Bathing Products - Newborns

[wellyes]

I love the smell of Mustela products, in fact I bought a bunch but then I actually read the ingredients and looked them up on skin deep and I freaked out and threw them all out.

You have to get the fragrance-free. A good idea for any baby product really.

[LadyPeter]

We had such good intentions with this...but our baby was allergic to Burt's Bees, Aveeno and Dr. Bronner's. He would break out in this terrible red rash all over.

But plain old J&J? Just fine. We use a tiny bit of the head-to-toe wash, then slather him up in lotion. I promise I tried to be crunchy on this one! But DS had other plans.

[lowrioh]

We used Aveeno when DS was a newborn. Now that he's a toddler, we use JNJ with no issues.

As far as bathing frequency, we only bathe DD2 when she starts smelling like a corn chip.
We tend to wash her face daily but she is the typical neglected second child.

[FTMLuc]

In the first two months we bathed DD once to twice a week, now we moved to every other day or so. We use Aquaphor baby wash every other time, sometimes only once a week. As for lotion it is between Aquafore (in the winter) and now moving to organic Jojoba oil. I also bathe her in chamomile water, I buy either dried chamomile or chamomile teas (for lazy days) and boil a big pot of water, throw a tea bag in it for 20 minutes or so to steep, then bathe. I have also found organic Chamomile Lavender tea by traditional medicinals that I have used. It smells so relaxing. The chamomile bath definitely helped to settle her and seemed to relax her to help with gas in those early weeks.

Face, hands and neck get washed everyday with soft wash cloth and warm water

We also forgot to wash behind the ears in the beginning, until one day DH looked and gasped in horror from all the dried milk. He then said he now understood where the "do not forget to wash behind the ears" came from.

[LadyPeter]

[QUOTE=lowrioh;3102512]
As far as bathing frequency, we only bathe DD2 when she starts smelling like a corn chip.
QUOTE]

[mackmama]

We were told to do sponge baths every few days (with water only) until umbilical stump fell off. After stump fell off, we did baths in the sink using the Puj tub about once/week. We used California Baby Super Sensitve Shampoo/Body Wash (one product) on baby's body and hair. No soap on the face - just water on a soft washcloth. We used California Baby Super Sensitive Lotion on the body very sparingly because baby wasn't dry and really didn't need it. If baby's face got dry, our pediatrician told us to use a tiny bit of Aquaphor on the dry spots.

[Katigre]

Here is my experience:

-What are you brand recommendations?

Dr. Bronner's bar soap and/or California Baby gentle liquid soap

-Do you really need shampoos, body wash, and lotions for newborns?

No. You can use the same soap for shampoo and body (and don't need to use it often - you can often just bathe with water alone). I have never used lotion on a newborn and don't understand its purpose since their skin is designed to hold in moisture pretty well (as long as you're not overbathing it and such - soap strips out the moisture).

-How often do you bath a newborn?

A few times a week - we showered them instead, just passed the baby into mom or dad and then passed them back out when clean. In the winter once a week is plenty, in the summer more often (or if they really like the water!)

-Any other advice you would like to share regarding this topic?

It is not necessary to give a nightly bath, or use many different products (regardless of the ads in parenting literature!). If you bathe them less often you are less likely to need lotions and such anyway.

[citymama]

Congrats! I would recommend buying a single bottle of California Baby unscented shampoo/bodywash and a single bottle of CA baby sensitive lotion. My baby is 11 months and we still have the same bottle of lotion in use, mostly for infant massage.

Re frequency of baths, my kids have sensitive skin and would get skin rash and cradle cap if they weren't washed regularly. I think 3 times a week is good, more or less often is fine as well.

[BabyZen]

Thank you everyone for the comments and recommendations! Especially the funny ones...corn chip smell...lol!!

[Pinky]

I haven't read all the other posts but I thought I'd chime in that our pediatrician and several others recommended that we just use cetaphil liquid soap as body soap and shampoo for our baby and it worked really well. We used only this until she was a year old and never had any skin problems. (eczema runs in the family) We also didn't use lotion as our pediatrician told us that it really wasn't needed and that people often use it just because they want their baby to smell nice. So, if you really don't need it then just skip that step. When they are tiny and peeling all over the lotion doesn't really help you just have to wait that out.

Also, we only bathed her twice a week unless she had a really really messy diaper that needed it. We did however use just a wet washcloth every day and give her a wipe down from head to toe. (You'd be amazed at how dirty they can get under the neck, behind the ears and between the toes! LOL)