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Discussion

Delayed newborn bath

I asked about delayed newborn baths a few years ago on this forum. I want to ask again because our Mother Baby UNPC group is trying to implement delayed newborn baths. I work on an OB unit that delivers 4000 infants a year. Infants remain w their mothers during their recovery. Presently, baths are given in the labor room the patient is being recovered in. Couplets are then transferred to Mother Baby. The proposed change would be to give newborns their first bath and shampoo at 24 hrs of life. This may sound simple, but implementing it will be quite a challenge to figure out who will give the baths, where to give them and how to warm up newborns after-skin to skin or under an Ohio table. Do other hospitals just wear gloves in handling an unbathed infant? Just wondering what other hospitals do for timing of baths. We have an all RN staff on the mother baby unit. We have 2 nurse techs and 1 RN staffing the nursery. Any help/suggestions on how this is handled in other hospitals. Thank you!

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    We delay our baths as well - not usually for 24 hours, though that's not a bad idea. We wear gloves when we handle unbathed infants and gowns if we're going to be holding them. No biggie.

    They have to have an axillary temp of 97.8F or higher prior to bath. Bath is done either in nursery or in Mom's room, though I personally think it takes more work to take the kid back and forth to the nursery. I can have a baby bathed in 5min. Warm back up skin to skin with Mom for at least 30min but longer if needed, covered in new hat and warm blankets. I have found that education is key - people like to look at their babies, but educating on how important it is to keep baby close to Mom while s/he warms up will go a long way here. And crank the thermostat up a couple degrees before the bath, too.

    It is very doable for the couplet nurse if you stick to a 3-couplet max, though we've made it work with 4 as well.

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