How to Give a Newborn Baby a Bath

Now that you have brought home your precious little bundle of joy, there are many new things you must learn to take care of them. One thing that is very important is how to keep them clean. Here are some tips and techniques on how to give a newborn baby a bath.

1. The first thing to remember is to use a sink, not a bathtub. If you must use a bathtub, do not fill it with water. Newborn  babies have many areas that are sensitive and should not be submerged under water, like their bellybutton, and if you had a boy that was circumcised, that should not get wet either. Also, they cannot hold their heads up and you do not want them to slip and get their face underwater either. With this little chair in the picture above, you can easily clean them without making a mess, and without putting them underwater.
2. The second is to make sure you use bath soap made specifically for young babies, and use a soft cloth. Using the same soap you use could have chemicals or fragrances that could irritate your child’s skin and make it very red, dry, and itchy. Try to use only soaps that have no harsh fragrances. The soft cloth will gently clean your child’s skin without irritating it as well. After gently rubbing the warm cloth with soap on your baby, rinse the cloth well and repeat again, but this time with no soap. This should rinse the soap from their body and is plenty enough to get your child clean. Remember, your child’s life right now consists of eating, sleeping, and using the bathroom. They do not need to be scrubbed with a big washcloth and sprayed with body spray to make them smell nice.
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4. The final step is to make sure you have a soft towel to gently dab them dry. After getting wet, your child can become cold, as evidenced by their shivering. However, do not use a blow dryer to dry your child, or to warm him either. All that needs to be done is to gently dab him dry and keep him wrapped in the soft towel to allow him to warm back up naturally and become comfortable again. Now is the time that you can use some lavender scented baby lotion for any areas that appear to be dry, and this stuff smells great. Nothing smells better than your freshly clean child with some lavender baby lotion!