Dear Friends:
    Chris's post about when she refused a bath for her 3rd baby brought back
memories. I too refused to have my baby bathed, and got rolled eyes and sighs
and skepticism from the hospital staff. Fortunately, we went home 6 hours
after the delivery, so escaped further interaction.
    As a nurse, I remember hearing other nurses complaining about families
that wanted to delay the bath. There was such an attitude of "we are the ones
that know what the right thing is to do" and "what's wrong with these people
who don't want to wash their baby?" in those situations. I sometimes went
along because I didn't know any better.  There is an association of dirt with
anything coming out of that part of the body. What I did most of the time was
have the father give the first bath, with me watching.
    It is only in the past decade or two that there is evidence (I mean
published studies) showing that babies track the breast by smell, and that
vernix protects the skin and helps keep the infant warm. All things I never
learned in my maternal-child health rotation, along with the lack of
breastfeeding information, value of skin-to-skin care, and infant feeding
cues.
    Warmly, with sad memories of what I did from ignorance and good
intentions.
Nikki Lee RN, MSN, Mother of 2, IBCLC, CIMI, CSTP
Elkins Park (a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; northeastern USA)
supporter of the WHO Code and the Mother Friendly Childbirth Initiative

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