For the first week or so, you may find it easier to stick to sponge baths, with a clean, warm, wet sponge or wash cloth. Keep the room warm and use a clean warm towel underneath your baby and to dry him off. Wash his face and hands frequently, and thoroughly clean his genital area after each diaper change.  Here are the steps to bathe your little ones.

STEP ONE:

Get everything you need locked and loaded before you put this weeble in water. Get the clothes or jammies, towel, soap, etc. out so you’re not running around with a cold, wet baby looking for things.

STEP TWO:

If you’re not dealing with a messy back poop, feel free to layout a towel and do this sponge bath style and just grab a bowl of warm water.

I should also note that some site advise that you wait until circumcisions and umbilical cords heal (a couple of weeks after birth) before doing anything but sponge baths, but I found just as many sites that gave the go ahead so don’t panic if you get them wet before that time. It looks like they aren’t Gremlins after all. Dang.

Fill the sink, tub, pickle barrel, or whatever you’re bathing them in with warm water. If you’re bringing them in a bath with you, fill the tub beforehand so you’re not acclimatizing yourself to the heat then adding more and more hot so you’re swimming in lava by the time you add in the baby.  You’re shooting in the area of 100 degrees Fahrenheit or 38 degrees Celsius.

As for temperature ducks and thermometers, feel free to get them if it helps put you at ease but they aren’t essential. Some sites say that you have to use your elbow to test the bath but I must have freakish elbows because I really couldn’t tell if it was hot or not there. I found my hand worked fine.

Bath toys are great too but you don’t have to have them and they are just as happy to play with the cup and the washcloth.

STEP THREE:

Get ‘em wet. Some sites go into great detail about gently putting a baby in feet first and easing them in like a great yacht on their maiden voyage but it really isn’t that tricky. Put the baby in the water any way but head first and you should be fine.

Tips and Threats: Don’t leave your baby in the bath unattended…ever. I don’t care if Channing Tatum is ringing the doorbell in his underpants, you either ignore it or scoop that kid up to answer the door and say “Perfect timing, Channing, I was just finishing up so please make yourself comfortable and fold that basket of laundry while you wait” Babies can drown in less than an inch of water in less than 60 seconds so don’t mess around with that.

STEP FOUR:

I liked to add a little wash to a wet facecloth then work my way down from top to bottom. Some friends used to add the wash to the bathwater go from there. Either is fine. I used to use a small, plastic cup to rinse them off and either used a wet washcloth to rinse any soap off their face or held it on their forehead to shield their eyes while rinsing their hair.

STEP FIVE:

Lay the towel out on the floor or counter then lay your baby on it and wrap ‘em up, or toss the towel over your shoulder then lift the baby out, hold them on your chest and fold them into the towel. I used to take them back to their room and lay them on their change table for the lotion rub down, diaper, and jammies

That’s it! Congratulations, you have a clean kid!

Above all, don’t sweat it too much. If your newborn has nothing but sponge baths for the first 6-months of her life, no biggie – she isn’t working in a coal mine. If your baby loves baths, go for it. Water is a ton of good clean fun and baths are a nice way to break up the day.

Either way, have fun, stay safe.