How old was baby when you first gave him/her a bath?

[Melittlebee]

My baby is 2 weeks old, the cord has now come away so wondering if I should bath him or wait a bit longer?
His feet are really dry and flaky so was going to at least moisturise.

3-4 days for DD and DGS, daily if possible after that. They both loved it, so much so we still use B. A. T. H. with DGS or he starts hooting madly and trying to climb in.

Like so many other - the day they were born (all mine were born in the early hours), or possibly the day after, in hospital. The staff showed us how to do it.
Sounds as if it is another thing advice has changed over though.

Hours after they were born; yet another thing that has changed in the decades since I had mine. They were bathed within hours, slept on their fronts, were given cooled boiled water between feeds, slept alone... 'Tis a wonder they survived.

knittedfairies and why did you do all if those things? I imagine it was because midwives etc suggested you do so.

Try not to knock new mothers because they follow the advice they are given it's quite a cheap shot to take.

Mississippilessly, I interpreted her post as wry/humorous, not knocking new mothers. Not everything is a personal attack. Seriously.

The day after in hospital. A nurse showed us how to do it

In hospital at 2 days old

They were bathed within hours, slept on their fronts, were given cooled boiled water between feeds, slept alone... 'Tis a wonder they survived

But some didn’t, hence why the official advice has changed.

It used to be from day one years ago , and we were given zinc oxide powder to dry the belly button out . I think it is whatever you are comfortable with , because health professionals chop and change every few years anyway .

I waited for the vernix to be absorbed. Had the first bath after 2 weeks with water only.
No need use products I found they dried the skin and made it scaly

@Kokeshi123

I didnt take it as one? I took it as a sarky comment in response to people not bathing their babies. Which it was.

Hope that's ok.

jessycake my mum kept asking me about powder, I realise now that's what she meant

I think mine all had a bath at a day or so old, they needed the blood washing out of their hair.

DS had his first bath in the hospital, a midwife helped us as we were totally clueless!

He then had one about 4/5 days later i think, once his cord was off.

DS was a month, DD 2 weeks. Water only until 1/ 18 months for DS. We'll do the same with DD.

Both children the day they left neonatal unit - they had a bath and got put in their going home outfits. Ds1 was six weeks and ds2 5 weeks. I should have been 36 pregnant. Prior to that they were top n tail cleaned by nurses.

When DD was born almost 29 years ago you were in hospital for 5 days (first time mothers) and shown how to look after them. They were bathed the next day by the nurse, showing me how to do it
DS age 19...I was in and out! Gave birth at 9am, home 5 hours later. No mention of not bathing him though

People are complaining about the blood in their hair but I found that the little blood matted hair smelled amazing!

This has come as a total revelation to me. When DS was born people kept going on about the 'newborn smell' and I felt a bit sad that I couldn't smell it because he smelled so strongly of blood (and despite being one of the lucky ones who got a huge high of endorphins and an overwhelming feeling of 'falling in love' in the first few days I couldn't help but feel a bit queasy about the idea that he smelt like my innards). I didn't realise that that was the smell people were on about!

*knittedfairies and why did you do all if those things? I imagine it was because midwives etc suggested you do so.

Try not to knock new mothers because they follow the advice they are given it's quite a cheap shot to take.*

I wasn't knocking new mothers at all, merely trying to show that the advice from midwives has changed over the years. No more to it than that.

LisaSimpsonsbff YES! All I could think was 'DS smells like my insides'. I hadn't realised that's the new born smell every one talked about, I just knew I didn't like it. Only when I had DS did I realise.

My older daughter had her first bath in hospital les than an hour after she was born.

Every day from day they were born - midwives told us to. - but a long time ago. No skin problems as a result thankfully

In hospital with my DC1 then daily after that
DC2 didn't get a bath in hospital as we opted for a 6 hr discharge but again the day they came home then daily since.
Both are now teenagers so I appreciate the advice we were given will be out of date.
I know they weren't dirty enough to need a bath but it was just part of their bedtime routine

We were told a few years ago to wait - the vernix is good for their skin and they're not dirty. We waited about 2 weeks I think for a full bath.