“It Is Illegal For Us To Leave A Baby Unwashed.”

“it is illegal for us to leave a baby unwashed.” -L&D Nurse to mother who did not want her newborn bathed.

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There are 12 comments to this post.

Kat had this to say, Nov 23, 2009 @ 4:03 pm (Quote)

Ahh, another old standby. When you can’t play the “dead baby” card anymore, play the “We’ll call CPS/It’s Illegal” card.

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Lindsey had this to say, Nov 23, 2009 @ 4:19 pm (Quote)

It SHOULD be illegal for her to flat-out lie like that.

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Michelle Potter Reply:
November 23rd, 2009 at 8:25 pm Michelle Potter(Quote)

I agree! Wait… isn’t it? Doesn’t it violate informed consent to lie to you about your options? I was told that it was illegal to decline the PKU test when my second son was born, but now I know that it’s not. How can it be legal for care providers, who are supposed to get informed consent, to tell parents that they don’t have a legal right to refuse??

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Jessica had this to say, Nov 24, 2009 @ 5:03 am (Quote)

Oh, its definatley illegal for care providers to lie to you, but the problem is, unless the lie caused damage or contributed to malpractice the only thing you can really do is complain to the hospital or medical board. Which, since its made up of other medical professionals, is far more likely to side with the medical professional and decide the complaint doesn’t have merit than with the patient and get the nurse/doctor in trouble. Although that won’t stop me from complaining in the future (did in the past) because you never know if you are the first to complain or the 100th! Eventually even doctor’s start listening to patients.

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Sheva had this to say, Nov 24, 2009 @ 11:33 am (Quote)

Just learned this handy piece of info – complain to the Joint Commisions – they regulate a few hospitals and work for the state – if they get enough complaints about hospitals breaking their rules, they could pull federal funding which means the hospital can’t collect medicaid, which means they close.
So ladies, if you are being threatened, tell them you will file a complaint with the The Joint Commission. I’ve been told by someone who works in hospitals that this scares the stuffing out of them.
http://www.jointcommission.org/
Good luck!

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JPeaslee had this to say, Nov 27, 2009 @ 10:03 pm (Quote)

Question: why didn’t she want her baby washed? Is there like any specific kind of problem that can go with that????

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Alice Reply:
November 28th, 2009 at 1:24 am Alice(Quote)

They might have been trying to wash the baby off before handing it to her, or maybe the mother wanted to give the baby its first bath herself. Maybe she wanted dad to be there for the first bath and he wasn’t there at the moment. Maybe they wanted to take baby away for a bath and mum wasn’t able to go with for health reasons (difficult birth leaving her weak or hooked up to monitors). There are lots of reasons she could have not wanted her baby bathed.

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Becci Reply:
November 28th, 2009 at 8:41 am Becci(Quote)

I prefer to give my children their first bath. It’s something very special and can be a wonderful bonding time between a child and parent. Not to mention that I’ve seen how some nurses handle newborns and they just seem to flop them all over the place which can be traumatizing for a naked and wet baby. Plus, I don’t like to use strong scented soaps or shampoo on my children, which is what they tend to use in hospitals.
Oh, and I prefer not to wash any vernix left on them off. We rub it in to their skin instead to help their skin from drying out.

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Mud Reply:
December 9th, 2009 at 6:20 am Mud(Quote)

Washing baby too soon with soap instead of plain water washes off the vernix which protects the skin and offers protection against impurities (and chemical nasties) in the environment.

http://www.lamaze.org/institute/adva…anuary2005.asp
Antimicrobial Properties of Amniotic Fluid and Vernix Caseosa Are Similar to Those Found in Breastmilk- Akinbi, H. T., Narendran, V., Pass, A. K., Markart, P., & Hoath, S. B. (2004). Host defense proteins in vernix caseosa and amniotic fluid. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 191 (6), 2090-2096.
“Early bathing of the baby removes vernix, which contains antimicrobial proteins that are active against group B streptococcus and E. coli. Delaying the bath and keeping the newborn together with his or her mother until breastfeeding is established may prevent some cases of devastating infections caused by these bacteria.

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Kat had this to say, Nov 28, 2009 @ 7:20 am (Quote)

There is no need to scrub the natural vernix off a baby’s skin. It is good for their skin, and forms a natural protective coating.

Some moms enjoy giving their baby the first bath, it is a special time for them, and they prefer the nurse leave it to them.

Some hospitals take the baby away to the nursery to give a bath, which is another issue. But once the baby is in the nursery, all wet, their temperature can drop a bit. Then they say the baby needs to sit under the warmer for an hour to “get their temp up” and depending on how mother-baby friendly the hospital is they could decide to give the baby a pacifier or a quick bottle to “let the mom rest…”

There are many reasons a mom might choose to decline the offer of a bath for her newborn, and no legal or medical reasons for the nurse to coerce her like that.

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