Which sort of blanket do they wrap baby in after a c-section?

[StarsInTheNightSky]

I'm having an ELCS in seven weeks time, and when I was running through some details with our consultant the other day, he said that as soon as baby was whipped out of me he would need to be quickly dried and wrapped in a blanket before being passed back to me so that he doesn't get cold.

I want to buy a blanket and sleep snuggled up with it for a few days before our ELCS so that it smells of me, the theory being that they can use it instead of a general hospital blanket.
I don't have a clue which sort to buy though, does anyone know which type of blanket would normally be used to dry and wrap a c-section baby please? I thought perhaps a swaddling type of, but I'm really not sure.

Any advice greatly appreciated thanks!

I think it was rather like a thick sheet - or heavy weight tea towel type fabric for ds. If you have your own I guess it would be like a thick Cotton flannelette sheet.

Ahh ok that sounds good thanks, that was the sort of thing I was imagining as luck would have it. Thanks very much

Standard issue NHS lilac waffle square. Of which we all seemed to have in our possession after leaving hosp, ahem.
It's a nice idea, not sure if it's allowed though. Sterilisation of theatre etc.

For dd2, it was a lilac waffle blanket. Perfection in size and weight for a spring baby. I utterly adored it amd have never found another like it

NHS, nothing special ... but I have spectacularly special memories of it.

x- post with three!

although I left the blankie at the hospital being the oramorph and co-codamol dimwit I was

Yellow waffle blanket with ribbony edges for ds1. I still have that first pic of him. ?

Flannelette sheet. Printed with tedDies.

I wouldnt bother, both mine poked all over the blanket they were wrapped in within minutes of being born.

Ive had two c-sections (one emcs, one elcs) and I think this is possibly the last thing I would have been thinking about..

My babies were wrapped in a thick cotton hospital towel, like a tea towel fabric, and then a fluffy towel over the top. They have a few layers to keep them warm post delivery. You realise that they will still be covered in the precious vernix (and maybe some blood!) so you may want to go with what they give you and save the blankets you buy to use as soon as you get back on the ward and baby is a little bit cleaner. They will be placed on your upper chest ASAP as well, and you will be encouraged to do skin to skin as soon as you are able to post stitches etc. I then just had a blanket that went over the top of both of us once they were in my nightie feeding. So the baby will get your smell from skin to skin and feeding.. They generally try and feed as quickly as you encourage them to latch on - the only smell they are bothered about will be your milk when they first emerge! I do think though that a blanket with your scent on is a good idea for when they are 'off' you - say in their crib etc as a comfort?

It wouldn't be allowed where I am as the surgeon inevitably touches the blanket the baby is wrapped in, so it must be sterile as the next thing they turn to do after that is put their hands back inside your uterus to get your placenta. We have a sterile towel for this purpose inside a cot with a sterile drape over the top, this is what the baby gets placed in first, it's normally removed very quickly and the baby put either skin to skin or wrapped in something clean and dry, I'd suggest you give them your blanket for this purpose.

They will use a sterile receiving towel to dry baby off immediately.

After that they're just wrapped in a bog standard towel - hand towel size. You could take anything - towel, small waffle blanket....

x post.

I seem to remember a bog-standard NHS hand towel with a big blue stripe down the middle and some writing on it - property of xx hospital or similar. It wasn't a special lilac waffle thats for sure.

My post might sound if it is pissing on your parade a bit, its not my intention, I think its a lovely idea, but here goes . .

In my trust the blanket used to receive the child comes in a sterilised pack. It has to be sterile incase the baby has any cuts, sores, wounds etc. (unlikely but not unheard of).

Babies born by cesarean often have 'gunk' up their noses. Amniotic fluid, mucus, shed skin cells etc. Its unlikely they would be able to smell anything that soon. Even if they could, being born, dried, weighed and given vitamin K jabs is unpleasant for babies. Personally I wouldn't want my baby to associate that experience with me. IMO better to save it for when you can have lovely warm skin to skin cuddles with your baby.This can happen very soon after the birth. If you make your desire known to the anaesthetist and ODP they can make sure the ECG dots are all placed out of the way etc and can assist you with holding baby on the breast. (its kind of tricky with the screen in the way, monitoring, wires everywhere etc.)

There's nothing to stop you scenting their clothes or cot blanket though. I do think its a lovely idea and I hope I haven't bummed you out! xxxx

in fact it was this one

Thanks very much for all of the replies, they're really helpful

I am allowed to bring my own, I double-checked with the hospital and they said it would be fine, well, they'll use a sterile one to dry him, then wrap him in mine. I stupidly forgot to ask them which sort of blanket though, hence this post.

I realise the blanket is likely to get covered in vernix, blood, poo, sick a combination of/all etc, I just want something to comfort him asap before I get him back. Also, I have some neurological issues from an accident several years ago, so they aren't sure how my arms will react to the anaesthetic and it may be that DH has to hold our little man for a while, which makes me all the keener to have him wrapped in a blanket which smells of me.

I'm going to be formula feeding, so although I want skin to skin contact asap, feeding won't be immediate. Great idea about a blanket for when he's in the cot though, I'll snuggle one of those too .

InPursuit no you haven't bummed me out at all thanks I realise most of what I'm doing is about making me feel better/comforted, baby probably won't give two hoots. It's been a very difficult and complicated pregnancy and we've had several losses before, so this time I'm just trying to get all excited and reassure myself more than anything. Also we've asked for the weighing and vitamin K to be delayed for a while, again hospital said no problem. This is all ideal world scenario though, any emergencies and all this goes straight out of the window.

Lastly our hospital seem to have all towels/blankets in lilac. I abhor the colour lilac, it's an abuse PTSD trigger for me, and although it doesn't really affect me that these days, there is no way I'm having our son wrapped in anything lilac.

Juniper what a gorgeous picture! Thank you for sharing, it's good to see a picture of the right sort of thing.

Oh, and I should add, I'm formula feeding because I physically cannot breastfeed, it's medically impossible for me.

Also your baby won't know your smell at this early stage (having not met you yet) and so unlikely to comfort him any more than any other smell.

Oh yes, and also meant to say that we're not having a screen up for the operation, again consultant and anaesthetist are fine with this and I've had several operations with the screen down before, so I've seen my insides before anyway .

NickNacks yes, I had figured that would be the case, but it will make me feel better and it's something I can get excited about, and focussing on the small insignificant details has helped get me through a very difficult pregnancy .

I LOVE this idea and am going to prepare a couple of mummy smelling blankets and towels for DC3s arrival :)

Sounds like a lovely idea and a beautifully planned birth op, wishing you luck with your new baby . I had a floppy towelling rabbit with a wool stuffed head designed to pick up smells for this purpose.

Dd was handed to me already dressed in her baby grow after i had been stitched up.

Never saw dd in a blanket

slithy and Lydia thank you! I do realise that the plan might all get disregarded in an emergency or if there are complications, my pregnancy so far has been under extreme medical scrutiny so I'm well aware of things not going as planned, but I wanted to hope for the best and plan for it to be a nice an experience as possible.

At the end of the day though, so long as they get him out alive and safe and sound I'll be over the moon.

One thing that amazed me when each of mine was born was the fact that, having been inside you, part of you for 9 months, they are completely enveloped in your smell.

When ds was born, he was whisked off to NICU before dh or I could cuddle him, and I didn't see him until the next day. It was very hard, but I took comfort from the fact that in his incubator he was enveloped in smell of him and me.

It sounds as though you have had a pretty tough ride so far - I wish you and your baby an easier time from now on.