Does Your Baby Welcome a Wash?

The biggest worry that parents have when bathing their child often takes place during the first few weeks when the baby and the parent are both new to each other and also to the experience of taking a baby bath. There is really only one thing that new parents need to remember when giving their young baby a bath and that is to never take your eyes off the infant, ever. Never bath your child in a tub while they still have their umbilical cord attached. Wait until it has dried, fallen away and everything left behind heals thoroughly. While this is all going on, a damp cloth or a sponge will be the necessary bathtub accessory that you'll be using to wash your baby and keep infections from forming where the cord was once attached.

Swab the area around the former umbilical cord very gently using warm water and if you see an infection start to form get with your doctor right away before it gets worse. Some people will tell you to use rubbing alcohol around this sensitive area and still others will tell you not to use it at all, so the jury is still out as to whether it is a good idea to use or not. Consult with your own doctor on this issue. Remember, too, that the hands, face and diaper regions will always need to be cleaned in order to keep your baby hygienic and clean at all times. The rule of thumb is that babies, before they are learning and able to crawl, will not need to be bathed daily because too many of them will dry out their new skin. It is well known that drowning only takes an inch of water and a moment of time to occur. This is why it is essential to keep your eyes on your baby at all times while bathing; this is valid not just for babies, but for young children too. If the doorbell chimes pretend it didn't. And take the phone off the hook as well. Nothing is as important as watching your child.

The baby's head should be kept always above the waterline and supported at all times. Don't use a lot of shampoo or soap so your baby's skin will not start having problems and you will keep your baby from suffering from a urinary tract infection. To keep your baby from slipping or falling take extra care when holding or moving your baby as you soap her completely. Slippery when wet is a true statement, doubly so when soap is involved.

Because your baby's skin is much thinner than yours what is warm water to you will not be to your young one. Keep the bath water between 90 and 100 degrees F, or 32 and 38 degrees C. Test the warmth of the water using your elbow, swishing the water all around to blend the hotter spots with the cooler spots and evening out the temperature before introducing your baby in the water.

An extremely important thing to keep in mind always is that those bath seats and rings do not replace you as supervising parents of your child. The biggest problems with bath seats are that they tip over or the baby slips easily through the leg apertures becoming trapped by the seat under the water. But gradually, precautions and redesigns are improving safety with these accessories. Accessories are not replacements for common sense and caution and in actuality any parent can get by without most of them, especially parents on a budget. So, plan on helping your baby at bath time until they are strong enough to support themselves in the big bathtub that the rest of the family uses.

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