Research shows that waiting to wash newborns is helpful

A study by one in every of the nurses led to the implementation of a waiting policy for newborn bathing in half of Advocate Health Systems hospitals.

This includes Advocate Sherman Hospital in Elgin, Illinois, as reported in a June 11 Chicago Tribune news article. Courtney Buss, RN, who works at Advocate Sherman, researched and reported the advantages of fetus in newborns. “Her study looked at deliveries at Advocate Sherman Hospital for one month in 2015, assessing how many initially healthy full-term babies had hypothermia or hypoglycemia. Buss also looked at breastfeeding rates,” the article says. “The Sherman Family Birthing Center in February 2016 implemented a policy that required nurses to wait approximately 14 hours to bathe full-term, healthy newborns,” Buss said within the article. “The blood will be wiped away, but the sponge bath is delayed.” The article found that the proportion of kids affected by hypothermia decreased from 29 to 14 percent for kids whose bathing was delayed, and the proportion of kids who were breastfed increased from 51 to 71 percent. The article says Buss plans to publish her findings in a nursing journal in the autumn. In February 2016, Dr. Kathleen Berchelmann published an article: “Delaying Your Baby’s First Bath: 8 Reasons Doctors Recommend Waiting Up to 48 Hours to Bathe Your Newborn” on the Internet at ChildrensMD.org. He calls for delaying bathing based on the recommendations of the World Health Organization.

The eight reasons Berchelmann listed within the article are: 1. Reduced risk of infection 2. Stabilized blood sugar levels in babies 3. Better temperature control 4. Better breastfeeding 5. Better bonding between mother and baby 6. No lotion required for babies 7. Everyone wears gloves 8 Babies might be bathed by their parents

The article states that with higher temperature control, “bathing a baby too early can cause hypothermia. The temperature inside Mom was about 38.6 degrees, but most babies are born in rooms that are around 70 degrees. In the first few hours after birth, your baby must use a lot of energy to keep warm. If a baby is too cold, it may cause low blood sugar levels or other complications.” In the category of “Keeping your baby warm,” the WHO in its 17-page “Recommendations for Newborn Health” document states: “Bathing should be delayed until 24 hours after birth. If this is not possible for cultural reasons, bathing should be delayed for at least six hours.” Some hospitals within the US have already implemented delayed bathing of newborns based on WHO recommendations and evidence-based practice. Good Samaritan Hospital in Lafayette, Colorado, modified its bathing policy two years ago ‘Wait for 8’ bath helps newborns thrive, based on an article in Health News Colorado published July 1, 2015 “Diane Heronema, a registered nurse and lactation specialist at Good Samaritan Hospital, led the effort to establish new protocols for the first few hours after birth to improve outcomes,” the article says. In April, the Women’s Health, Obstetrics and Neonatal Nurses Association gave a podium presentation on delayed bathing on the Illinois Section Conference in East Peoria, Illinois. AWHONN recommends delayed bathing for not less than five years, based on a poster posted on its website. Wiley Online Library June 2012 “Description of the admission-to-discharge process identified the value of delayed bathing associated with skin-to-skin testing,” researchers wrote within the journal Journal of obstetrics, gynecology and neonatal nursing. “Our efforts have been demonstrated by improved results in changing practice around delaying newborn bathing, resulting in improved patient satisfaction.”

“Newborn” courses

Newborn screening is crucial because some babies are born with potentially life-threatening metabolic, endocrine or hematological diseases that is probably not obvious at birth. Nurses caring for newborns should know what conditions they frequently screen for after birth and what specialists can be found to treat them. By being aware of how these conditions present in newborns and the way different circumstances can influence test results, nurses can ensure accurate screening of infants and be certain that affected families are quickly referred to the services they need. This educational activity will provide an outline of screening tests and the processes needed to avoid false-positive or false-negative results. This module discusses the controversy on newborn screening practices, carrier and prenatal screening for cystic fibrosis, and the most recent information on enzyme alternative therapy for rare metabolic diseases. Genetic testing is the technique of identifying specific diseases in a particular population. Screening may include prenatal, presymptomatic, heterozygous (carrier) and neonatal testing. Newborn screening is a variety of pre-symptomatic blood test routinely performed on all newborns soon after birth. Presymptomatic screening methods detect genetic changes that will cause disease before symptoms appear in some populations, reminiscent of newborns. Newborn genetic screening is a crucial public health program that goals to discover genetic diseases from birth. Each of the genetic diseases listed here illustrates how recent genetic research and technology have resulted in additional precise screening (expanded newborn screening), testing (carrier screening for cystic fibrosis), and treatment options (enzyme alternative therapy) for patients and their families. Nurses working with families in mother-baby settings must understand genetic trends to offer patients with essentially the most comprehensive care available. The group of infants classified as “late preterm” is an increasing public health problem. Although they could seem like full-term infants in appearance and weight, they’ve a better risk of respiratory problems, temperature instability, hyperbilirubinemia, hypoglycemia, infections, apneas, feeding difficulties, breastfeeding failure, poor neurodevelopmental outcomes, and hospital readmissions. In 2005, the National Institutes of Health really useful calling infants born between 34.0/7 and 36.6/7 weeks “late preterm” slightly than full-term infants because their increased physiological and metabolic immaturity reflected higher morbidity and mortality, and their special needs are sometimes closer to those of premature babies. This continuing education module provides nurses with information on the incidence, etiology, identification, and care of late preterm infants.

Prepare for the NLS exam by taking the Neonatal Resuscitation Certification Review Course.

Nurse.com offers a totally online, self-paced preparation course.