Hi there ladies! At the hospital where I'll be delivering they have a questionnaire about birth preferences, and one of the questions asks your preference on the following:
a.) I would like my baby to be wiped down, wrapped in a blanket and then handed to me for one hour of uninterrupted bonding.
b.) I would like all procedures, including wiping down and bath, to be delayed for one hour after birth.
They place the baby on your chest for immediate skin to skin contact no matter what (unless there's an emergency or you request otherwise.) But then after those initial few minutes, to wipe down/wrap in blanket or not? I suppose this is a question for moms who have been there (or FTMs with a clear idea of what they want - unlike me!) - but what is your preference? Are you planning to have your baby wiped down and wrapped in a blanket before your bonding/breastfeeding time? Or just letting LO rest on your chest and try to breastfeed for an hour, then get wiped down or bathed and wrapped in a blanket after that hour?
I guess my confusion is, I think initially skin to skin, with no wiping down, sounds best - I want baby to be held by me before anyone else! But after a whole hour of baby just hanging out on my chest, without a blanket, wouldn't LO get cold? And all of the blood and goo and birth stuff is fine by me initially, but again, an hour seems like a long time. Anyway, I'd love to hear preferences and opinions. I know this is a kind of small detail and it's 100% personal preference, but for some reason I'm having a super hard time deciding! Thanks!
Re: Baby right after birth - wipe down, bath or neither?
My SIL had two babies and I got to watch. They took the baby put it on her for a second, took it back did all the stuff, but not cleaning, then put the baby back on her chest. She was really hot at first and then about ten minutes later sad she was cold so they just put a blanket over the two of them.
DS1 2010
DS2 2013
DD1 2016
This time, the plan is to have the baby placed directly on my chest and left there for approx 2 hours before any workups are done.
Entirely a personal choice.
Good luck and congratulations!
https://www.breastcrawl.org/science.shtml
ETA posted too soon
there wasn't a ton of verix or goo or whatever on his skin but what there was we rubbed in while we did skin-to-skin. he was nursing within just a few minutes of being on my chest. it is supposed to be very good for their skin.
edited because i posted too soon.
Eta: she was born almost 3 days ago and still hasn't had a bath. We meant to wash her hair today but didn't have time so will tomorrow. We didn't bathe our twins for about a week. Just warm water wiped on diaper area and face before that.
DS1 2010
DS2 2013
DD1 2016
This hospital does a mandatory 2hr skin-to-skin immediately after birth so I'm pretty excited about that. I'll probably ask that they wipe him off a little at some point but then hand him back to finish the two hours. They do give baby the first bath but I'm going to ask that they don't, it was something I really enjoyed and it helped me bond with my son (I had some trouble with that the first time around).