All About Bathing A Newborn

Most new mothers may be confused about the frequency and way they give their newborns a both; usually it is enough to give a newborn a sponge bath during the first few days, with it being necessary to frequently wash his/her face and hands, ensuring the genital area is thoroughly clean after each diaper change.

Here are a few points worth considering:

• It could be scary for a new mother to give a bath to a wriggling, wet and soapy baby; it makes sense to hold the tiny baby firmly and give him/her a bath in the kitchen sink or a small plastic baby bath once or twice a week. A more regular bath could be given when the baby starts crawling. You could also give a bath to a baby whose umbilical cord stump has not dried or fallen off.

• Getting ready for a baby’s bath includes ensuring that you wash your hands and gather and lay everything needed for a bath. Next fill the bath with enough water to cover the shoulder of the baby; ensuring the temperature of the water and the room is just warm to retain the body temperature.  

• After undressing the baby completely, slowly slip the baby into the bath ensuring you use your hand to support his/her neck and head. Pour bath water regularly over the baby to ensure he/she does not get cold. Do not use soaps with strong cleansers; you could avoid harm to skin by using use mild baby soaps that have gentle pH neutral cleansers sparingly.

• Never leave the baby unsupervised in a bath for even a few seconds; also ensure that you do not put the baby in a bath with the water running. The water could either get higher and the baby could drown or the temperature could turn too high and could create 3rd degree burns within a minute.

• Use mild soap to clean any remaining poop; this will help remove poop that has excess of excess of fatty deposits. Using your hands or a small soft washcloth clean from top to bottom, and front to back; clean off any dried mucus that has collected in the corner of the baby’s nostrils, eyes by dabbing them many times to soften them for removal. Rinse the baby thoroughly before you lift him/her from the bath with one hand supporting the neck and head and the other supporting the bottom.   

• Finally wrap the baby in a hooded towel and pat him/her dry and put the diaper on. Wrap him/her in a towel or blanket and cuddle to keep him/her warm. If the skin tends to be dry make sure you use a mild lotion or cream, before you give a kiss to the sweet smelling head.

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