How to Bathe Your Newborn for the First Time

A tiny individual has joined your family and you naturally ask in great excitement, “When is the newborn baby bathed?” You are looking for an answer to the question. What could be more natural than wanting your baby, which smells so good, to be clean and healthy all the time, right? Here we are, we will be giving answers to your questions about this issue, keep reading and follow us.

When Can You Give Your Newborn a Bath?

The sweet excitement of bathing the little member of the family for the first time is often accompanied by intense anxiety. Taking a piece of your soul in your hand, feeling its smell and soft skin often brings with it the anxiety of harming it. But you have to put all these worries aside and wash that sympathy ball anyway. “When exactly should you wash?” or “How do I find the right timing?” Questions like these must be floating in your head, right?

Although we are adorned with various cultural codes about when a baby should be bathed, we should not stray too far from the light of science. Many scientific studies show us that giving a baby a bath as soon as it is born is not a suitable choice. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that the baby’s first bath should be done 24 hours after birth at the earliest. If this should be brought forward for various reasons, it should be stated that before 6 hours is definitely not recommended.

It has been demonstrated by various studies that various difficulties occur in balancing the body temperature in babies who are bathed immediately after birth, and conditions such as hypothermia are frequently observed. In addition, it is among the results of studies that early washing causes results such as a decrease in the baby’s blood sugar (hypoglycemia).

Some problems such as skin dryness, difficulties in bonding with the mother and difficulties that may arise during breastfeeding can be mentioned among the other disadvantages of early washing that should be considered in this context.

How Often Should a Newborn Baby Be Bathed?

After what we have explained above about when a newborn baby will be bathed for the first time, let’s now focus on how often it should be washed afterwards.

If you are a clean and tidy parent, you should already be cleaning your baby’s face, neck and sensitive areas after changing diapers and feeding activities with various cleaning products. In cases where these are done, the baby will not need to be bathed every day. If we do not take into account minor changes and extraordinary situations, it will be sufficient to bathe babies three times a week in their first year.

Because babies don’t sweat like us adults and they don’t get dirty enough to need washing. Washing more often may result in undesirable conditions such as skin dryness as well as not being necessary. Therefore, if there is no extraordinary situation, it would be appropriate for the washing period to remain within this framework.

How to Bathe a Newborn Baby?

“When is the newborn baby bathed?” We started with the question of how often to bathe, and we shed light on many issues. Now we intend to answer the questions that may come to your mind about how to wash the cute little one. Let’s go ahead and try to take a closer look at what needs to be considered when bathing the newborn baby.

Newborn babies are washed with a more careful method called sponge bath until the umbilical cord falls off completely. After the umbilical cord has completely fallen off and closed, you will not have any hindrance to wash it by immersing it in water. This method, called a sponge bath, does not make any fundamental difference other than immersing your baby in water.

It would be appropriate to make some preparations before the bath and start the work that way. For this purpose;

• It has a flat floor and is a very warm environment. A table or bench can be chosen as a flat floor and baby-friendly materials such as blankets and towels can be laid on it.
• In addition, it would be very appropriate to have the clothes you plan to wear with a soft towel and changing cloth ready right next to you.
• It is extremely important that you take part in an order where one hand is always free and safety measures are established in accordance with the environment.
• A small tub and temperature-controlled warm water. The recommended temperature is usually 40-45 C.
• After all these preparations are completed, undress your baby and wrap him in a towel and lay him on his back in the area you have prepared.
• During bathing, ensure that the body temperature of the little one is preserved by opening only the area you are washing and keeping other areas closed.
• Wet and wring the cloth or sponge you will use for washing, and wipe it with light touches, first starting from the face and neck areas. In the meantime, it would be appropriate to wipe the eyelids from the inside out.

• Care should be taken to use plain water or a mild, moisturizing baby soap to clean your baby’s body.
• Should clean under the arms, around the neck and behind the ears carefully and softly,
• In addition, it should be ensured that the wrinkles in the diaper area are cleaned.
• Don’t be intimidated by the flaking seen on the heads of many babies. You do not need to make an extra effort to remove flaking during washing. This condition often disappears on its own in a short time.
• Immediately after washing your baby in this way, you should wrap it with a clean, soft and warm towel and dry it with light touches.

While dressing processes after bathing are not a significant problem in cases where the temperature of the room is suitable, it is very important to act extremely quickly in cold environments in order to prevent the baby from getting cold.

Let’s end the topic we started with by giving a hint about bathroom fun. Since your baby is not very interested in the environment in the first months, he will not need bath toys. However, in the following months, acquiring various toys that will attract his attention and attention and using them during the bath will mean that you and your little one will have a more enjoyable time alone. Have fun…