Washing the Baby at Birth?

One of my friends shared an article on Facebook yesterday about not letting the baby be washed at birth, because that cheese-cloth like covering on the sweet new joy of our lives actually serves an important function after birth.  That is, if it's not washed away in the middle of it's work, which is a common practice in the U.S.  We wouldn't have thought of that, but it makes complete sense after hearing the midwives at our birth center talk about not cutting the umbilical cord until the last bit of life-giving fluid pumped through it, because that last bit has important stuff for a healthy baby, too.

According to the Indian Journal of Dermatology:

Vernix coating on the neonatal skin protects the newborn skin and facilitates extra-uterine adaptation of skin in the first postnatal week if not washed away after birth. It consists of water-containing corneocytes embedded in a lipid matrix. The strategic location of the vernix on the fetal skin surface suggests participation in multiple overlapping functions required at birth, such as barrier to water loss, temperature regulation, and innate immunity. Vernix seems to perform various integral roles during transition of the fetus from intra-uterine to extra-uterine life. It has also found various interesting diagnostic and prognostic implications in this arena.

Conversation on BabyCenter.com expresses other mom's questions and experiences in regards to the vernix:

1. Its a great moisturiser. You cuddle your little one and rub it in like lotion. Makes me so soft and smooth :) It also helps regulate body temperature. When they wash it off usually newborns end up needing to be under the warming lamps to bring it back up after being cold from the bath..
2. Just rub it in, the longer its on the better. We were told to wait a week for the first bath.
   
3. (My son) didn't get a bath for quite awhile after birth.  He was early and it helped him maintain his body temp.  It was kinda yucky looking but it helped him and they wrap them up and put a hat on so it was not super noticeable.

Birth is a miracle, and there is so much magickal power in using the gifts of birth that Mother Nature gives to us.  This includes the vernix as well as breast milk and those last bits of umbilical fluid.  I am also excited to find out what other gifts nature has in store for the baby.  These are once-in-a-lifetime opportunities that will set up our child to be as healthy as possible. 

So many of my friends are new and experienced mothers reading this blog, and I want to stress that we all do what we feel is best for our children.  We mostly grow up as healthy people and our children have grown up healthy, too.  I was born in a hospital and they likely washed me before giving me back to my mom.  And, I grew up to be a healthy woman.  This adventure is about following my spiritual path of exploring the amazing innate and built-in gifts Mother Nature gives us to grow and raise our offspring.