Bath-Time Tips

Oh, the wonder of a brand new baby. Their toes and fingers are so delicate and tiny, they smell delicious, and they make the most adorable sniffles, grunts and squeaks. New territory from top to bottom for parents! I love that nurses in maternity wards give new parents baby bathing demonstrations but each time I’ve been shocked with the way the nurses handle newborns with such ease. Like little footballs as they turn them over, wash, rinse and repeat while new parents stare – breath caught in their throat – at their baby being manhandled by expert hands.

Once at home, new parents are often perplexed on how to bathe a little, wiggly, and truthfully quite alien looking baby.  I know we were with our first – adorable 2 week old baby toes belonging to our first at the left, gah!!! I know, I want to eat them too!

Here are a few simple tips to keep bath time simple, efficient, and easy.  The nurses at the maternity ward in the hospital would have told you the same thing, except you were too traumatized by your baby hanging precariously in the nurses arms to notice.

1) Keep the room and bath water nice and warm.  Use a baby thermometer for the first few months until you can find the perfect temperature with ease (no elbow dipping like our grandmothers did!)  We would always bath the baby in the bathroom after the older kids had showered, so it was nice and steamy, or simply use a portable heater in the bedroom and bath baby in a baby tub on the bed (easier to bend over this way).

2) Make sure you have everything you need beside you before you start.  This includes your baby wash, facecloth(s) and a towel.  For brand new babies, also have some cotton balls or a q-tip on hand for cleaning the umbilical cord (a task I always left for my husband since the idea made me squeamish!)

3) Wash baby from the top down, starting with baby’s fuzzy head of hair.  You don’t need much soap at all so use it sparingly, especially on baby’s head which only needs shampooing twice a week at most as a newborn.

4) Pay attention to hidden milk catchers like behind baby’s ears, the folds of baby’s neck and elbow and wrist creases!

5) Keep bath time fun, soothing, and quiet.  If you’re stressed, baby will sense it and react accordingly (as I’ve learned the hard way!)  If baby clearly isn’t enjoying her spa session, finish up the bath and try again another day.  Thankfully, babies are pretty adorable so if they smell like sour milk no one is going to notice, I promise you. 😉

Johnson’s Naturals are made with with 97-99% naturally-derived ingredients and are paraben-free, dye-free and phthalate-free.  We’ve been using Johnson’s Naturals Baby Shampoo, Head to Toe Baby Wash and Baby Lotion for a week or so in our household.  Most notable to me is the lack of heavy perfume scent.  The scent is a light, clean, vanilla scent so if you have a baby sensitive to strong scents (or you, yourself, would rather do without them!) this is a product worth checking out.

Disclosure:  Product provided as promotional consideration to Feisty Frugal & Fabulous by Johnson & Johnson Inc.