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There is no rush to give a bath. Baby should stay skin-to-skin with mom to bond and breastfeed! NEVER bathe until after 2 hours of age. After bath, back to mom for skin-to-skin time and more breastfeeding. Mom's body is the perfect "warmer" for baby. Our hospital uses these techniques and doesn't even bathe baby under a warmer. Staying a little bit dirty is much less of a big deal than is cold stress!
He was very mildly hypothermic after his bath. I would check his axillary temp. in 30 minutes X 2. What you are looking for is an increase in and his ability to maintain his temp. at a range of approximately 97.3-99 degrees Fahrenheit axillary.
If his temp. is WNL after an hour, then continue with routine monitoring. If his temperature is below normal, I would personally turn his warmer back on and notify the on-call physician. My background is strictly NICU. So I worry about hypothermia in an otherwise healthy TNB being an early sign of sepsis.
Breaking the latch and stopping the breastfeeding for a bath is a very wrong practice and a big no no. At least in my hospital, you would get a warning from the manager if this was complained by mom. Bath is never a priority over breastfeeding.
For temperature, we do skin-skin after a bath, and after 1 hour, if it is still low, we take them under the warmer, We don't dress them. Because if mom's body couldn't warm them, dresses won't either.
cyndbirn
2 Posts
I had a baby with an axillary temp of 97.2 at 2 hrs old after his bath which was done in the radiant warmer, and quickly dried and dressed him with t-shirt, diaper and warmed hat then swaddled him in 3 warmed blankets, he was also at term and had such a great latch that i had to break his seal in order to get him over to the warmer for bath and meds. Was this an appropriate intervention for thermoregulation for a mild hypothermic neonate? He was of average weight.