one of the things parents worry a lot about doing themselves.

Cordelia Merritt


On May 25, 2011, at 10:55 AM, LACTNET automatic digest system wrote:

> Date:    Wed, 25 May 2011 10:29:07 -0700
> From:    Christina <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: immersion bathing for newborns?
> 
> Hi Phyllis,
> 
> Thanks for the kind words and I apologize for the delayed response.  To
> answer your questions:
> 
> 1.  We've never worn gowns to bathe babies.  As for gloves, I've never had
> anyone complain to me about wearing gloves.  I know that some nurses did
> complain that water got into the gloves (thereby making them useless) but
> one nurse suggested switching to the longer gloves they find in the O.R. to
> prevent that from happening.  I know this is a terrible thing to admit, but
> I actually don't wear gloves when I do my immersion baths.  I just don't
> feel like I have a good enough grip on the babies when I'm gloved.  So I've
> done baths without them for a long time.  I wash my hands very well before
> and after.  If I have a known hepatitis positive mother or known/obvious
> chorio, then I wear gloves as well.  I realize that isn't using universal
> precautions but I just feel like I'm going to drop a baby if I don't.
> Perhaps it's time to start doing this.
> 
> 2.  Yes, mothers and families DO have their own yuck factor and sometimes
> ask me to please clean up their babies before they hold them.  I gently
> explain why we don't do it and why it's best to leave baby alone to spend
> time with mom and breastfeed.  RARELY have I had a mom, after a good and
> gentle explanation, pursue bathing any further.  Most are happy to wait once
> they understand the benefits.  If a baby smells really putrid (I've seen
> this twice with awful cases of chorio) or if they baby has been swimming in
> thick meconium for a long time, I'll make an exception.
> 
> 3.  As we are a small, community hospital, our hearing tests are only done a
> few hours a day, during the day.  So we just go ahead with the bath and the
> hearing test is usually done much later, closer to discharge.
> 
> Hope this helps,
> 
> Christina Harris, RN
> Federal Way, WA


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