Hi all,

We are expecting our first kid in couple of days and have few questions about bathing the baby.

I read that until umblical cord is healed, babies should be given only sponge baths with just plain water. Did u all do the same thing?

When we give the actual bath to the baby, which oil can be used and is there any particular brand that u guys recommend.

can johnson's baby's soap be used for the baby?
how often should the baby be bathed?

Thank u for ur time
appreciate ur help.
swapna replied. My baby was born in May, and it was very hot, so, had to give her bath daily, from day one.. That didn't cause any problem. Make sure that, after bath, you dry the area thouroughly, and, then,you can apply some betadin to the area till the umblical cord heals.
And,johnsons baby soap can be used, it is safe.
Hetal replied. its true that water shouldnt be touching umbical cord until its healed...actually you will be surprised to know that babies after birth to until 1 month dont need bath !! i came to know later however so i wont advice you that,,
until my baby umbical cord was healed i used to give him plain water sponge or just a wet dry bath..its enough for babies as young as 15days..then they actually need to bath,,esp if its summer..
i have heard of parents giving bath to their babies every 2 days,,they were feeling safe that way...
the actual bath is best to start at 1month and onwards,,,any edible oil that is pure or good quality os ok to use... you can use j&Jbaby soap nothing wrong but try using j&j baby wash,,its mild..
in addition 2 all nikki said,,dont forget to wipe area bhind ears...
good luck. Nikki replied. Dear Nikitha,

I did give my babies sponge baths when they still had their umbilical cord stumps attached, but I used a tiny bit of Johnson's Baby Wash.

As for the oil, it was suggested to me to use olive oil when massaging the baby....I use the extra light kind

As for the soap, I use Johnson's Baby Wash...I know they have the bar soap for babies, but in my experience, it dried out my baby's skin and most importantly, it's not tear-free.

As for how often the baby should be bathed, in the beginning, the baby should only be bathed every couple of days because the baby won't have as much chance to get dirty like an older baby and since the new baby's skin is so sensitive, frequent baths are not a good idea.

Just clean the baby's face and folds in the neck with a clean wet washcloth between bath days so that there is no smell of spit-up. Of course, since you'll be changing the diapers all the time, the diaper area will be clean.

I hope this helped....if you have any more questions, e-mail me at nmancera at hotmail dot com.

Best of luck!