a study at the Cleveland Clinic<\/a>, has determined that there is a link between delaying a newborn\u2019s first bath and an increase in exclusive breastfeeding rates. While the traditional hospital-protocol has baby
\nbeing bathed very shortly after birth, this study of about 1,000 newborns showed an eight
\npercent increase in exclusive-breastfeeding rates for babies whose baths were delayed by at
\nleast twelve hours following birth.<\/p>\nThe reasoning behind this correlation is thought to be three-fold: scent, increased skin-to-skin contact, and temperature regulation.<\/p>\n
Scent <\/strong>
\nThere have been prior studies that point to the idea that the scent of amniotic fluid left on baby\u2019s skin after birth is similar to that of mother\u2019s breast. By leaving the baby unbathed, this allows baby to use its own familiar scent as a guide to locate and take to mother\u2019s breast for the first
\nfeeding. This provides for a solid-latch to the breast and for successful breastfeeding-initiation.<\/p>\nIncreased Skin-to-Skin<\/strong>
\nWhat may seem very obvious but is still significant, is that keeping baby with Mom after birth
\nrather than sending baby away with a nurse for a bath is that Mom and baby are able to have
\nthat much more skin-to-skin contact. It is now widely known that keeping baby directly on Mom\u2019s
\nchest after birth and even for the months succeeding birth definitely lends to an increase in
\nnursing and milk production. So, having that extra time to hold baby skin-to-skin directly after
\nbirth can make a big difference in the long-term success of that breastfeeding relationship.<\/p>\nTemperature Regulation<\/strong>
\nWhile the increase in skin-to-skin alone also lends to helping baby\u2019s temperature remain
\nregulated, the absence of immediate bathing also has an effect. One may think a warm bath
\nwouldn\u2019t cause temperature issues, however it does cause a decrease in temperature which is
\nnot ideal for a newborn. A decrease in temperature of even just one degree diverts energy and
\noxygen to increasing temperature. Both that energy and oxygen are better-spent on other bodily
\nprocesses such as feeding and healthy respiration.<\/p>\nThis study has prompted the Cleveland Clinic to rewrite their newborn-bathing protocol and now
\nthey encourage parents to wait at least twelve full hours for baby\u2019s first bath. Even in a case
\nwhere parents prefer an earlier bath, the hospital asks that bathing be delayed for two hours
\nafter-birth. It is encouraging that something so simple is linked to an increase in exclusive
\nbreastfeeding. At a time when new parents may feel like it\u2019s difficult to keep up with all the
\nrecommendations, this is one that takes no effort and even provides extra newborn snuggles.
\nIt\u2019s a win-win situation for all involved!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There are a number of things that can be implemented or avoided to increase breastfeeding rates for new babies. These things range from baby being held skin-to-skin for at least the first hour immediately following birth, to opting not to send your newborn to the hospital nursery, to having a birthing team that is supportive…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":1675,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,14],"tags":[110],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":16,"label":"breastfeeding"},{"value":14,"label":"infant care"}],"post_tag":[{"value":110,"label":"bathing baby"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/thenurturingrootsa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/delaying-bath-1024x683.jpg",1024,683,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Heather Pladna","author_link":"https:\/\/thenurturingrootsa.com\/author\/hpladna\/"},"comment_info":"","category_info":[{"term_id":16,"name":"breastfeeding","slug":"breastfeeding","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":16,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":10,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":16,"category_count":10,"category_description":"","cat_name":"breastfeeding","category_nicename":"breastfeeding","category_parent":0},{"term_id":14,"name":"infant care","slug":"infant-care","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":14,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":19,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":14,"category_count":19,"category_description":"","cat_name":"infant care","category_nicename":"infant-care","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":110,"name":"bathing baby","slug":"bathing-baby","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":110,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenurturingrootsa.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1673"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenurturingrootsa.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenurturingrootsa.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenurturingrootsa.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenurturingrootsa.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thenurturingrootsa.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1673\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenurturingrootsa.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenurturingrootsa.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenurturingrootsa.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenurturingrootsa.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}