First Bath?

[mamama]

Just curious when folks generally first bathe their newborns (and how often?). I don't know if I'm admitting to being a bad Mamma, but we haven't bathed him yet. His skin is rather dry and he doesn't seem dirty at all, so it seemed unnecessary.

[Finding Serenity]

I haven't bathed my baby yet either so don't feel like a bad Mama alone. As for the dry skin, Maytal has it too but I've just used some olive oil on her or some apricot oil with a little massage thrown in for good measure.

[deleria]

I've given Jack a bath twice, but they've been very brief and have only focused on the parts that were smelly He's a bit of a puker, so he starts to smell a bit er, unpleasant, after a few days. If it weren't for that I wouldn't have bathed him yet, though. I love that newborn baby smell!

[faithhopelove]

none here yet

[Keren]

I bathe Keagan every 2-3 days. That is, I take her in the bath and let her play. Sometimes, it is the only thing that calms her down, like driving with some other babies. I don't necessarily wash her every time, but I rinse her off. Sometimes, though, with her pooping everywhere, I feel a need to. I don't think you're a bad momma, either. This is your child, do what you think is right. Wash him when you feel it is time. Good luck.

[leurMaman]

Follow your instincts. You'll know if he needs a bath because he'll smell or have greasy hair. Otherwise, it certainly doesn't hurt him. Even my highly western-medicine oriented pediatrician agrees that people bathe babies too often - and all those soaps can dry skin and strip them of oils that their new skin needs.

If it is a relaxation thing (ie bath then baby massage) or something that daddy is in charge of that helps him bond with baby, that is a good use. Just be sure to massage a little apricot or olive oil in to replenish the skin. You can always just wash them with a little warm water (especially if they spit up a lot - and be sure to wash under the folds of the chin where drool and spit up can collect on the sly and start to smell).

[mama2silas]

Gemma had her first bath last night (and hated it!). I found her skin to be even drier this morning than it was (despite lots of lotion last night), so I think we are definitely going to limit baths to every week to 10 days. Gemma has lots of hair, so she needs a little shampooing every now and again.

Silas loved his baths, and he got a lot since he was a first born!!

[PuppyFluffer]

No bath here and she's 2 weeks and 4 days old. She's does not tend to spit up. I just wash the diaper area with warm water and wash cloths. She is peeling a little around her feet and ankles and I use Weleda's Calendula cream on it.

I don't know when I'll bathe her. I guess when she seems like she needs it, which hasn't happened yet.

[unitytree]

For us bathing is like a sacred ritual. Anytime anyone is out of sorts/sick/hurt we run a warm bath and hop in. Its amazing the healing power of this ritual, it restores balance like little else. Noah loves his baths, floating and stretching, nursing while wiggling his little toes. (we don't always wash in the bath) We bath when we feel to, sometimes every day, sometimes once a week. It really depends whats going on in our lives. We've even had days where we bath twice. We massage with a calendula oil and have little issues with dryness. Anytime there is dryness we use Jason Organics brand 25000 IU vitamin E cream, which takes care of it in a day. I just bought some *Druide* natural baby lotion to try out, haven't yet though, we shall see how we like it. Noah has EXTREAMLY sensitive skin so there are very few products we can use.

[mamama]

Thanks! You're pretty much confirming what I thought, which was to just do what seemed necessary. He doesn't spit up much and I've been wiping his face and bum (of course), so he's really not dirty. And I'm afraid he won't enjoy the bath because he hates getting naked for diaper changes (though we just had three in a row where he didn't cry, so perhaps that's all in the past!). We'll get to it in good time.

[OMama]

We've given our new babe two baths thus far. And he'll be two weeks tomorrow. We are just going by our gut on this one too. I thought he was smelling a little like sour milk and he had a couple of really nasty diapers, and that's why he got a bath yesterday.

The one thing that I would really make sure to wash and dry regularly is the area under the chin, as Mandi suggested. Especially as those fats rolls on the neck increase in size. I still remember when DH and I discovered what was going on in there on DD. I was horrified that I had let that happen to my baby. It was so nasty and stinky!