1. Always Put the Baby's Safety First
It is critical to stay within arm's reach of your child during bath time. It only takes a second for something tragic to happen. Gather everything you need for the bath before you immerse your child into the water. Keep one hand on your baby at all times. Before allowing your child into the water, check the temperature on your wrist to make sure it's not too hot for your little one. You only need a couple of inches of water in a bath. Keep the room warm, and don't try to immerse your child's entire body into the water.
2. Prepare Simple Sponge Baths
You want to avoid tub baths for your newborn until the umbilical stump dries and falls off. Give your baby a sponge bath to keep clean while you wait for the right time to start giving tub baths. Fold up a thick, fluffy bath towel to place on a counter near a sink. Turn the water on to warm it up while you gather supplies. Have a washcloth, mild baby soap, some cotton balls and a small cup handy. Wipe down your baby's body with the washcloth. Use the cotton balls to gently wipe his eyes clean. You can hold your baby's head over the sink to wash and rinse his hair without having to submerge the rest of his body into any water.
3. Use Baby Bath Tubs
There are countless choices for purchasing a baby bathtub. When your baby is an infant, look for small tubs that have some sort of a support inside of them. The support is often in the form of a fabric sling or a foam insert to help keep your hands free from having to support the baby entirely. When your baby can sit up on his own, he is ready to use a bath seat in a full-sized bathtub.
4. Watch Out for Bubble Trouble
Choose a mild baby soap that is gentle on baby's skin. Try to keep soap out of your baby's eyes, even if the bottle claims that it's tear free. Soap stings sometimes, even if it claims that it won't. Shampoo your baby's hair only as needed. Bubble bath isn't a necessity, and might even do more harm than good, drying out or irritating their skin.
5. Limit Bath Days
Kids don't need baths every single day. A young infant only needs a bath once a week. Instead, wipe your baby down with a warm washcloth at the end of every day to keep them clean, focusing on areas of folded skin, like their neck, bottoms and hands. Older children might need baths more often, especially as they start to feed themselves and they start becoming more mobile. Still, shampoo only as needed to protect their skin from drying out.
