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