Baby first bath

You can’t submerge the baby full in water until the umbilical cord has dropped off. I think it’s to stop infection. However, you could sponge round the cord 😊

they will advise you not to bath your baby until the umbilical cord comes off because of risk of infection if it wasn’t dry properly so i’m not sure if they will let you xx

No. It’s not recommended and completely unnecessary

There’s a lot of pros to not bathing the baby straight away, a big one being the vernix on the skin which acts as a natural moisturiser and protects the baby from infection, why would you want to bath them straight away? I’m just curious

Didn’t bath baby in the hospital, but did as soon as we come home (a week later). I really didn’t care what other people said or thought, it’s my baby, if I wanna bath them then I will, you just have to be careful x

I don’t think they allow you to bath babies in hospital (uk based, I didn’t see any facilities for it) I gave my little one a sponge wash at 4 days old as he had blood still in his hair and it was smelling, I then gave him his first bath at 9 days old when his cord had fallen off x

Hello, I bath my newborn as soon as we got home . Ofcourse making sure no to touch the umbilical cord and I used shea butter is really good to use around the umbilical cord less than a week it fell off

I didn’t bath mine. It’s not recommended and like someone else said it’s completely unnecessary. You shouldn’t be doing it so soon because of their skin and they need the white stuff on them to protect them…

My baby had all the vernix washed off him after birth as he passed muconium before he was born so was covered in poop. And i still didn't bath him for the first few weeks as it was unnecessary

Just the fact that the baby will be covered in blood and mucus from my vagina makes me gag so I want them clean. Sure all the mums that gave birth had a shower after so don't understand why some people are saying is unnecessary?

The midwife wipes them down with a towel before they give them to you. You do not get handed the baby covered in blood etc and the last thing you will be doing straight after is showering if you have a natural birth you will be exhausted and most likely wont be able to stand or walk without assistance. My midwife cleaned me up after stitching me and I went straight to sleep, in all honesty didn’t even have the energy to shower the day after let alone the day I gave birth.

@Lillie this!! I didn’t shower the day/day after I gave birth. I was in labour 30+ hours so I was too exhausted

The midwives will wipe the baby off before giving them to you, I had a water birth both times so my babies were pretty much clean anyway. I think once the baby is here you won’t even think about it but you can bathe them once you go home as they won’t do it at the hospital. I didn’t until the cord came off but I gave them both daily wipe downs.

In the moment you don’t really think about them being covered in bodily fluids . Plus they have a hospital towel wrapped around them But if you are concerned about it speak to your midwife and ask if he can be in your birth plan to wash your baby

You really shouldn't do that. Honestly, the coating they have on them is a natural barrier and moisturiser if you wash it off they will SO dry and you are putting them at increased risk off loads of things not to mention the cord needs to dry and fall off naturally. Always listen to the professionals. If everyone is saying something, it's cause it's true 👍

At the end of the day it’s up to you what you do with your baby x

I just washed his hair when I got home (the next day) as it had blood and meconium in it. I didn’t give him a proper bath until his cord completely came off. Think it was like 10 days or something. By the time they are wrapped in towels etc they aren’t as slimy as you think 😆