Sarah Bowles finds it easier to breastfeed her newborn daughter Kam compared with Kam’s brother, Duke, who was born more than two years ago.  She thinks she knows why: Kam did not get a bath for the first 15 hours of her life.

Kam was born at Blessed Beginnings in Blessing Hospital. Blessed Beginnings has instituted a national “best practice” that calls for not bathing newborns for the first eight-to-48 hours of their life. In the past, newborns received a bath immediately after their birth. “Delayed Bathing” allows the newborn to retain on their skin a substance with which they are born called, vernix. Vernix is composed of the skin cells the baby made early in development and contains proteins that prevent common bacterial infections.

In addition to reducing infection risk immediately after birth, leaving the vernix on the baby’s skin for a while after birth and delaying their first bath contributes to:

  • Improved maternal-infant bonding by not removing the baby from the mother immediately after birth for a bath
  • Improved breastfeeding as a result of improved bonding
  • Stabilization of blood sugar by eliminating the stress a baby can feel as a result of their first bath
  • Improves the baby’s body temperature control by delaying the bath
  • Reduces the need for baby lotion because vernix is a natural skin moisturizer and skin protectant.  “Some people might think the baby is not clean,” offered Sarah. “But their hair is washed and they are wiped off and really do not look any different than if they had a bath. Another benefit of delaying the bath is that it makes the new baby smell more intense.”
  • Parents get to enjoy bathing their baby. Because she was recovering from a C-section, Sarah was unable to participate physically in Kam’s first bath. However, she and husband, Adam, were in the room to watch, take photos and share the moment; something they were unable to do with Duke.

“With Duke, as I and Adam moved from the birthing room to the post-partum room, Duke was taken and given a bath. We had no pictures. Neither one of us was there. With Kam and delayed bathing, it was a fun experience to get to be there and see it,” Sarah said.

“There is much solid evidence in the medical world supporting delayed bathing,” said Jamie Lash, MSN, RN, MBA, director, Blessed Beginnings. “In addition, families have been asking us to make this available to them and we are very excited about it.”

“For me, to be able to keep Kam as close to me as possible for as long as possible was great. Anything you can do to promote baby’s health, the better,” Sarah concluded.