I must say I am enjoying the discussion on tub baths, and the different views are food for thought.
At the hospital where I am employed, we have been tub bathing our newborns for at least 12 years.  When I first began working there I thought the sponge bath was the way to do it.  Our babies are routinely taken to the triage nursery anywhere from immediately after birth (depending on mom's or babe's condition) to two hours post delivery.  There, they are placed on an open ohio to warm and await their first bath.  Many of our SVD's go home at 48hrs but when they were staying on average 4 days several years ago, it was routine to do a baby bath demonstration for the new mom and have her do a return demo the following day.  Now due to cut backs, and a heavier patient assignment and shorter hosp. stay, we have a video we show them on the tub bath (yes, cord and all into the water) and maybe on a good day they have the opportunity to do the bath themselves before they leave the hosp.  Needless to say, many grandma's are shocked!! that we put those baby's into the water.  As for the alcohol to the cord...we discontinued that 2 years ago based on the research done showing alcohol removed the norm. bacteria that facilitates cord separation.  Again, we have shocked grandma's....but how do we keep the cord clean?   Dry Q-tip around the base 4 times a day, and teach the parents to obs. the cord for what's norm.  

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