The process  Sue mentions about bathing babies is the same for  the maternity facility I work in,  in Auckland New Zealand. We have approximately 7000 births a year and have also  been accredited Baby Friendly for 6 yrs, our 3rd assessment is coming up in Feb 2013. We have not bathed babies straight after birth for something like 15-20 yrs. If a baby is bathed (on the rare occassion) it is well after the first hour to allow for skin to skin and breastfeeding, sometimes longer, and is usually at parents request, even then it might just be a head wash. Mothers who are Hep B pos have their babies bathed sometime in the first couple of hours. We also encourage parents to do the first bath,  with staff guidence if they need it. We don't have anywhere  for well  babies to go except with their mothers and rooming in 100%. 

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome