Hospital bag baby toiletries?

[flamingox]

Just putting the finishing bits into my hospital bag. Do I need to take baby wash/shampoo etc for baby?

I didn't think so but my Mum seems to think I will need to take it.

Thanks x

No need! because they recommend that baby doesn't have first bath until the umbilical cord falls off at roughly a week old and when you do bath them advice is to use only water.

The advice was to wash baby with cotton wool and water 100 years ago when i had mine.

I didn't wash my baby in hospital.

I took baby wipes and nappies and that was about it.

The cotton wool and water made so much mess.

ineednewshoes out of interest is that the current nhs advice? I'm a midwife in Ireland, we wash babies in hospital all the time (generally have longer postnatal stays than in the UK). Plain water is fine. Some people like a bit of mild shampoo if the baby has lots of hair and there's lots of residue in it

Wash with plain water only. Definitely for the first month, preferably the first year.

I was told you shouldn't bathe them until the umbilical cord has fallen off. So sponge/flannel wash only. Plain water is fine.

I know they say to only use water but my baby had loads of hair and it was covered in blood and mucus after the birth, water just wouldn't have cut it - so I would recommend taking something in with you.

darceybussell I just left all that on. It came off work n a day or 2.

Yes, both the NHS antenatal classes and the midwives in the postnatal ward were in agreement on this one - no bathing for the first few days.

Interesting... We show each mum how to bathe their baby. Wonder why our guidelines are so different.

Just water for at least a few weeks! Some Vaseline might be handy to have though just in case they get a sore bum.

@Anotherdayanotherdollar Everyone I know has been told to wash in plain water and they don't have to wait until the umbilical cord falls off.

This was a few years ago now but DD was given a bath in hospital when she was less than 48 hours old. One of the student nurses offered to do it so that we could see how to hold DD in the bath.

When my dcs were born we were told (and shown how) to bath them every day using water and a mild baby cleanser. The cord had to be cleaned with surgical spirit and antiseptic powder. When dgc was born recently, the guidance is no bath until the cord has fallen off and then just water and not every day. TBH, you have to take do much with you now, that I'd say don't take any shampoos or cleansers for baby, I'm sure you'll have access to warm water, so I'd just take cotton wool.

I was shown how to bath DS1 in hospital so he definitely had a bath when he was only a day or so old. They put a very mild baby cleanser in the water. That was 8 years ago though - advice may have changed.

I gave birth early hours and left when I was ready after lunch time. You may be home quicker than you realise. Then again, you may not!

DS was born 2.5 yes ago and I was in 3 days, they didn't bath him and advised I didn't either for a week and then not everyday. We still only bath him a couple of times a week, it's better for their skin.

Thank you all for your replies :-)

I think I will pack cotton wool as well as baby wash just in case!

So much different advice in different areas isn't there?!

I had DS 6 weeks ago & was in hospital for a total of 6 days after he was born & the midwives offered to help bath him on day 3 or 4 (I forget which) I didn't take them up on the (repeated) offers as DP wanted to be there when he had his first bath & we wanted to include DD too so we waited until we were home. We weren't told to keep his stump dry though & it came off nicely at day 10 despite having had 2 baths (& a much needed shower after a huge vomit covering EVERYTHING!) we used Dove baby wash each time & follow with the moisturizer. (It smells lovely)

I’m a midwife and always advise just to leave 24 hours before bathing. After that, any vernix left on the skin is rubbed off on clothing, so there isn’t really any benefit to leaving it longer. There’s no need to wait for the cord to drop off.
Manchester university recently did some research where they compared Johnson’s top to toe wash (they couldn’t compare every company as there’s too many) with plain water, and there was no difference in the impact on newborn skin, so if you want to use that, rather than plain water, it’s fine .

I brought nothing in for DS on 3rd day auxiliary nurse came to the ward to help all the mums with first bath. She had Johnston's top to toe with her and washed DS hair due to dried black bits of blood on it he smelt divine it's a lovely memory 😊

It's not even different areas...our antenatal classes were run by the community midwives, who said no baths until the cord had dropped off. Midwives on the postnatal ward offered to bath her with us before we were discharged. Didn't happen in the end, but we gave her a bath at home a day or so later. Mentioned this to the next community midwife we saw and she told us absolutely no more baths until the cord came off 🤷‍♀️

Much like the hospital where my SIL have birth where there were posters about how it's a myth that you can get babies into a routine and you should just respond to their needs, but then the midwives on her ward wrote her out a schedule and made her stick to it strictly (including stopping a feed if it took more than a certain length of time because it would affect the next scheduled feed).

I got showed how to bath my first DC but I don’t think they used any body wash, just water and cotton wool. I was in hospital for two nights if that made a difference. Didn’t bathe DC2&3. I wouldn’t put baby toiletries in personally, as others have said, they don’t need using for a while.