Hi all, The issue of bathing babies in birth suite has been raised in our hospital. It has been standard practice to bath them following the first breast feed in birth suite prior to transfer to the postnatal ward. However, if the first breast feed is not successful, they are then bathed regardless, prior to transfer. I work in SCN and from time to time have to admit babies (probably needlessly if they hadn't had such a quick bath) because they are too cold. Sometimes the smaller and more premature babies (35-36 weeks) develop an oxygen requirement following this bath--they may not have been physiologically stable enough for this intervention. These occurrences, of course, adversely affect the breastfeeding relationship, especially if they haven't successfully breast fed yet. I managed to convince a doctor yesterday that it was more appropriate to transfer a marginally cold, post caesar baby to the ward with mother and have skin to skin contact with warmed wraps over both them and breastfeed rather than an overhead heater and formula in SCN. He was happy with this as long as the temperature was closely monitored by the ward staff. I think the time is ripe to generate change but, when asked for referenced information for why we should not bath babies too quickly, I have stuggled to find the references I need (particularly in relation to breastfeeding ). I cannot find where I have read the information in the past. There are a number of midvives working in birth suite, as well as us working in SCN, who would love to see the policy changed, but we need to amass research based information first to support a change in policy. Does anybody have references, particularly why keeping the natural smell of the liquor on the skin (an avoiding scented soaps and solutions), is so important, particularly prior to the first feed and why it is beneficial to delay the first bath even till the next day or so. Any references would be greatly appreciated. Marian Rigney RN and IBCLC candidate _________________________________________________________________ Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html