Flame Free Friday - Questions

HoosOnFirst · April 2015

Remember that time I asked how to brush babies teeth? (::hangs head in shame::)

Yep, this is a weekly thread for all your questions you've felt too silly to ask before for fear of it being too dumb or too "basic". We won't flame you here!

KaLikeAWind · April 2015

I thought that was an excellent question, actually (the teeth brushing) and my question is also hygiene related -

How often should baby get a bath? I've heard that you can't do it until the umbilical stump falls off, and I have no idea when that happens. It seems like there are no real guidelines except a vague 'a couple / few times a week'. So like, 3 times a week is a good way to go? Also, once you are done with bath - do they actually need lotion? The soap is supposedly so gentle it won't overdry them, but if they aren't over dry then why is baby lotion such a thing? (I love baby lotion, btw - so soft)

laurendutch · April 2015

mellymar said:
I thought that was an excellent question, actually (the teeth brushing) and my question is also hygiene related -

How often should baby get a bath? I've heard that you can't do it until the umbilical stump falls off, and I have no idea when that happens. It seems like there are no real guidelines except a vague 'a couple / few times a week'. So like, 3 times a week is a good way to go? Also, once you are done with bath - do they actually need lotion? The soap is supposedly so gentle it won't overdry them, but if they aren't over dry then why is baby lotion such a thing? (I love baby lotion, btw - so soft)

Before umbilical cord: "sponge bath" every other night.

After umbilical cord: We would bath every other day or whenever they were super messy (like a blow out). We also applied lotion every night but we also live in the high desert where it is incredibly dry.

Every night we would wash faces and hands with a cloth.

HoosOnFirst · April 2015

mellymar said:
I thought that was an excellent question, actually (the teeth brushing) and my question is also hygiene related -

How often should baby get a bath? I've heard that you can't do it until the umbilical stump falls off, and I have no idea when that happens. It seems like there are no real guidelines except a vague 'a couple / few times a week'. So like, 3 times a week is a good way to go? Also, once you are done with bath - do they actually need lotion? The soap is supposedly so gentle it won't overdry them, but if they aren't over dry then why is baby lotion such a thing? (I love baby lotion, btw - so soft)

I can't speak from personal experience but at our pediatrician's open house someone asked this. What they said was until the umbilical cord falls off you do more "sponging" of the baby only as necessary, not really a bath. After the cord falls off then it's a few times per week. They also dis not recommend Johnson & Johnsons baby wash as it has too many chemicals. They recommended plain old Aveeno, Dove or Cetaphil natural body wash. They said a lot of baby washes for some reason add floral scent which is unnecessary and can irritate the skin. Not sure that if that helps? Again, I'm not speaking from personal experience as a FTM...

annatta79 · April 2015

Before the stump falls off (which can be a few days to a week or better) you just do a sponge bath as needed. After that you can do a bath where baby is immersed. How often will really depend on the baby. Some folks give a bath every day. I tended to bathe when I felt he needed one, which was probably two or three times a week. If you are bathing baby more than that, you may want to skip the soap for some of those baths, because it is drying. A lot of people do baths every night as part of the bedtime routine (which you don't need to worry about for a few months) but it is better not to wash them with soap every night. You will be able to tell based on your baby's skin if he needs lotion. No good reason not to use it. They do dry out faster than we do.

A note on baths - make sure you get baby's neck clean. Milk tends to drip down into baby's neck rolls and will sour. It can be tricky to get in there and get all those spots clean. Also, clean behind baby's ears. I neglected (forgot, didn't realize I needed to) to wash behind DS's ears for the first few weeks and it was pretty icky back there.

laurendutch · April 2015

Cetaphil just came out with a baby wash.

LaurenAnn0405 · April 2015

@annatta79 that's great advice about cleaning the neck and behind the ears because I didn't think of that either with DD at first and it can get pretty bad!

LaurenAnn0405 · April 2015

My question is this-is it dangerous for me to be around smokers while they're not smoking? Some of my clients come in REEKING of smoke and they most likely just finished off a cigarette before they stepped in the building but I'm worried that the residual smoke I'm breathing in could be bad for both me and baby. Also sometimes the stores that bring in money (I'm in banking) has money that reeks of smoke and makes my whole drawer smell like smoke-it's disgusting!

teather5 · April 2015

My question (that I'm sure will be answered when I attend class at my hospital but that's a month away) is:

When is the umbilical cord cut? Before skin to skin? Who cuts it? Also, what tests do they do, if any, before handing you the baby?

rsalata · April 2015

That won't hurt you just don't be around them while they are actually smoking.

annatta79 · April 2015

teather5 said:
My question (that I'm sure will be answered when I attend class at my hospital but that's a month away) is:

When is the umbilical cord cut? Before skin to skin? Who cuts it? Also, what tests do they do, if any, before handing you the baby?

Kinda depends on you. A lot of folks advocate waiting to cut the cord until it stops pulsing. There is a lot of baby's blood in the cord and it can be helpful for them to get it back before it is cut. If you are doing cord blood banking, then those procedures will determine. Baby should be laid on your stomach or chest right after birth, prior to the cord getting cut (assuming no emergency). They shouldn't need to do anything before handing baby to you. They will need to take a look at baby to assess breathing, color, alertness (all the APGAR measurements) but they should be able to do that while you hold him. As for who cuts it, I imagine different places have different policies. DH cut our son's cord.

teather5 · April 2015

@annatta79 thank you so much!

teather5 · April 2015

We are planning to use a pack and play as a bassinet. The one we chose doesn't have a bassinet attachment so we will just use the raised option. Do we need a mattress?

Addelie · April 2015

Nm.

mjschenk · April 2015

I have question that my childbirth class made me think of is, back labor any more or less common when you have an anterior placenta? Any experience or comments just curious

virginiaunicorn11 · April 2015

mjschenk said:
I have question that my childbirth class made me think of is, back labor any more or less common when you have an anterior placenta? Any experience or comments just curious

I know back labor is a thing but it scares me so much that I don't know the first thing about it. Am a bit curious but too afraid to actually look into it...

Frogger5 · April 2015

LaurenCearfoss said:
My question is this-is it dangerous for me to be around smokers while they're not smoking? Some of my clients come in REEKING of smoke and they most likely just finished off a cigarette before they stepped in the building but I'm worried that the residual smoke I'm breathing in could be bad for both me and baby. Also sometimes the stores that bring in money (I'm in banking) has money that reeks of smoke and makes my whole drawer smell like smoke-it's disgusting!

I don't think "dangerous" is quite the right word, but there is a relatively new idea about "third hand smoke," which is the residue that stays on clothes, hair, walls, etc. It's definitely not ideal for the baby to be in contact with it after it's born (it's a SIDS risk) but from what you describe, doesn't sound like that will be a problem. You can't really do anything about it anyway. There are a lot of toxins in our environment that we can't avoid and just have to make the best of.

KaLikeAWind · April 2015

teather5 said:
We are planning to use a pack and play as a bassinet. The one we chose doesn't have a bassinet attachment so we will just use the raised option. Do we need a mattress?

I asked my sister about this (she directed me on a lot of my registry) and I'm pretty sure she said no. I know I don't have an additional mattress on my registry, anyway.
ETA - the mattress that it comes with should be fine I think she said

virginiaunicorn11 · April 2015

Ok but no really - what is the baby actually doing in there that makes all the weird different movements? I get hiccups, punches and kicks... But the other 8 motions are unfathomable

karaelaine1991 · April 2015

I have one related to smoke: my next door neighbor smokes weed. It doesn't make my apartment smell, but it does make my hallway smell. Never really bothered me pre pregnancy because he's nice and, again, it doesn't affect my apartment, but now I'm worried about when baby's here, if she would inhale it while we're walking out to the car or something, and if this could possibly get me into trouble with CPS or something, even though I have nothing to do with him choosing to smoke it. I'm also kind of afraid to call the police because there have been a few red flags that he might be dealing and DH and I would rather not piss off a possible drug dealer.

Anyone have any input?

finchfeeder80 · April 2015

karaelaine1991 said:
I have one related to smoke: my next door neighbor smokes weed. It doesn't make my apartment smell, but it does make my hallway smell. Never really bothered me pre pregnancy because he's nice and, again, it doesn't affect my apartment, but now I'm worried about when baby's here, if she would inhale it while we're walking out to the car or something, and if this could possibly get me into trouble with CPS or something, even though I have nothing to do with him choosing to smoke it. I'm also kind of afraid to call the police because there have been a few red flags that he might be dealing and DH and I would rather not piss off a possible drug dealer.

Anyone have any input?

I'm going to go with, that unless you're standing in the hall for extended periods of time, that the less than a minute or so of exposure the baby would get is not enough to do anything to the baby. The neighbors at my old apartment smoked up all the time and the hallway reeked of pot, but I never got any kind of contact high just from unlocking the door and stepping in. It also never transferred to my clothes or anything like that. I'm pretty sure this won't be a problem for your baby.

karaelaine1991 · April 2015

finchfeeder80 said:

karaelaine1991 said:
I have one related to smoke: my next door neighbor smokes weed. It doesn't make my apartment smell, but it does make my hallway smell. Never really bothered me pre pregnancy because he's nice and, again, it doesn't affect my apartment, but now I'm worried about when baby's here, if she would inhale it while we're walking out to the car or something, and if this could possibly get me into trouble with CPS or something, even though I have nothing to do with him choosing to smoke it. I'm also kind of afraid to call the police because there have been a few red flags that he might be dealing and DH and I would rather not piss off a possible drug dealer.

Anyone have any input?
I'm going to go with, that unless you're standing in the hall for extended periods of time, that the less than a minute or so of exposure the baby would get is not enough to do anything to the baby. The neighbors at my old apartment smoked up all the time and the hallway reeked of pot, but I never got any kind of contact high just from unlocking the door and stepping in. It also never transferred to my clothes or anything like that. I'm pretty sure this won't be a problem for your baby.

Ok, thanks! I know next to nothing about this. I've never smoked weed - nothing against it, I have a bunch of friends who do, but it's just not my thing - and my worst fear would be baby being taken away, especially for something that has nothing to do with me. And of course my imagination just races in regards to what *might* happen since I know so little about it. Thanks again!

lovethatcolosun · April 2015

@mjschenk and @amark11 back labor bites the big one. I don't know for sure about the placenta role, but I think it was more to do with babies position and bad effing luck. I had it with DS and it felt like he was pushing off my back trying to get down the birth canal. No way to really prepare for that one. Some people say counter pressure helps, like if DH pushes his hand or a tennis ball on that spot. I personally didn't want to be touched.

@karaelaine1991 I highly doubt the CPS thing would be a issue unless there is another reason they would be investigating you. They don't just randomly stop by to make sure every new baby is well cared for. They come when they are called. Unless you are hanging out in the hall for long periods of time I don't think the smell of pot would be an issue either. If it's super smoky in the hall, you might just ask your neighbor to "towel his door" or put a fan up that keeps the smoke pushed in the opposite direction if people are going in and out. You can always drape a blanket over LO's car seat, stroller or carrier until you are out of the hall. That should reduce any brief contact with smoke they might have.

finchfeeder80 · April 2015

karaelaine1991 said:

finchfeeder80 said:

karaelaine1991 said:
I have one related to smoke: my next door neighbor smokes weed. It doesn't make my apartment smell, but it does make my hallway smell. Never really bothered me pre pregnancy because he's nice and, again, it doesn't affect my apartment, but now I'm worried about when baby's here, if she would inhale it while we're walking out to the car or something, and if this could possibly get me into trouble with CPS or something, even though I have nothing to do with him choosing to smoke it. I'm also kind of afraid to call the police because there have been a few red flags that he might be dealing and DH and I would rather not piss off a possible drug dealer.

Anyone have any input?
I'm going to go with, that unless you're standing in the hall for extended periods of time, that the less than a minute or so of exposure the baby would get is not enough to do anything to the baby. The neighbors at my old apartment smoked up all the time and the hallway reeked of pot, but I never got any kind of contact high just from unlocking the door and stepping in. It also never transferred to my clothes or anything like that. I'm pretty sure this won't be a problem for your baby.
Ok, thanks! I know next to nothing about this. I've never smoked weed - nothing against it, I have a bunch of friends who do, but it's just not my thing - and my worst fear would be baby being taken away, especially for something that has nothing to do with me. And of course my imagination just races in regards to what *might* happen since I know so little about it. Thanks again!

I probably should ETA that I meant stepping into my own apartment, not the neighbor's pot filled one. It's not really my thing, either. I smoked a couple time in college and just never got what the big deal was.

karaelaine1991 · April 2015

lovethatcolosun said:
@mjschenk and @amark11 back labor bites the big one. I don't know for sure about the placenta role, but I think it was more to do with babies position and bad effing luck. I had it with DS and it felt like he was pushing off my back trying to get down the birth canal. No way to really prepare for that one. Some people say counter pressure helps, like if DH pushes his hand or a tennis ball on that spot. I personally didn't want to be touched.

@karaelaine1991 I highly doubt the CPS thing would be a issue unless there is another reason they would be investigating you. They don't just randomly stop by to make sure every new baby is well cared for. They come when they are called. Unless you are hanging out in the hall for long periods of time I don't think the smell of pot would be an issue either. If it's super smoky in the hall, you might just ask your neighbor to "towel his door" or put a fan up that keeps the smoke pushed in the opposite direction if people are going in and out. You can always drape a blanket over LO's car seat, stroller or carrier until you are out of the hall. That should reduce any brief contact with smoke they might have.

Great advice! Thanks so much

annatta79 · April 2015

amark11 said:
Ok but no really - what is the baby actually doing in there that makes all the weird different movements? I get hiccups, punches and kicks... But the other 8 motions are unfathomable

A lot of the movement is just baby twitching in their sleep, since they are sleeping most of the time. They are also stretching out and rolling around. I rolled over in bed one night and the baby went nuts for a minute and then calmed down. I realized I probably flipped him over and he had to get comfortable again! You may notice certain movements after birth and you'll say "Oh! That is what you were doing in there!"

alcrimmins · April 2015

amark11 said:
Ok but no really - what is the baby actually doing in there that makes all the weird different movements? I get hiccups, punches and kicks... But the other 8 motions are unfathomable

Haha! I think my L/O was practicing self defense this morning. Really fast kicks or punches right next to each other for a short period of time. I couldn't stop laughing.

laurendutch · April 2015

teather5 said:
We are planning to use a pack and play as a bassinet. The one we chose doesn't have a bassinet attachment so we will just use the raised option. Do we need a mattress?

I did this with my twins and I didn't use an extra mattress. Plus, from what I remember when they are super young its best to have them on a sturdier mattress. My mattress has two sides, an infant and toddler side.

HoosOnFirst · April 2015

teather5 said:
We are planning to use a pack and play as a bassinet. The one we chose doesn't have a bassinet attachment so we will just use the raised option. Do we need a mattress?

I don't know either, but we did put a mattress for the pack and play on our registry... My guess is that it's not necessary but if someone wants to buy it for us...

kyleegail89 · April 2015

I guess this isn't entirely a horrible question, but has anyone else taken procardia for contractions? If so, what was your experience with it? How long did it take to adjust to your body?

kbbtah · April 2015

amark11 said:
Ok but no really - what is the baby actually doing in there that makes all the weird different movements? I get hiccups, punches and kicks... But the other 8 motions are unfathomable

Ha! Yes, my DH is always running around the house like a chicken with its head cut off trying to accomplish 15 things at once...I was just joking with him that LO is probably trying to do the same thing en utero

im so laid back and love to sleep, so I think ive got my work cut out for me!

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