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WOMEN'S & CHILDREN'S | Family Maternity Center | Pregnancy Resource Center | Pregnancy Library | Baby Health | Bathing a baby: Stay focused on safety
Bathing a baby: Stay focused on safety
The days of playful splashing and rubber duckies will come. But bathing a newborn isn't quite so carefree.
Your baby may squirm and object loudly to the procedure. If he or she cries, it doesn't necessarily mean you are hurting them or that you need to stop. It will help your confidence if you have an experienced baby-bather with you during the first bath.
Just remember that you don't have to do it perfectly and you really don't have to bathe your baby more than two or three times a week.
Baby-bathing tips:
- Bathe your baby in a small plastic baby tub or kitchen sink until he or she gets bigger. This will give you a much greater sense of control than putting her in the bathtub.
- Get all your bath gear together before you bathe the baby. It's no fun to realize you don't have a towel or baby shampoo on hand when you are in the middle of the bath.
- Fill the tub with a few inches of water. It should feel tepid to your wrist: warm, but not at all hot.
- Never put your baby in the tub while the water is still running. Water temperature can change or the water level can rise too high.
- At 6 months or older, use a bath ring. By the time your baby is big enough to sit, around 6 months of age or later, you can place him or her in a bath ring suction-cupped to the bottom of the tub. This may make it easier, but you absolutely cannot leave her in it unsupervised, not for a second.
- Use very little soap. It can dry your baby's skin. Use a wet, scantily soaped washcloth and clean baby from top to bottom, front to back. Rinse with a clean washcloth.
- Shampoo hair at the end of the bath so he or she won't have to sit in water full of shampoo. This can lead to urinary tract infections, particularly for girls.
- Sing, smile and talk to your baby during the bath. This can become a time of special closeness that both baby and parent will look forward to.
Above all, never leave your baby alone around any amount of water, even the few inches in a plastic tub or bathtub. Children can drown in less than an inch of water and in less than 60 seconds. If the phone or doorbell rings, ignore it or take her with you to answer it.
Date last reviewed: October 2002.
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