Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
Feb
15
Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
“…She Would Be An OSHA Hazard!”
“We can’t do that…she would be an OSHA hazard!” – Postpartum Nurse to mom who requested that the bath be delayed so that the father — who had missed the birth due to travel circumstances and a rapid birth — could be a part of the event.
There are 45 comments to this post.
The mom used the dad’s circumstances as a most innocuous explanation — she really wanted it delayed to help with breastfeeding — and she was met with this incredulous response. The nurse was truly dumbstruck by the request and fought it tooth and nail. Luckily, mom fought harder. The whole scenario is made even more ridiculous when two hospitals *right down the road* have *mandatory* 4 and 6 hour waiting periods for baths — in order to promote breastfeeding. I’m pretty sure they’ve reviewed OSHA guidelines before implementing these policies, and I’m pretty sure there’s sufficient PPE to protect staff from the ebola-like substances all over a newborn (eyeroll). Let’s just say this mom didn’t go back to that hospital for baby #2. She didn’t want to expose them to any more ickies.
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Jerry Reply:
February 15th, 2012 at 6:07 am (Quote)
Go mom! Sometimes it seems like medical staff think that parents are complete idiots (our pediatrician for example).
Good thing mom stuck up for what she wanted!
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Anna Reply:
February 15th, 2012 at 6:41 am (Quote)
Same thing happened to me, just the nurses termed my son a “biohazard” and complained that they had to wear gloves each time they touched him. I didn’t mind, cause, shouldn’t you be wearing gloves no matter what???? He did end up with a bath on day 3. My daugher was a birthing center baby, they don’t even suggest bathing. She bathed for the first time around 3 weeks or so (in a tummy tub!)…. What a biohazard filled home I must have!
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genniemom Reply:
February 15th, 2012 at 12:21 pm (Quote)
What is a tummy tub? It sounds interesting.
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Michelle Reply:
February 15th, 2012 at 2:39 pm (Quote)
I agree — shouldn’t they wear gloves anyway?? My oldest daughter (actually, step-daughter) nearly died from a hospital infection, which she is believed to have contracted from an anesthesiologist who handled her without gloves. She was in the NICU for two weeks, including being transferred to Texas Children’s Hospital. During the transfer she was so ill they were afraid she might not make it there.
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Jennifer Reply:
February 15th, 2012 at 7:07 am (Quote)
HAHAHA, Proper PPE for handling a newborn! That’s awesome.
Of course, since I work in the Electrical field, our version of PPE is what we call our “Moon suit”, so of course the first thing that popped into my mind when I read PPE was wearing the moon suit to carry around the “dirty” baby.
Good for mama for standing up for her rights!!! 
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Alyson Miers had this to say,
Feb 15, 2012 @ 6:10 am (Quote)
You work in a huge building full of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and you’re terrified of a newborn covered in vernix? Really?
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sprybuzzard had this to say,
Feb 15, 2012 @ 6:59 am (Quote)
That’s why you have gloves! What a ridiculous excuse.
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My healthy 34wker never got a bath in the hospital because they didn’t want to expose him to the cold air while being wet. Didn’t want to chance him not being able to regulate his temp. He was a week old and at home before he got his first bath.
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Lindsay Reply:
February 15th, 2012 at 5:18 pm (Quote)
Wow. That’s awesome! My 33 weeker who was sick was bathed… and I was beyond pissed. The NICU ER team that came in to transport him told the head RN that they were never to bathe a baby that might be transferred again, because then people don’t think they need to be sterile to interact with the newborn and can give him/her something.
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(newborn nurse here). Bathing does create cold stress and crying for a baby, so delaying baths until after transition and the first couple of nursing sessions is a great thing.
We only give sponge baths anyway (wet washcloths with some baby shampoo (that nasty johnson’s) under the radiant warmer. It’s mainly just to get the bulk of the “body fluids” off from the birth. A lot of nurses also like to rub all the vernix out of the armpits so that axillary temperatures are more accurate. There are a surprising amount of bloody clots in baby’s hair when they come up to the nursery. Usually, in a normal newborn nursery (not NICU) once baby is in an open crib, its usually assumed that the baby’s been bathed. We don’t wear gloves normally, we just wash hands before every patient interaction (Yes, I do wash my hands a gazillion times a day). Therefore… if a parent wishes to decline the initial bath, we usually put a little sign on the crib that just says “baby unbathed” so we know to put gloves on. It’s really no big deal… it’s just out of the ordinary. Baby bathing is another one of those things that is done for staff convenience/protection and not done for baby’s benefit. :/
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v had this to say,
Feb 15, 2012 @ 9:11 am (Quote)
Oh noes!! The horrors of wearing gloves in a hospital! I had fun with this with my oldest among other ridiculousness. :shakehead:It helps the baby, too bad if someone can’t touch the baby? As long as they are in mama’s room, no one should be touching them much anyway!
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Well wowza, you wouldn’t believe how many “OSHA hazards” there were in the NICU when my daughter was there, including her…
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Rachel Reply:
February 15th, 2012 at 1:39 pm (Quote)
No kidding! My son got an eye infection while in the NICU, probably because someone didn’t wear gloves. Then he was moved to what my husband and I called the dirty pod (there were six different pods or areas with babies) and had a hot pink infection precautions sign on his isolette through the remainder of his stay to remind the nurses to wear gloves. Duh.
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Me Reply:
February 15th, 2012 at 11:55 pm (Quote)
Wow, where was this NICU? I was actually being kind of sarcastic as the NICU my daughter was at was incredibly cautious about wearing gloves, sterilizing things, etc., but had bigger priorities than bathing the babies to get the ‘bio-hazard off of them’…I’m so sorry your little boy had to fight that infection on top of everything else.
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Ashley Bean had this to say,
Feb 15, 2012 @ 11:18 am (Quote)
If you don’t get out of my face there nursie poo, then you’re going to be the next OSHA violation. I’m pretty sure a bloody nose is considered contamination.
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That is ridiculous. I help deliver babies every week and have delivered plenty myself because the kid wasn’t going to be kept in. Often, those precipitous deliveries are done with only one glove because that’s all you have time to get on. There’s this wonderful invention called soap and water…and there’s no medical indication to bathe baby within an hour or so or delivery. That’s sadly just become the standard practice in most hospitals.
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Carolyn had this to say,
Feb 15, 2012 @ 6:15 pm (Quote)
@Lindsay-(can’t reply from phone) I’m a former NICU nurse, and we NEVER bathed a baby at admission, even babies of mothers with communicable diseases (HIV, Hep C, etc.). They had to be stabilized first, which could be anywhere from a few hours to several days. As a previous poster commented, bathing can cause cold stress in a healthy newborn, and preemies or other sick babies are even more susceptible and can easily revert to fetal circulation which can be fatal. All newborn nurses should know the importance of maintaining a newborn’s body temperature. It’s some of the most basic info when caring for transitioning newborns, no matter their gestational age or health status. I’m so sorry those incompetents ever breathed the same air as your little one.
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Well at least the nurse was up front about it. I had requested that my baby not be bathed because I wanted to do it myself. All day long I had nurses coming in and out asking “are you *sure* you don’t want me to give her a bath for you?” Eventually I caved just to get them to shut up and leave me alone. It was only that I learned that an unbathed baby is considered a “biohazard” so the nurses have to take special precautions. They acted like they were trying to do me a favor but really they just didn’t want to take the 10 extra seconds to put on a pair of gloves.
Also, is there some kind of magical substance in Johnsons baby soap that kills all pathogens or something? Cause it’s not like the babies get bathed all that well. They’re a biohazard until they get wiped a little with some Johnsons on a washcloth and then suddenly they’re ok to handle? Does not compute!
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It’s standard procedure to wear gloves until the baby has been bathed, because by touching body fluids (like blood, meconium, amniotic fluid, vernix, etc) you are at a higher risk of contracting blood-borne illnesses than through casual contact (contact with baby’s skin after fluids have been removed). Way higher. Like, a million times higher (because the risk of touching non-fluid-contaminated skin is zero). It’s reasonable for a baby to be considered an OSHA hazard if they are covered in body fluids. It’s not about “down there” being dirty, it’s that they are literally covered in substances that carry very serious illnesses and the nurse has no way of knowing if you are at risk for being HIV, HBV, HCV etc positive. It’s standard precautions and they are important.
That said, it’s really not that hard to wear gloves to touch the baby. Fun? No. It never feels right to touch a baby with gloves on, it just feels WRONG. But it’s better for mom and baby to delay that bath, so that’s what everyone should be doing. Baby stays with mom and dad, gloves are worn for all contact with them until everyone with potentially harmful substances on them has been bathed.
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Stephanie Reply:
February 16th, 2012 at 7:24 pm (Quote)
I was being sarcastic.
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Nicole Reply:
February 16th, 2012 at 7:56 pm (Quote)
I misunderstood. I thought your sarcasm was implying that nurses/doctors etc believe that genitals are dirty, I was just saying that that isn’t usually the case. It’s not that genitals are dirty, per se, it’s just that there is a risk to all health care workers who are exposed to body fluids and genitals are one source of them. It’s not unreasonable for them to take precautions.
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Mama Wrench Reply:
February 16th, 2012 at 7:28 pm (Quote)
Except that most moms are tested for most of those illnesses, sometimes more than once, before birth. I moved mid-pregnancy so I had 2 sets of labs done. What’s the point of losing all that blood if no one pays attention?
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Mama Wrench Reply:
February 16th, 2012 at 7:31 pm (Quote)
Considering the “bath” is usually J&J shampoo, not hospital-grade hand soap, how much “cleaner” is the baby, really? Some places only use a damp cloth and no soap at all.
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Nicole Reply:
February 16th, 2012 at 7:54 pm (Quote)
Again, true, but missing the point a little. Touching skin that is not bathed in blood versus touching skin that is is not even comparable as far as risk goes. The former is considered “casual contact”, and is not a mode of transmission for blood-borne illnesses, the latter most definitely is. Think about it. Touching someone’s skin isn’t a big deal, but if that person is visibly covered in bodily fluids, that is a health hazard. Would you shake someone’s hand if it was bloody? Blood clots between his fingers, under his nails, dried blood all over his palm? Not without a glove, I bet lol.
Germs like the common cold and influenza live on skin if it’s not thoroughly washed, which is grounds for wearing gloves when handling babies in a hospital anyway, but HIV does not live on surfaces that are not covered in body fluids. It’s just the nature of the beast.
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Rosemary Reply:
February 16th, 2012 at 11:47 pm (Quote)
Except that it is only in America that they are considered biohazards. Here in Australia, the staff don’t bath babies. That is a parent’s job. My kiddo didn’t have a bath for the week that I had to stay in hospital (I was sick after birth) and everyone was more than happy to touch him if needed. It’s just that they tried not to touch him too much.
So, once again, a cultural norm that someone has then found a scientific justification to support.
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Nicole Reply:
February 17th, 2012 at 6:27 am (Quote)
There’s plenty of science to support it. And common sense, too. If an illness is transmissible through blood, don’t touch other people’s blood. I’m not saying that you are guaranteed to contract a blood-borne illness from touching a baby who hasn’t been bathed, but the risk is significantly increased.
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Nicole Reply:
February 16th, 2012 at 7:48 pm (Quote)
While that’s true, there is still no guarantee. It can take a long time for HIV to show antibodies in your blood (sometime between 2 weeks and 6 months, even longer in some instances), and that whole time you can still spread it. Not to mention that not every woman who is tested at the beginning or even at the end of pregnancy is not engaging in at-risk behaviors, or does not have a sexual partner who is. When you work with a lot of women, when you are exposed to a lot of bodily fluids, it is unethical NOT to protect yourself, regardless of prior testing.
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my hospital doesnt bath till the next day. even then its not necessary just most mums go home after one night so theyd rather they were shown how to do it than have them panic when they got home, bubs gets a wipe down when its born and no one but mum handles the baby outside of special circumstances so what does it matter if they dont get bathed? any medical procedure (like vaccinations taking blood or the baby check) requires them to wear gloves anyway so how is it an inconvenience?
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Cause nurses and doctors never have to deal with “gross” stuff on someones body except if this ONE baby doesn’t get a bath RIGHT away. Obviously they have a completely safe and sterile work environment with all their other patients.
We declined the bath for our baby and the nurses and doctors still handled him.
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