my midwife talked to me about this. she explained the vermix (The white stuff) on the baby, is nature's moisturiser and is beneficial to the baby. Instead of having it washed off, my plan (after her telling me about what is possible), was to leave the vermix on my nb, for three days, rub it into her skin. Most nbs come out all wrinkly, rubbing the vermix in helps that.
i was very disappointed, when my home water birth, became an emerg c-section in hospital, my bub was yanked out not breathing, so she was in resus cart immed being worked on and by the time i got to see her, the nurses had removed all the vermix.
i read wonderful articles online, about the fantastic things IN the vermix, and how healthy that is for the baby.
i also wanted to delay cord cutting, until the cord stopped pulsating. ANother thing we didn't get to do, due to emergency c-section.
The hospitals are very happy to "clean up" your baby. They are less used to being asked "not" to clean up your baby. So if you want the vermix off, i am confident you will get that. I didn't even ask, and it still happened. My baby would have been given formula too, if DH hadn't "stood guard" in ICU and made sure no-one gave her formula. We were in a bf-ing friendly hospital, but i just think that's pretty posters, in reality, they really pushed formula heavily and did things that are against ABA policies (for making bf-ing work, for mums that want to try it).
