The AFU and Urban Legend Archive
Medical
 boiling water childbirth




From: cindy@nvg.unit.no (Cindy Kandolf)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Boiling water during childbirth
Date: 19 Nov 1994 14:17:27 GMT

I have checked a book that lists the equipment a mamma-to-be should have on hand if she is planning to give birth at home. I have also checked another book that gives a blow-by-blow of what to do during a (planned) home birth. The first book (a Norwegian translation of _The Complete Book of Mother and Baby Care_ by Elizabeth Fenwick) makes no mention of boiling water at all. It only mentions that you should have a plastic wash basin ready. The second (a Norwegian translation of _Pregnancy and Childbirth_ by Sheila Kitzinger) says, retranslation mine, "Boil a little water; most of it will be used for coffee and tea, but it is also useful for washing your perineum after the birth." The perineum is the bit between the vagina and the anus. Since it says to boil the water just after calling the midwife, one presumes it will be considerably cooler than boiling hot by the time the baby makes its appearance. (Except in the case of little boys who, after keeping everyone waiting for two weeks, decide they don't want to miss a minute of the Olympics and thus run the whole course of the birth in two hours. But i digress.)

For other cleaning, such as wiping the goo off the baby, both books recommend lots of clean towels and/or sheets, not boiled water.

Neither one mentions boiling water to sterilize instruments.

-Cindy Kandolf, certified language mechanic, mamma flodnak cindy@nvg.unit.no
Trondheim, Norway
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