Bathing your newborn baby the right way

Babies don’t need to bathe every day, but if Your Child loves it, you surely can do it. If the skin gets too dry, you can also just clean the face, neck, hands, and bottom instead.

Preparation for the bath
Don’t bathe Your Child immediately after feeding or on waking up. If it’s summer, make sure to turn off the air conditioning, and in winter close the windows, so the room is warm and comfortable once the little one comes out of the water. Small children can catch a cold easily if their skin is wet.

Bathing your baby
When you want to bathe Your Child, you may use a baby bathtub or simply sit with the little one inside the shower cabin. Beware of the following:

• Make sure the water is warm, but not too hot
• Although some mothers like to add some olive oil, plain water is fine — never add any liquid cleansers to the bath water; plain water is best for the baby’s skin in the first month
• As you bath with Your Child, you can use your hand or a clean towel to carefully clean the baby — if you use a towel, use two different ones for the face and genitals
• For the hair, you can use baby shampoo or baby-friendly soap
• After you are done, pat Your Child dry; don’t rub as the skin is still very sensitive — make sure you dry all areas, including the areas where the skin folds.
• Most importantly, never leave Your Child alone in the bath, not even for a second.

How often shall I bathe Your Child?
For a newborn, two or three times a week is probably enough, provided you ensure the nappy area is well cleaned and clean the hands and face many times each day (top and tail). Unless they’ve been sick or soiled themselves, newborns just don’t get that dirty.

Older babies can be bathed as much as every day as bath time usually becomes part of the bedtime routine. It can be a great way to help Your Child relax and wind down for the night.

Washing your baby
Instead of a full bath, sometimes you may just want to wash the little one. To do that properly you may want to follow these steps: 

1. Hold Your Child on your knee or lay the little one on a changing mat — take off the clothes
2. Soak the cotton wool in warm water and gently clean around Your Child‘s eyes from the nose outwards, using a new piece of cotton wool for each eye so that you don’t transfer any infection from one eye to another
3. Clean around Your Child’s ears with a fresh piece of cotton wool but never inside the ears — don’t use cotton buds to clean inside your baby’s ears
4. Clean the rest of Your Child‘s face, neck, and hands in the same way and dry them gently with the towel
5. Clean your little one’s bottom and private parts with fresh cotton wool and warm water
6. Never use force to pull back the skin at the genitals; simply clean it from outside
7. When you finish, dry gently and put on a neat nappy and cloth