In the hospital where I work we haven't had hospital garb for newborns for over 10 years now. Babies stay skin to skin until their first bath (unless parents desire otherwise). First bath is at around 8 hours unless there are concerns with baby's health (sugars, temp, breathing being the most common). After the first bath it depends on the nurse and the family. I always request that babies go back to skin to skin for as much of the first 24 hours as possible, sometimes families are good with that, sometimes they prefer baby gets dressed after the first bath. If for any reason baby needs to go into their bassinet before their first bath, we simply wrap them in some blankets. We have had no issues with temperature regulation in newborns since losing hospital garb, and our skin to skin rates have increased substantially. Other nurses dress baby after the first bath, and sometimes families dress baby after the first bath. But at the very next breastfeed, we undress baby and do skin to skin for the breastfeed. So, sometimes families get a lot of practice dressing and undressing their babies, since I would say 90% of our breastfeeds are skin to skin. 

We have a 24/48 hour discharge policy (24 hours for vaginal births, 48 hours for c-sections). We need to get that dyad as comfortable with each other as possible in the shortest amount of time possible, and we have found skin to skin really helps boost a parent's confidence in handling their newborn. 

Always curious to hear what other centres do, 

Sonya
who was surprised to hear that newborns are dressed in other centres, just proving again that we all have something to learn, always :)

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