Best Ways To Give a Baby Their First Bath in the Tub

After you are home and getting settled with your baby, it can be very daunting as you know baby's first bath is coming. The umbilical cord is still healing and you're worried about how to hold the baby while giving your bundle of joy his or her first bath. First of all, do not submerge your baby in water until the umbilical cord stump falls off. If you do, it can cause infection due to moisture getting into it. Plus, you don't the umbilical cord area to come into contact with any soaps that could cause your little bundle irritation or pain until it's done healing. Now you need to pick a baby bath tub. The most commonly used ones used to be the blue plastic ones with a thin foam layer. I have used these ones in the past, they get the job done but I'm going to give you some alternatives that I have found are much more comfortable for baby and much easier for you to maneuver.

Most parents pick out there baby's tub while their bundle of joy is floating around happily in Mommy's tummy. I would definitely recommend this so you don't have to worry about it after your baby arrives. I would recommend both of the Fisher Price bathing tubs for your baby. The difference is like night and day to the outdated blue plastic foam ones. It's very comfortable for your baby. You just fill up the bottom, lie him/her on it and they are gently submerged into the water. Having used the plastic blue ones with my three older ones, I would never use it again after using Fisher Prices Aquarium blue bath tub. If you have a girl they also offer the Sparkles version in pink.

As if you're not nervous enough, when new parents put their baby in their bath tub for the first time the screams that follow make you think you're doing something wrong. Don't worry, this is absolutely normal ! Have everything ready for your baby's first bath because you never, ever leave your baby in the tub even for a couple seconds to get a towel or diaper. So have a clean set of clothes, clean diaper, socks, and towel ready. A lot of people like the cute baby towels with a hood on them, I've found them to be a nuisance. It's much easier to just use a big fluffy towel because you can wrap them up quickly before they get to cold and it calms them down because you can hold them close as they are drying off.

Make sure to make the water warm, not to hot. Once your bundle of joy is in the bath you'll want to support the head and neck. This is especially true if you're using one of the plastic type baby baths because they sit your baby up quite high. He/She doesn't have enough control of the head and neck yet. If you're using a baby tub like the Fisher Price ones above you don't have to worry about supporting the neck or head because your baby will be lying flat. Gently pour water on your baby, apply soap to a baby washcloth (these make it really easy,) and rinse. For the hair, squeeze the water out of your washcloth and wet baby's hair with it. Put a pea size amount on the washcloth and get it sudsy. Wipe it on baby's head and then rinse it off the same way by putting the wash cloth in the water to get rid of the shampoo and squeeze out the excess water and wipe the head until the shampoo is out. You may have to rinse out the wash cloth a few times to get it all off baby's head. Then you're done, lay the towel on the floor, pick up baby and put him/her right in the middle and wrap up quickly and pick them up and hold them. Dry the hair off quickly and leave a little bit of towel over the top of the head for warmth.