Can't believe how much has changed !!

[Newtothisstuff]

I'm 25 weeks with DD2 and I'm feeling really out of my depth.. I can't believe how much has changed.. As in the do's and dont's
For instance the fact they tell you not to bath your baby for a week or whatever it is.. Dd1 was bathed in the hospital within about 12 hours of birth... The rules about making up feeds etc.. I was actually really calm about things until I started reading all this.. Anything else changed in the last 5 years I need to know about ??? Help :-)

Why can't you bath them for a week?? I've never heard that before.

Do they melt when they touch water

have a water birth? That might solve the bath issue!
Seriously I hope not too much has changed as I'm 18 weeks with dc2 and ds will be nearly 5 when this one arrives. Will watch this space with interest!

Who said about not bathing baby for a week? MW offered to bath y baby when she was a day old

I dunno I've been told it a few times.. A few friends have has babies recently and were advised not to bath for a week something to do with the natural oils and causing allergies i think.. I thought it seemed a bit scummy !!

Well dd is 15 months old and i bathed her the day she got home from hospital at 1 day old and im 39wks and fully intend on bathing this one around the same time.

And if you look really hard on the fsa website it tells you its ok to make up bottles in advance as long as you follow their rules. (on my phone so cant link)

I figured I wasn't going to take it all too seriously... There's nothin wrong with dd she's fine !!

nct groups told us not to bath baby for a week, when ds was born midwife got out the bath and I mentioned it she looked at me like was strange and thankfully bath him. he's fine. sometimes I think things are just trends.

I think more people choose not to use bath products and just bathe newborns in water than perhaps in the past.

The making up feeds in advance guidance (not rules ) as addictediam says, is included on the FSA guidelines about making up formula. Ideally you should make them up as you need them, but it's not always practical and I think the safety issues mainly arose from people either not cooling the milk quickly once prepared and then storing it safely (eg in a fridge) or not using water that had been boiled and left to cool to 70C before making the milk up (cooler than that isn't hot enough to kill the bacteria present in the powder, hotter than that destroys some of the nutrients)

I think the not bathing thing is until the umbilical cord stump falls off. I understood that if it got all wet there was more chance it would go oozy and yucky, and left alone it will drop off more quickly.

That doesn't actually stop you bathing them though. No reason you can't do it carefully in a baby bath or baby chair and just try not to get that bit wet. It's not like they are splashing at that age!

What NYR said about umbilical cord, I'm sure that was advice I was given 12 years ago, too. Minimal bathing always the rule for newborns.
I always felt like even water was too harsh for their soft skin in the first few weeks, and as for soap: no way. Wet cotton wool wipe downs fine and plenty.

As for making up feeds... wasn't it "Only make up as you go" 7 years ago? (When DC3 born). Whereas DC1-2 people still made up the day's bottles in advance. Or are the rules even more stringent now?

Well maybe I'm ahead of my time... but I've never bathed any mine for around a week anyway (and then not very regularly thereafter unless they get in a nappy explosion disaster/start weaning/become mobile). They just don't need it. And most newborns/tiny babies hate being bathed anyway - why stress everyone out if topping and tailing will do exactly what needs doing?

I hadn't heard about the whole washing away natural oils/increase in skin allergies being the reason but if that's an added bonus then... bonus!

Besides, new babies have this wonderful smell.

But, horses for courses and all that. If you wanna bath your baby, do it!