Newborn Care Class
We had a class in infant care at Kaiser. All I can say is...poor Baby Goss-Meritt to be. I could not follow the cloth diapering techique to save my life; my swaddling was sub-standard; my ideas of how to give a bath were utterly up-ended and undermined. Who ever heard of giving someone a bath while they are wrapped in a blanket? My eyes popped out of my head at every turn. Can't picture doing all this stuff remotely like the nurse did it. Couldn't understand much of what she said, either. Took copious notes, though.
And I don't HAVE a dishwasher, so I can't park the baby in front of it to recreate womblike white noise. What a classist piece of advice! :-)
And I don't HAVE a dishwasher, so I can't park the baby in front of it to recreate womblike white noise. What a classist piece of advice! :-)
posted by Sarah Goss at 10:49 AM
15 Comments:
Sounds like they're teaching you craziness...keeping your baby wrapped in a blanket while bathing? (sponge bath on the blanket, yes; wrapped in blanket, no). Cloth diapers -- as long as you have diaper wraps, it's easy (I can explain if you want). If you want to swaddle, a nurse in the hospital can teach you when you have the actual baby in hand. Parking it in front of a dishwasher?? How about holding it (let it hear your heart beat, better than dishwasher noises). (If I sound irritable, it's not at you, but at the class.)
Oh boy. If you want to do the cloth diapering thing, like we did with 2.5 of our kids, take my advice: get yourself some diaper wraps (not necessarily from that company, just giving you the idea). And find a diaper service that will pick 'em up and wash 'em for you. Costs about the same as disposables, maybe a little more.
Swaddling is actually a good skill to learn. Many babies like to be wrapped tighter than you'd think -- they like to be pretty much immobilized. Calms them down and helps them sleep.
I may have to come out there and teach y'all swaddling technique.
As for giving them a bath while wrapped in a blanket -- they must have been joking about that. WTH??!?!?!
Hey you guys, thanks for input... isn't it odd about the bath in the blanket? But I swear they weren't kidding. The nurse said the baby would feel more comforted if you put her into the baby-bath while she was still snugly swaddled...that she would be less likely to experience a jarring effect from being suddenly in water. So, she demonstrated that you stick the blanketed baby into the water, then sort of unwrap the blanket while she's in the bath! Shallowly, I have to admit, all I was thinking was, "My God what a mess this is going to make. And how many wet, soggy blankets am I going to have to wash on a continual basis?" Personally, the idea of being in a wet blanket doesn't sound comforting to me at all. Those of you with expertise in the cloth diapers, I welcome tips :-) I don't relish the idea of helping to destroy the environment, but it looked a lot harder than the disposable.
I for one am relieved to hear that bathing in a blanket seems strange to you guys -- it sure did to me! :-)
Is it because they go to the bathroom in their clothes? :-)
I thought of trying to swaddle myself to the point of not being able to get out -- just for KIX! Rock on and thanks to all you helpful blogpeople!
Bath in a blanket? This person sounds like a lunatic. Adele loved her bath, no blanket needed. But yes, swaddling--very helpful technique. Practice on Mark. Get very large blanket, fold it into a square, place him . . . ok, maybe not.
Bath in a blanket? This person sounds like a lunatic. Adele loved her bath, no blanket needed. But yes, swaddling--very helpful technique. Practice on Mark. Get very large blanket, fold it into a square, place him . . . ok, maybe not.
Bath in a blanket? This person sounds like a lunatic. Adele loved her bath, no blanket needed. But yes, swaddling--very helpful technique. Practice on Mark. Get very large blanket, fold it into a square, place him . . . ok, maybe not.
We have a dishwasher. Come on over. We put it on "Economy" though so unfortunately it's the cheapskate short version.
Bath in a blanket. Huh. Can't say I've heard of such a thing...
Heh heh. Actually, Amy, we bought those cool "Swaddle Me" blankets you told us about that have Velcro (and we got some from friends). It makes the swaddling process easier. We practiced today on a stuffed animal.
I am kind of relieved that no one seems to think a bath in a blanket is a great idea. Maybe we can disregard that piece of advice.
Here's another way to get some awesome white noise: My sister's baby Xander likes the sound of the vacuum cleaner. They recorded as much vacuuming as they could handle, then they burned a CD of the same "song" over and over and over, that lasted about an hour. Oh yeah.
Vacuum music! I love it. And the best part is, it's so enjoyable for the *parents*, too...yeah.
So swaddling may very well prevent Tourette's, but have you figured out yet what damage was done by not giving the boys baths in wet, soggy blankets? If you get to the bottom of this one, be sure to let me know before I make the same terrible error!!
Oh, crap on the wet blanket thing. This is what you do. Get a couple of nice thick towels. Put them on the changing table. Make sure you have a nice bowl of very warm water. Have one small wash cloth for wet. One small washcloth for wet plus soap. Put Baby on towels on table. Fold one towel lightly around parts of baby you're not washing. Use wet & soapy (not too much!) washcloth on exposed bits, then rinse with only wet washcloth. Wrap washed bits. expose unwashed bits, and wash them.
The hair will be tricky. Do this last, while washed Baby bits are wrapped in the (damp, but warm)towel. Don't be afraid to squeeze warm water on Baby's head when you wet & rinse. You do not have to use a lot of soap. Baby is not really very dirty. And only wash Bany 2, 3 times a week until the cord falls off.
I know this is messy, but not as wretched as the towel in the bath thing, which actually sounds a little dangerous. Baby doesn't need to be in the water yet!
Thank you, Marguerite! This sounds like a very helpful (and sane) way to go about things.
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Unique Newborn Baby
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