Bathing ritual BEFORE the umbilical cord falls off... (and after)

[etwahl]

I'm wondering how everyone bathed (or sponge bathed) their little one before the umbilical cord fell off. For some reason, I'm probably most scared about what to do with this one.

If you could give me a run-down of what you did, including where you did it, what you had to prepare ahead of time, and anything else, that would be great. Some specific questions I have are - where's the best place to do this? Close to a sink? How do you wash their hair those first days (or even after for that matter...) How do you hold them e.g. if you are doing this on a kitchen counter, do you just put a nice thick towel down for padding? I feel very lost in the thoughts of bath rituals.

I really just need to know how to sponge bath before the umbilical cord falls off, and also how to do it normally after. My friend bought the Eurobath for me, and we did buy one of those yellow sponges to put on the bottom.

Tammy,
Mom-to-be Mar 8, 2003!

[nohomama]

Tammy we didn't do more than "spot clean" Lola before her cord fell off. Her bits and bum, the "dirtiest" parts of her, got cleaned frequently with a warm water and cotton pads or flannel wipes during diaper changes. If she burped-up milk, we changed her onesie and occassionally, if need be, went at her with a warm wash cloth. It may not sound appealing now, but newborns often smell lusciously of sour milk.

As for after her cord came off, we have always, out of necessity, knelt by the tub. It's a back breaker and if we'd had another option early on, we would have used it. We always had a bath towel and/or a hooded towel next to the tub along with soap/shampoo, a clean diaper, clean clothes, and sweet almond oil. You'll want to have everything you need on hand before you put the baby in the water so you don't have to go searching for something with a wet newborn in your arms. Also, even though Lola was born at the beginning of September when the weather was still warm, we heated the bathroom with a space heater (placed well away from the tub).

We bathed Lola about every five days or so. As I said before, her dirtiest parts got cleaned frequently during every diaper change. We used, and still use, very little soap. Until she got too squirmy, we greased her up like a pig with sweet almond oil after every bath (newborns ofter get dry, flaky skin...another reason not to bathe them too frequently).

We're lucky and wound up with a babe that has alway loved water and being bathed (not all babies do). At nearly eighteen months, Lola now takes a bath every night before bed (we still only give her a complete "washing"every 3-5 days). Bathtime is often one of the most enjoyable parts of our day.

HTH,

[egoldber]

We also just used a wash cloth to "spot clean" Sarah before the cord fell off. After that, we had an infant tub that fit in the kitchen sink, Make sure to have everything ready ahead of time, which for us meant washcloth, baby shampoo (since she has always ahd a ton of hair), a pitcher to rinse with and a towel.

Initially, Sarah HATED the infant tub, until I started using the yellow sponge.

We have never been real bath oriented. She still only gets a bath about every other day.

HTH,

[juliasdad]

We did spot-bathing on the changing table. We'd bring a bowl of warm water in for wetting/rinsing a washcloth. Newborns don't have a lot of opportunity to get dirty. Our cord took its time, fell off a bit after 3 weeks. Currently, at 6 months old, we bathe every other day.
After the cord fell off, we started bathing every other day in the sink using an infant bather; we've just outgrown that, and so we're using a bigger bather in the bathtub.

There's a very nice cleanser out there that's particularly good for bathing newborns; it's nonallergenic and contains no detergents, and can be used without rinsing. It's Cetaphil cleanser (they also make a great moisturizing lotion). We still use it fairly regularly at bathtime, but it was particularly useful during the first few weeks when we were "dry" bathing.

-dan

[brubeck]

I have bath slings for my kids. What worked before they could be immersed in the water was to put the bath sling on the counter next to the sink. I used rubber matting to prevent it from slipping (the kind you buy in a roll at Walmart in the kitchen section). I would lie a warm, hooded towel over the sling and then put the baby in it, wrapping them up quickly. I used only warm water on a washcloth, and I rised the washcloth after each body part. I would only expose the part of the body I was washing because otherwise my poor baby would get cold. Also, I washed the face first to make sure there were no weird germs getting into the baby's eyes, nose or mouth.

The main thing is to wash all of the 'creases'. You will be amazed at how many of these your baby has and how much vernix, dried milk/formula, etc. gets caught in there. The big one is under the neck, second is in the genitals, third is on the legs/thighs and fourth is on the arms.

The good news is that you will only have to live with this for about 2 weeks. And no soap or shampoo is necessary during this time. Heck, I used no soap (and only a tiny bit of Johnson's Baby Shampoo) on my daughter for the first 6 months, and I haven't used any soap on my 2 month old son yet.

[gravymommy3]

Tammy,

On my last child, I did "sponge" baths, sort of. I took a folded towel and laid it on the bed. Then I took a waterproof lap pad (kind of a big one) and covered the towel with that. Then I took another towel and laid it over the lap pad. I put Hayden down on the top towel (had warm water in the basin that they washed her in in the hospital ready on the bed). I rinsed her off all over except the belly button, paying extra attention to the creases, areas prone to dirt, etc. It did not take much water to clean her. I then wrapped her in a hooded towel and we were good to go. Then next "bath" I could use the towel that was under the lap pad on top and put a fresh one underneath. This was easiest for me since the bed is big and a good height for me. Didn't have to worry about a narrow countertop. I continued bathing her like this even after the BB was healed. She seemed to enjoy it.

One mistake I made with the first two rugrats was that I was not aggressive at all when it came to swabbing the belly button area with alcohol. The more you get down there, the faster it dries up and falls off. Good luck to you.

Amy

[Rachels]

We did sponge baths on her changing table, keeping her mostly covered so she didn't get cold. We also did one more major bath involving putting a bunch of thick towels on the kitchen counter with her head toward the sink. We wiped her down well with warm water and washed her hair (she had a LOT, and it was in need of a wash), then rinsed it more or less by the sink. There was water everywhere, but she really seemed to like having warm water poured gently over her head. She got all blissed out.

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02

[JMarie]

Aidan is the same way with his hair washing! He will scream bloody murder while I'm washing his body (we do the kitchen-counter sponge bath) but as soon as I start spraying the water on his little head, he's in heaven. I just keep him all wrapped up in the towel and pour water over his head for a few minutes - he'll stay wide awake and make cute-baby-faces. Then of course comes the hair brushing - I'm not sure which he likes more!

JMarie
Mom to Aidan Christopher 01/28/03

[Naomi]

Like others here, we didn't do any major cleaning while Lila's cord was attached. I remember giving her her first sponge bath with the postpartum doula, who was providing mostly moral support but also some pointers. We put her on the kitchen table, swaddled, on a thick padding of towels, and had a basin of warm water (no soap) nearby. We'd unswaddle a limb, give it a gentle once-over, and swaddle it back up. We had a March baby, too, and it was kind of chilly (we live in Massachusetts), so we made sure the heat was up high first.

After the cord fell off, I bathed her in the kitchen sink until she was about five or six months old. The sink had an old, deep porcelain basin, just the right size. I'd pad it with clean towels before filling it about a third of the way up with water, then put Lila in it, keeping one hand behind her neck at all times. The nice thing was it was at great height for us -- we didn't have stoop or kneel. When she got too big for the sink, we finally began bathing her in a cheap inflatable tub inside our regular bathtub. Around this time we began using mild soap. She didn't have her first hair-washing until she was around six months old or so -- but then, she didn't have much hair (and still doesn't!).

Lila loves baths -- has one every night now. And now that she's into arts & crafts and puddle-hopping, she needs them.

Congratulations on your impending arrival!

[cblasko]

There is a lot of good advice in this chain, so I'll just add a few things we learned in addition to everything.

I agree with newborn spot cleaning discussed already. One other thing to try may be to time his/her bath PRIOR to a feeding. Once babies eat, they shunt blood to their digestive systems (blood leaves the arms and legs to aid in the digestion process), so they tend to get cold much quicker. This is only a noticable difference for the first month or two.

Grant's umbilical cord fell off in about 10 days. Once this happened, we did his bath on the bathroom counter in the baby bath tub (Much easier on the back). We used a baby brush and shampoo to massage the dry skin out of his hair and washcloths for the rest of him. He had a lot of dry skin, so we would cover him with aquaphor after patting him dry(lotions did nothing). The massaging of the aquaphor, or whatever you use, also helps to warm the baby and promote bonding.

The yellow sponges are great. We went from the baby bath to the swivel bath seat at about 5 months, and thought it was a waste of money. Our son was never comfortable in the seat, so we tried the sponge. He'll sit on the sponge and lie back on it to get his hair rinsed.

HTH. I'd be happy to give more details on anything too.
Cindy
Mommy to Grant, 06-03-2002