Bath time for newborn - before feed?

[MoragG]

My DD is now nearly 5 weeks old. We are only bathing her a couple of times a week, and so far we have done this in the early evening before a feed. The only problem with this is that if she has wakened for a feed she is generally not too happy because she is hungry! I'm reluctant to wake her to bath her, as the time between her feeds is still varying (usually around 4 hours, sometimes more sometimes less). However, if we waited until after a feed she would be very sleepy. Any suggestions?

Try bathing with you the skin to skin can help stop them yelling quite so much.

We had the sleepy problem with DS too, but IMHO it's better to stick with bathing after feed. Bathing him before led to major strop!

Can you bathe halfway through (if BFing, after 1 side not both)? I'd feed DS until he was satisfied but still awake, then carry on after bath.

I found it easier to do baths in the morning when my lo's were happier

I did morning/daytime baths when mine were tiny and always in the middle of a feed as MMM did.

One boob before, one after

this is what I do with 4 week old dd

although she's now got really bad wind and can't get to sleep, so what would I know?

I agree with skidoodle. My baby is 13 weeks I am now onto formula and give a small feed before bath and then lots after. She loves her bath which is lovely to see. No point giving a bath if its not a fun part of the day IMHO. My toddler still loves his bath now he is over 2 - the only problem I have now is getting him out of it!

I bath whenever happy as a bit of gentle time at this little age and then as baby gets older, 2-3 months, bath before last feed before bed for the start of a good routine