Digestion and bath / shower query

[Soypapa]

Wondered if any wise mums in Mumsnet land can help this frustrated father in Madrid with a bone of contention with the in-laws. My (Spanish) mother-in-law swears blind that you should never bath or shower a child (or anyone) while they are digesting their food, which she estimates as half an hour after finishing eating.

I had heard this kind of thing before to do with meals and SWIMMING (I thought you had to wait a whole hour), but never thought it would apply to a quick bath or shower! It seems absurd to me but am I just ignorant? My mother-in-law does also use quaint and fairly rusty expressions like "he has a dirty stomach" if my now five-year-old son seems ill and in his early years she did favour the use of suppositories if he hadn't done his "number twos" for a day or so and in one (or maybe a couple of cases) used a thermometer rectally not to take his temperature but to "loosen him up" down there. The paediatrician seemed a little surprised (he was only a baby at the time). And letting a child go barefoot in the house at any time of the year is tantamount to child abuse in her eyes as it will instantly lead to a cold or worse.

This seemingly insignificant difference of opinion over this eating / bathing taboo has got out of hand and is causing a possible family rift. INSANE.

So I'd appreciate any help on the matter. Thanks in advance!!!

It's a myth even for swimming. It's certainly not true for having a bath!

And you don't catch a cold from bare feet. You catch a cold from germs.

Whether or not your MIL will ever agree or give in is another story. What does your wife/partner say?

Thanks! My partner always sides with her parents regardless (ho hum!) although checking another Mumsnet link to a snopes.com (the urban myths page) article with scientific footnotes seems to have assuaged tensions with her, if not with in-laws who if having been lead to believe black is white would berate you if you dare to suggest otherwise... (sigh)

I think you're always going to struggle fighting cultural myths :o. But yes, you're right - they are myths. Also known as bollocks.

Your real problem isn't your barking mad Spanish MIL, your problem is that your wife is accepting it as fact and that you're clearly living in close enough proximity that your MIL has this level of input into what should really be your and your wife's business.

Why isn't your wife secure enough in her parenting skills to find her own way? What sort of upbringing did she have?

Can you move?

It is about swimming on a full stomach.

Babies shouldn't be bathed on a full stomach cos they are likely to vomit through the 'movement' for want of a better word.

Really Haunted?

I often bathe by son just after he's eaten, from the time he was an infant. He's never puked in his bath.

Ok...it is less that they should and more that you risk them vomitting.

I am talking about tiny babies (under 3 months).

I'd like to add that nothing should be put up your son's bottom to 'loosen him up'. This is so very dangerous (please at least tell me the thermometer is a plastic one, not a more traditional glass one!?!) and could really damage him down below.
Really tricky situation though if your wife won't disagree with her parents, do you live with/near them?

If your wife made it through childhood unscathed, presumably MIL's methods aren't all that bad. I drew heavily on my own mum's experience when I was a new mum. Her whackier ideas were ignored but I knew her heart was in the right place. Step in if MIL wants to do something particularly outrageous but otherwise, I expect your wife's reliance on her mother will reduce as she increases in confidence.

I must admit I always wait if I was going to have a bath or when the children were younger put them in the bath.

I would shower though.

Yes I heard when I was at school that a boy drowned after eating his lunch at the local swimming pool and it stayed with me. I think there may be some truth in it whatever anyone says.

I am at loosening up the baby rectally! The MIL did that to your baby?? Who let him near your baby's bottom with a thermometer?!?

Can you really get your child in the bath within 1/2hr of eating? I can kind of agree with the eating thing, but it depends on the child and it's age. You shouldn't excercise straight after eating because your body diverts blood to the excercising muscles rather than focusing on digesting the food so you can get indigestion. You should let your body digest a meal properly ideally. However my kids run around the house like they're high on something straight after eating and seem fine. By the time I've harnessed them together and got them in the bath at least 1/2hr has passed.

I wouldn't put a tiny newborn in a bath straight after giving it a full milk feed though.

My own mother said she was suprised I bathed my two DC straight after eating their dinner, but as naturalbaby has put it, it's quite difficult to actually get them in the bath within 30 mins of them eating their meal. You've to run the bath, spend ages trying to get them to undress, chase them and then get them in the bath. Definitely takes a lot longer than 30 mins in our house!

I think years ago new parents were told not to bath baby after their feeds, this was what my own mother told me. She was given advice from her HV all those years ago.

You should never PUT a child in COLD water after a heavy meal, it is because when you eat your body regulstes the temperature of your body and the blood flow and oxygen focus on the digestion, changing the temperature abruptly can interfere with tge digestion proccess and be fatal, i know a couple of children that have actually died because of this, but a bath as long as its warm should b fine