Bath Time Tips

by Renee Dietz | More from this Blogger

15 Aug 2006 02:14 PM

Giving a new baby a bath can be a nervous time for any parent. Obviously, your first concern is the safety and well being of your child so you want to do everything right. Just remember that other than taking a few precautions, bathing your baby is much like you taking a bath. While there are some differences, most are easy to deal with.

For instance, to reduce the risk of infection through the spread of bacteria, when washing your baby's body, use different parts of the washcloth for different parts of the body. In other words, you wouldn't want to wash your baby's face with the same part or even same washcloth used for cleaning his or her bottom. Just a little common sense during bathing will go a long way.

Then, remember that your baby's skin is new and tender. Therefore, rather than scrub or rub hard, we recommend you actually pat the skin with the washcloth. After all, most babies don't really get dirty so hard scrubbing is not necessary. Many babies will not enjoy bath time at first so if you see crocodile tears, it's perfectly normal. As long as the room and water temperature are right and you're right there next to the baby providing support, the bath will not hurt him or her. If you find that your baby stresses out at bath time, you might start with sponge cleaning, slowly moving to a real bath.

Your baby's eyes will also need to be cleaned although not with every bath. Generally, you want to keep any goop off the eyes, which can be done with water and a cotton ball. In fact, removing the discharge from a baby's eyes during bath time may cause him or her to become stressed so cleaning them on an as-needed basis would be a better solution. The same is true for the ears. Rather than clean them in the bath, you could use a slightly damp washcloth to wipe around the inside and behind the ears.

Learn more about Renee Dietz

I have been a successful, published writer for the past 26 years, offering a writing style that is informative, creative, and reader-friendly.

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