Cleanliness is vital for us. Doing bathe is one of the methods to keep you neat and clean. In the same way, it is also necessary to give a bath to your newborn baby. Bathing a newborn baby creates an attachment in between the mother and the baby. This is why bathing is said to be much more than cleanliness. Now How to bathe your newborn baby?
It is not only the cleanliness; it is an unbreakable bond between a mother and a baby. Some kids love to be in touch with water from the very beginning, and there are some who don’t like this new sensation in their skin. They keep on crying from the starting of taking a bath until the end of it. Some time is required for them to get used to with it.
For the first week, it is not important to bathe your newborn baby. You can rub your baby’s body with a damp washcloth and warm water. Once the umbilical cord gets dried and heals, you can bathe your baby. If you want you can even give bathe before that because bathing won’t cause any infection.
It can be scary for you to give bath your newborn baby. For this you can ask someone elder to assist you, the person needs to be someone who has the experience to deal with a newborn baby. Unless and until your baby started crawling, you can bathe your baby for three times in a week. You can continue this for the first year only. Too much bathing is not good for your baby because it will make your baby’s skin dry.
Contents
Preparation of bathing your baby:
Wearing appropriate clothes: If you are wearing half sleeves attire, then it’s fine. But if you are wearing any full sleeves attire, then you need to roll up your sleeves. You will have to remove all the jewelry that you are wearing, because it may hurt your baby if it gets in contact with your baby.
Get ready with all the things that you need during and after bathing: Once you start giving a bath to your baby, you cannot leave your baby for a second. For this reason, you need to prepare all the things that you need during and after the bath of your baby. Things that you need to bathe your baby:
- A sponge for rubbing the body with soap
- A damp washcloth
- Cotton wool
- Baby Soap
- Baby Shampoo
- a mug for pouring water
- a set of clothes
- Diaper
- Baby powder
- Baby Lotion
- A tub for your baby
- An extra towel in case if you need
Take a measurement and fill the tub with 3 inches warm water:
The perfect temperature for bathing your newborn baby is 90 degree Celsius. You need to be very careful about the temperature of your skin because a slight increase in temperature will burn the baby’s skin.
It will be very much comfortable to wash your baby in the sink rather than using a baby tub. For bathing, a newborn baby sink is the best option.
When you are ready with all the materials for bathing, you can undress your baby. Remember undressing your baby should be the last thing when you are absolutely willing to give bathe. If you find that your baby’s skin is dry or the water is hard, then you can add baby bath emollient in water. Remember, this adding of emollient will make your baby’s body slippery, and it will go to be hard to handle your baby.
At first, you need to wipe your baby’s face with a cotton wool. Dip the cotton wool into warm water and carefully clean the eyes. Slowly sweep the cotton wool by circling her eyes to the corner of the nose. For wiping each eye, you should use separate cotton wool so that the goo does not spread from one eye into another. Then wipe your baby’s ears and the back of it very smoothly, you should not clean the inside of ear because it may harm the eardrum.
Then wipe your baby’s face, neck, and hands. Gently move your hands in the layer of neck skin. The layers of neck skin are so soft that dirt can easily get into the layers of skin, so you need to explain this part very carefully, and it should not hurt your baby. Do not try to wash off the creamy vernix coating from your baby’s body, because it works as a natural cleanser and will go off automatically.
Wet the damp washcloth with water and a small amount of baby shampoo. Gently rub it off on the baby’s scalp
Now gently clean your baby’s bottom part. You should clean the bottom part in every changing of nappy. The quantity of fat in baby’s poo is more than an adult’s poo, and you should use a mild liquid baby cleanser or unscented wipes to remove the poo from your baby’s skin. You should not use any wipes or soaps, which contains alcohol or any other artificial fragrance because the presence of these things might hamper your baby’s skin.
After washing your baby, pat her dry very gently and dry her hair as smoothly as you can. Once your baby is dry, then rub her body with moisturizer lotion or oil. Then wrap her in a towel and cuddle her to keep your baby warm.
Some important things that you should not do while bathing your baby
- Never leave your baby alone in the tub or sink, not even for a second
- Do not think of doing other works while bathing your baby. Try to give your full attention to your baby
- Never place your baby in the tub while water is running
- Never give bath to your baby by wearing any kind of jewelry
- Never use cold or regular water. The water should be warm, and you can measure the temperature by using a thermometer. The standard temperature for bathing your newborn baby is 98 degree Celsius