Bathing baby

juliaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa · May 2016

I am curious to hear about your practices and experiences bathing baby. The hospital where I gave birth recommended to bathe baby once a week and not use any soap or shampoo for the first year. I am not in the US so am curious whether the same is said in US or what you were told and do.

nackie · May 2016

Our pediatrician told us recently that it's fine to bath him daily at this point. We didn't ask about soaps, but we do use a little baby soap/shampoo in the water

fragglemom · May 2016

My son can bathe daily due to his eczema but it was recommended that he not be in the water for more than 10 minutes or it could dry his skin out. We use a generic of Cetaphil to cleanse him as soaps are also very drying and even then we just use it on his hands, feet, diaper area, and anywhere that might be dirty like where his skin folds.

kaym6 · May 2016

We bathe baby daily and use soap and shampoo daily too. His skin isn't dry or bothered by it and we use lotion following all baths.

tfrangul · May 2016

I bathe mine once or twice a week with some baby soap. I do not have time to do it every day that's for sure! And I have dry skin/eczema so I won't bathe my kids every day. My daughter is about every other day, every couple maybe in the winter.

ambercakes92 · May 2016

My doctor really didn't say anything about bathing. But I bathe my daughter usually only once a week. She does have mild exzema, and I use burts bees buttermilk soap. After baths and once or twice every day I use lubriderm lotion on her entire body.

kodariah · May 2016

Every other night before bedtime is bath night. My little guy spits up all the time so if we go longer than a day he smells like slip up. I use soap and then lotion after and we have never had a problem with dry skin.

claireloSC · May 2016

We bathe every other day with honest company soap and Mustela shampoo. My dr never said anything about bathing but the only skin issue she ever had was a little bit of baby acne.

TRA0816 · May 2016

We bathe every night with a mild soap followed by a lotion massage. I do it mostly because he spits up a lot but I do find it helps him settle down and sleep better.

KimC2010 · May 2016

We bathe her every night, but only use soap/shampoo every 2-3 nights. DD really likes bathtime and it's a big part of her bedtime routine. I usually read her a story while she's in the bathe also.

Becky012016 · May 2016

We bathe once a week with occassional wipe downs throughout the week. We're currently trying to find soap that doesn't irritate LOs skin but also doesn't dry skin out. We're having some issues with allergic reaction type rashes/eczema. (His pedi is already aware of this and we're going through the process of testing new soaps per the Drs instructions) Does anyone have any recommendations for a hypoallergenic soap that also doesn't dry babies skin out?

Ebiejay · May 2016

LO has eczema too so we were recommended to bathe twice a week, using Cetaphil baby wash, and keep the baths short. Apparently Johnsons and some other baby soaps are more drying. The Dr said Dove is also a good soap to use, as it's less drying than others.

teachmegs817 · May 2016

LO has some eczema too. We give him a bath every 3 days and use Aveeno soap/wash. On his skin, we use the Aveeno eczema cream. He doesn't care for the water that much, so to only have a 5-10 minute bath is perfect. That's about how long he lasts in the tub, before he starts making noise and getting squirmy.

klbh · May 2016

We bathe twice a week with burt's bees soap/shampoo, or an extra time if he gets really dirty.

What are you all using for tubs? We have the fisher price one with a newborn sling, and it means he can't really get far enough underwater to enjoy himself. He's only submerged by an inch or two, so he gets cold fast. I can't figure out how everyone uses it as part of a bedtime routine! We have to move quickly to make sure he doesn't get chilled. Am I doing it wrong? our apartment is pretty warm, around 70 I'd guess (we have radiators, so it varies), but he still gets cold fast.

molliemcguire · May 2016

klbh said:

We bathe twice a week with burt's bees soap/shampoo, or an extra time if he gets really dirty.

What are you all using for tubs? We have the fisher price one with a newborn sling, and it means he can't really get far enough underwater to enjoy himself. He's only submerged by an inch or two, so he gets cold fast. I can't figure out how everyone uses it as part of a bedtime routine! We have to move quickly to make sure he doesn't get chilled. Am I doing it wrong? our apartment is pretty warm, around 70 I'd guess (we have radiators, so it varies), but he still gets cold fast.

Lurking from Feb...put a hand towel over him (after you put it in warm water). Keeps him warm and keeps the pee from shooting up!

KFrob · May 2016

molliemcguire said:

klbh said:

We bathe twice a week with burt's bees soap/shampoo, or an extra time if he gets really dirty.

What are you all using for tubs? We have the fisher price one with a newborn sling, and it means he can't really get far enough underwater to enjoy himself. He's only submerged by an inch or two, so he gets cold fast. I can't figure out how everyone uses it as part of a bedtime routine! We have to move quickly to make sure he doesn't get chilled. Am I doing it wrong? our apartment is pretty warm, around 70 I'd guess (we have radiators, so it varies), but he still gets cold fast.

Lurking from Feb...put a hand towel over him (after you put it in warm water). Keeps him warm and keeps the pee from shooting up!

We have that bath too. At 3 months you can take the sling out and put the seat part in. The correct way to use it is to rest LOs head in the head rest with their bottom butted up against the seat. We were having the same issue. Now LO loves the bath cause she can actually splash around. Look at the directions, it shows you how to convert it for each age.

stephanienjer · May 2016

I bathe our daughter about 3 times a week, sometimes more, if she's made a big mess of herself. (The last few weeks, we've had a nasty virus, and have vomited often, so it's been sometimes twice a day.) She has a ton of hair, so I use Burt's Bees bodywash and shampoo to do that, and just use the residual soap in the water for the rest of her body. She loves, loves, loves the bath, now that she figured out kicking makes waves. She could be in there all day, if the water stayed warm. We use one of the plastic tubs that fits down in the kitchen sink. (We only have showers--no bathtubs.) She does prefer to be on the floor of our shower rather than in the kitchen sink--I think probably because we can get it a lot warmer in the bathroom. I think the transition out of the bathtub is more traumatic for her than anything. I try to get a big fluffy blanket set up on the bed with an open diaper ready. When I take her out, I dry her bottom off, get that diaper on her, and wrap her in the blanket for about 10 minutes. Once she's acclimated to the air temp, I'll start with lotion and getting her dressed.

jodiedrich18 · May 2016

I do usually 3 times a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to help keep daycare cooties at bay. I use a teeny bit of baby soap/shampoo. Occasionally use lotion as well. LO has gotten much better with baths....she was not a fan her first 2 months of life.

cyanope · May 2016

Every night for us. LO is a spitter and would constantly stink otherwise. She has the softest skin (everyone comments on it), so her nightly baths definitely aren't drying her skin out. Our pedi is fine with it. Like a PP, we also use Honest company soap/shampoo.

UptownPearl · May 2016

We bathe every other day generally, sometimes more or less. He loves the water so we let him get in it whenever we have time. We use baby wash, follow up with lotion, and use coconut oil on dry patches.

maureenmce · May 2016

We weren't told anything about bathing (other than to wait until the umbilical stump fell off, back when she was just born) but we only bathe her once or twice a week, simply because she H-A-T-E-S baths. It's kind of hilarious. It is definitely the worst part of her week. As for soap, we just use Johnson and Johnson's all in one soap/shampoo. We've been skipping the shampoo the last two weeks because it seemed to overly dry out her scalp (she got a little bit of cradle cap.) Since we've stopped shampooing it's reduced and nearly gone away, so I'm thinking we'll skip that step for a little while and reintroduce it later on.

As for lotion after bath, we do Aveeno lavender scented lotion, which, luckily, she loves. (The only part of the process she enjoys!) We put that lotion on her every night before bed, even when she doesn't have a bath, with a little infant massage, since she likes it so much.

2winterbabies · May 2016

Personally I use a combination wash and shampoo and mostly do a sponge bath. In between the neck and under her ears I'll scrub a little harder. Pretty much it.

juliaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa · May 2016

Thanks for all the answers! Interesting to read what everyone does.
@klbh we also have that plastic tub with sling a friend gave us as hand me down. I found it way too shallow, with the sling baby is practically out of the water, without it it still is not deep and seems very uncomfortable with the hard plastic built in seat at an awkward angle... We used it twice and then tried our big regular bathtub instead and that has been much better and made the bath experience quite fun as baby can totally swim around in it. I agree with one of the previous posters that recommended putting a wash cloth wet with warm water on babys belly as she tends to be quite floaty and thus even though the tub is very deep unless I hold her body under water the tummy sticks out...

ChrissyD1203 · May 2016

I have the Fisher Price whale tub - it was $24 and is amazing. It has a piece that comes out when they get bigger. The warm cloth on the belly (particularly a lightweight large baby cloth) is awesome. Baby LOVES the bath!

grkgdss00 · May 2016

We bathe every 2-3 days.. she loves her bathtime! We use the babyganics soap and lotion.

maureenmce · May 2016

It seems like a lot of you have babies who love the bath - any tips on getting them to enjoy it more? It may just be a personal preference thing (I know all babies are different) but it's sad to me that my LO hates baths so much! She's usually a very happy baby, but she will have a meltdown most baths, or, if we're lucky, just look super miserable and not cry. We have a temperature reading rubber ducky, so we make sure the bath is warm but a safe temperature. We towel her off right away and keep her as warm as possible, but she just loathes it. Any ideas? She'll be three months on Sunday, so maybe it'll just improve with time?

klbh · May 2016

@KFrob thank you! I had forgotten there was an intermediary stage--I thought he was just stuck in the newborn sling until he could sit in the seat. We did the new position today, with a warm towel over him, and he was all smiles. Yay!

nackie · May 2016

@maureenmce is it the actual bath or the drying off that she hates? Ours started liking baths a lot more once we moved him in to the bigger section where he can float and splash around. Although he gets really upset when he splashes himself in the face. He still hates being towelled off though.

krrpe99 · May 2016

We have to bathe DD every other day, or her hair will start to reek (she's got a ton.) She used to love baths, but in the last week, it's been the opposite. She starts to cry almost immediately. We're not really sure what's going on. I hope it's just a phase.

maureenmce · May 2016

@nackie - It's the whole process, unfortunately. We try to make sure the water is warm, the towel is right nearby for the drying off portion of things, but she just seems to hate it. I was wondering if anyone did little rituals (like a song or something) to convince their baby to like baths, or if babies will just naturally like (or dislike) them and there's not much you can do except hope they grow out of it.

juliaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa · May 2016

@maureenmce our baby liked most her baths but there were a couple times in the beginning she really didn't like them. I don't know what time of day you give the baths, perhaps you can try different times? I know many people like to give baths before bedtime, in the beginning our girl was fussy with baths if tired so we found it much better to do bath first thing after a nap (after offering a feeding too). Also as mentioned previously we ditched the plastic shallow baby tub which had a built in seat and a sling option. We found it way too shallow and not comfortable. A deep tub in which we hold her works much better (the first time she was a bit unsure and we had to hold her tight, now she is increasingly confident in the water and likes to move around). She has liked baths much more when she can move. Finally I think the weather getting nicer has also helped the bathing process as it is much warmer and there isn't as much a risk of her getting cold in & out of the water... Hope this helps and your baby starts to enjoy them more. The fussy bath times we had were not fun (to say the least), but now we like the baths...

PedsIsHardcore · May 2016

I bath DD2 twice a week. We use my body wash for soap.

flutterflutter · May 2016

@KFrob Ditto! Thanks for the reminder about transitions!

I remember the hospital giving my baby a bath right away using baby soap. At home, we bathe her a couple of times a week using Burt's Bees Baby Wash. She has a lot of hair, so it gets greasy if we wait too long. Sometimes she gets a bath in the kitchen sink with the infant tub, simetimes she and I get into the big tub together, and sometimes she will be brought into the shower with me or my husband. We usually use the shower for a quick rinse in the morning, especially if she had a really yucky diaper from the night before.

kaym6 · May 2016

@maureenmce had you tried bathing with baby? My little guy hates the baby tub but loves the regular tub. I get in then my husband hands him to me and when I'm done I just hand him out to my husband. At first he was a little unsure but now he loves to float around and splash with his feet.

stephanienjer · May 2016

kaym6 said:

@maureenmce had you tried bathing with baby? My little guy hates the baby tub but loves the regular tub. I get in then my husband hands him to me and when I'm done I just hand him out to my husband. At first he was a little unsure but now he loves to float around and splash with his feet.

Agreed, except we used the shower. We don't have a regular bathtub, just a shower with a seat, so hubby would hold her, and I would use the handheld showerhead on its gentlest setting to clean her up. This had the added advantage of getting her used to getting her face wet. (within reason!) We haven't had to do this in a while, though, as she's decided she loves the bath.

katiedid0907 · May 2016

We bathe every other day and use Aveeno Eczema soap/shampoo. In a few months we will probably switch the same Johnsons soap that my 2 year old uses. I was just worried about eczema since my 2 yr old had it when he was a baby and has since outgrown it.

Want a personalized experience?

Bathing baby

Re: Bathing baby

Choose Another Board

Search Boards