I shared Carla Danna's post with Heather Harris in
Australia. Those attending the ILCA conference in July will
remember her fine presentation on creative bathing. I pass
on some of her comments for information. "I don't know about
the rest of the world, but women Down Under have been taking
baths in the days following birth for as long as I've been
doing midwifery--about 25 years! We have been deluding
ourselves for years that a cup of good ol' salt in a warm
bath does wonders for healing of perineal trauma and every
day somewhere in a hospital in Oz a weary mother is sinking
blissfully into a warm bath. Now research shows that salt is
not really efficacious, but women seem to derive much
comfort from it, away from the travails of early Mumdom.
No-one succumbed to any infections from it! I think there
seems to be a misapprehension that the recently
birth-stretched vagina is a gaping cavern down which a river
of water will surge if a mother immerses her nether regions
in a warm bath. Physiologically as we know, this is not
correct.
In fact many women not only labour in water, but give birth
in water. Why are they not all falling like flies with
raging infections ...? Babies are bathed, complete with
cord, and clamp, ever day in hospitals here. No apparent
problem with infections has arisen over the years. Sure we
mop their grotty little bums before immersing in any bath,
be it *avec maman* or solo. There are many hospitals here
now who do no cord dressing, and treat the umbi. stump as
just a normal part of the body--bathe it, pat it dry. Guess
what? Cord falls off by day 4 or 5. No increase in umbi.
flares or overt signs of infection. With the very early
discharge from hospital these days, most mothers would be
bathing in their own home. Even better! No sharing of bugs
with everyone else. It goes without saying that excellent
cleansing of the bath both pre- and post-bath should be
mandatory ... just some musings. The trouble is, this is so
SIMPLE, so EASY, and it is about to become enmeshed in
protocols, rules and regs, and "what ifs" and "yebbits"
("Good idea" "Yeah, but ...") ... I really think this is
almost harking back to the old days when women were
considered unclean when they were losing uterine blood ..."
Jim Akre, Nutrition unit, WHO, Geneva
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