Baby's First Bath

This is a video of a newborn baby girl being washed in the first hour of her life in the hospital where she was born. It was videoed by her father.



Her parents later published the video to Youtube. You can read their comments there.

Here is another video where a baby is bathed "like a chicken in a sink". I feel really distressed watching this. I am deeply troubled at how desensitised the staff seem to be to the extreme distress of the baby.

In an institution where a baby girl is treated like this, and the father clearly did not feel empowered to intervene, I wonder ... where was her mother? Where was her mother's voice, her assertiveness? I wonder how the birth was for the mother ... how she was treated. I remember the words of Dr. Sheila Kitzinger, "The caring environment for the newborn starts with a caring environment for the labouring woman, a respect for her rhythms, patience to wait and watch, and loving support." This influenced me when I was making choices for my own births.

Now compare that - to this:

And that is my hope, my prayer, for how every precious little newborn deserves to be treated.

My little girl is a fiesty, noisy little lass to this day and I love her wild spirit. Like the baby in the video, she bellowed at the top of her lungs if anything was not right in her world (still does.) The difference is, she was born at home, and as parents, we had the authority and autonomy to respond to her cries and handle her as our instincts guided us to. Her dad wrapped her in his arms and gently rocked her, murmuring to her, while I birthed her placenta. She stopped crying right away. After the placenta was born, I got into a special bath steeped with healing herbs. My husband handed our baby to me, and after a short nuzzle at my breast, she fell asleep.

In hospital or at home, it takes so little effort to personalise and humanise birth, to facilitate connection and bonding instead of enabling separation.

As parents, know your rights in labour, think about what is important and meaningful for you as a family and make sure your needs and requests are honoured.

Here you can read a poem contrasting two styles on birth, from the perspective of the baby.

Here is the Declaration of the Rights of Childbearing Women by Leilah McCracken

You can purchase the herbal sachets for your own blissful post-natal bath at Melbourne Doula Boutique.