Baby Diaries, A Guide for New Mothers 9: Bathing Your Child

As we’ve said in an earlier article in this series, you don’t have to put baby in the bath basin until you feel totally confident in doing so. If you do not have a baby bath, use a large plastic basin instead. It’s a terrible risk to bathe baby in an adult size bath tub even when you’re an experienced mother. One false move and a slippery, wriggly baby is likely to slip from your wet hands, so it’s safer to deal with smaller amounts of water. We washed our first baby in a small, plastic kitchen basin until we felt confident enough to use the baby bath.

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Whether bathing or just cleaning baby, a few preparations have got to be made before you remove your infant’s clothing. Remember that it’s important to keep your child sufficiently warm, especially for the first few weeks after he/she has left the comfort and warmth of being inside your body. The room in which you remove your infant’s clothing should be warm and draft free. If you’re comfortable in a tee-shirt, bare feet, and with your hair up, then the temperature is about right. Any water used to wash baby should feel comfortable to your elbow – not your hands, as they’re likely to have been hardened by years of getting accustomed to very hot water.

Starting to Clean

In the first week when it’s important to keep the umbilical cord dry and clean, you may want to do a ‘top and tail’ instead of putting your baby in the bath. Get the things you need ready before removing any of baby’s clothing. You will need cotton wool, a bowl of warm water, baby bath lotion, towels, Vaseline, nappies, clean clothes etc. Once you’re ready to go, start by removing the upper clothing, leaving the nappy and lower half still intact, warm and dry.

• Wet cotton wool in the solution of warm water and baby bath lotion and start by cleaning your infant’s eyes. Use one piece of cotton for each eye to avoid spreading infection, and talk to your child to put him/her at ease.