Do that bathing babies with hot water increases their temperature?

A Community Health Technician, Mrs, Hellen Bulu, has advised Nigerian women against bathing their newborn babies with hot water.
She also counselled against the pulling of infants’ hands in an attempt to massage them.
Bulu, of Family Health Clinic, Abuja, gave the advice in a lecture to mothers at an immunisation programme on Thursday in Abuja.
She said it was typical of African women to bath their newborns with hot water and also stretch their hands without knowing the implications.
Bulu said that God who put the baby in their womb had already done the needful, adding that bathing newborn with hot water can cause high temperature.
Mothers, she advised, should desist from stretching the hands of their newborns and also from bathing them with hot water.
The health technician noted that the practice is only common to Africans.
Bulu also advised mothers to breastfeed newborns rather than apply hot water when a baby has high temperature, saying, the more you breastfeed the baby, the more the temperature comes down.
“If the baby’s body swell up, do not apply hot water or rub liniment; just keep looking at the baby’s body, it will come down after a while,’’ said the expert.
She, however, said that if the high temperature persists, the best thing to do is to visit the hospital, adding that it can be a sign of fever.
Besides, she advised that women should embark on family planning within six weeks after delivery, stressing that family planning after six weeks is ineffective.
Source: today ng