Aside from the debate on whether an initial bath is essential, I don't
understand why it has to lead to more separation.  Are we talking about
removing baby from the room or from mom's chest?  Once single room care
became the norm where I worked (and as pp stays got shorter) the practice
was that the initial bath was also the bath demo for the parents.  It was
done in the room and along with the tips on bathing and safety, it was a
great opportunity for the nurse to point out normal newborn appearance,
things to watch for, etc.  As I see it, there is no excuse not to do a bath
in the presence of the parents unless mom has been sent to ICU for some
complications.  Even if birth was by C/S, the bath can certainly wait until
mom is more up to it. Some moms and or dads wished to do the bath
themselves, and then the nurse can talk them through it, doing the same
teaching she would do if whe were bathing the bsby herself.
Now if we are talking about interrupting StS for the bath, that's another
matter.  Timing of a bath should not be on the nurse's convenience only. 
One could even do a sponge bth in mom's chest with a litle adapting of the
technique.  It does bug me that the big issue before discharge is whether
the bath demo was done, not whether the mom and baby have shown that they
are well on the way to effective feeding!  I doubt that many babies get
into trouble in the first couple weeks from "improper" bathing-certainly
nowhere as many as get into trouble because feeding didn't get off to a
good start.

Winnie

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