Cindy and Jay,
Two generations ago, when *all* the babies were in the nursery *all* of the
time, when post-partum hospitalisation were much longer than now,
and the choice of antibiotices was more restricted, epidemics were raging in
nurseries. Especially the dreaded staphyloccocal infections. The only way
hospitals could *sort of* control the epidemics, and prevent them, was
through rigid antiinfectious measures, such as masks for breastfeeding
(the rare ones) mothers and, as you now have guessed, scrubbing the baby
clean.
I hate the first bath: inexperienced nursing students are told to do it,
the baby screams it's head of, and gets very very cold. Then the parents
are told hell because they can't keep the ridiculous little hat on the
baby's  head. My two last babies did not get baths until many days old,
my husband or I gave the first bath in a warm water tub, baby deep in the
water, only the face sticking out (BTW, not putting baby in a tub while the
cord is present was also
part of infectious diseases prevention: infection could spread through
use of the same tub; better to sponge bath, and boil the sponge)

the daughter of a public health physician,
Louise Denhez, M.D., M.P.H
Montreal, Quebec, Canada