Making the water clean for a waterbirth

[meow]

I just wanted to share some things I have learned about home water safety that I wish I had known before I had my son in a birth pool at home. If any one has more to add- please share!

Garden hoses generally contain a lot of toxins, particularly phthalates and high levels of lead! So it's best not to fill your birth pool using a regular garden hose (nor your garden if you grow food- but that's another topic). Garden hoses are not made to carry drinking water. Apparently the best hose to use for your edible garden, and therefore filling the birth pool, is a swimming pool hose. Any pool store should sell them.

Tap water in most houses contains chlorine, fluoride and a host of other chemicals you don't want to expose your freshly born baby to. You can avoid this if you use a whole house filter or a filter at the tap you use to fill up the birth pool from. If either of these options wont work for you, then there are garden hose filters available that you can attach to the hose you use. Makes things simple and they are pretty cheap.

[Cassius2]

...got food grade hose...dont have a filter!! must get one!

[meow]

Where did you get a food grade hose?

[BellyBelly]

This is very timely as we're in the process of thinking about/buying hoses etc. Thanks heaps for this post. We were looking at food grade hoses but yeah chlorine etc is a problem. Its pretty bad here so we have filters, need to look into one for bubs.

[loulabelle]

Thanks meow, I never thought of this with ds2. We got a pool hose anyway but I didn't use a filter. I know for next time now


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk so forgive spelling mistakes

[BellyBelly]

meow - food grade hoses you can get at Bunnings type of places.

[meow]

meow - food grade hoses you can get at Bunnings type of places.

Oh good! I had a feeling Bunnings would be on to it.

[HotI]

Sort of at the other end of the waterbirth - the bigger diameter grey water hoses are way quicker at siphoning out the birthpool water.

[Ilithyia]

We only have rain water but the hose toxins are a good point

Thanks for sharing!
xx

[boomba]

Thanks for sharing. I really want a home water birth next time and never even thought about this. Thanks x

[Tanya]

We only have rain water but the hose toxins are a good point

Thanks for sharing!
xx

Rain water from where? Do you filter it?

[Ilithyia]

Rainwater tanks.

Nope we don't filter.

The bore water here is spring water too.

[Tanya]

I would filter it for the birth pool.

ETA: hope I am not sounding bossy because it is none of my business.

[Teeki]

Huh, good point about the hoses! We're not ttc #2 yet, but we've talked about a home waterbirth when the time comes. I guess there's a lot I haven't considered!

I'd also filter the rainwater, lots of yuckies like to live in rainwater tanks.

[Ilithyia]

We drink/bath/shower in the water unfiltered and we're all good

[Trillian]

Does anyone think that this is a little silly? Are you going to filter the bath water you bathe your newborn baby in? The issues with the hose is a valid point, as is the filtering of tap water, but rainwater would be absolutely safe to give birth in. Kaytee, there is only an issue with tank water if it has been tainted and you would know that because it would smell and taste bad. The muck in the bottom of the tanks is only an issue if the water is disturbed. We have been using the tanks on our place for over 11 years now and not once have we cleaned them out. Not once have any of my newborns had any problems from being exposed to this water.

and not only that, as soon as you get in the water yourself the water is immediately unclean. Then you might poo or wee in it during labour, so it all sounds a little bit silly really.

[Teeki]

Yeah very good points Trillian. I guess my only experience with rainwater so far is gross, we once lived in a place with a really old tank and the water was in no way better than the tap water.

[meow]

Wee and poo are a LOT different to lead, chlorine and fluoride! If I had my time over I would absolutely filter the bath water for my newborn baby too. Chlorine ruins your body's flora. A newborn baby is trying to establish gut flora. The two are not compatible. Mum's poo and wee are naturally occurring and assist in creating that gut flora.

Can you birth in your bore water Sara? The idea of birthing in mineral rich spring water sounds like perfection to me. Water as nature made it, not how humans ruined it!