Did you know it's best to bathe babies in water alone?

[mears]

As a midwife I get hacked off seeing the advert that says 8/10 midwives use Johnsons baby products ( unfortunately a survey by the Royal College of Midwives has found out that is true!).

Anyway - I get annoyed at colleagues and mums giving baby's baths full of bubbles as it has been shown that the use of these products disrupts the balance of the skin, increasing the incidence of eczema and skin rashes etc.

The advice is that babies should be bathed in water only for at least the first two weeks ( including hair) to allow the skin to continue formation of the protective mantle post delivery.

In 'Practical Parenting' magazine this month mums are advised to take baby bath and shampoo into hospital with them as part of essential items. Not only are they an unnecessary expense they are potentially damaging to tender skins.

How many mums thought these products were essential?

Message withdrawn

You know what Mears Im so glad you brought this up. My son has had a rash on his sides and a couple of patches on the legs for the past few days. I made an appt to have him checked out tomorrow. I just realized I used bubble bath for the first time those two days and this may be the problem. I never used them with my daughter because of the female anatomy (infections) but never thought of rashes. Im gonna stop using it and hopefully the rash will go away. My dh just said he thinks it could be something else but Im not sure. Hes 20 mos and never had any kind of rash like this. I hope hes not developing eczema. It kind of looks like a heat rash. Thankyou for bringing this up.

Very timely post, Mears. I saw that advert tonight on telly ( perhaps you did too?) and shouted out at the telly "that's because the hospitals get it free!" (Please correct me if this is not the case)
My ds was given his first bath in hospital and the midwife who bathed him (not that I am taking back all the nice things I said about midwives in my posting above) squirted about a teacupful of Johnstons baby bath into a small basin of water. You could hardly see him for bubbles.
Looking back I can't believe I did not say anything.
Actually I dislike the fact my baby was bathed by someone else in hospital ( right next to my bed)at all. I would rather have done it myself but the authoritative way the midwives did with all 3 babies made me think it must be some sort of official hospital procedure for a professional to do the first bath. Am I right?

Only the special care babies were bathed by staff when mine were in hospital. Occasionally if there was an ante-natal class they would borrow a baby to use for the lesson in baby bathing, but only with the mother's permission. My hospital did use Johnson's bath products (which came free from the bounty packs) but recommended cotton wool and water for nappy changing. I have always preferred to use baby lotion and cotton wool for nappy changing but never went overboard with the bath products. I also never ever used baby talc, I still have some from DS1, 9 years on!

I brought a bar of non-perfumed, hypo allergenic soap into hospital with me to bathe my son with after he was born as that's all I ever use on my skin. The midwife doing the bathing had the nerve to yell (i'm not exagerating) at me after 40 hours of labor followed by a c-section that I should have read the instructions more carefully about what to bring in and how was she supposed to bathe my son with a bar of soap! Luckily I had my husband and mother with me to tell her to shut up.
I only sponged him clean for the first few weeks and then after that gave him baths in plain water using soap to clean the necessary bits. I now use johnsons baby bath very sparingly on his dirty bits in the shower (so he isn't sitting in his own dirt).

I was given a carrier bag full of Johnson's stuff by a very nice rep after dd was born. Dd had a bath every day, as she seemed to enjoy it, it helped with the "colic" or whatever it was and we wanted to establish a bedtime regime... We have phots going back to the first week that show her with a nasty rash on her face, which we were eventually given various steroid potions for, which helped, but as soon as we reduced them, the rash came right back, as bad as ever. My SIL, whose 3 children all have eczema, suggested cutting out bubble bath (as it contains sodium laureth sulphate, as potent foaming agent), and using an emollient instead.We now bath her in water with just a dribble of Oilatum (not the dose that is suggested on the bottle-too greasy-might drop her!), and have not used any steroid for the past month!

All you expectant Mumsnetters out there- heed the wise mears-babies do not NEED bubbles!!!

Mears, you will be pleased to hear that although I did take a bottle of "paediatrician-approved" hypoallergenic, fragrance-free etc stuff into hospital with me, the fab staff (midwives and assistants) on the ward all to a woman told me plain water was fine and much better for newborns. They were so kind - our son's first bath was done for us, but on a "this is how to do it" basis and as I was still on a drip and dh had had no sleep we really appreciated their help.
We find that at 3 he is OK with the odd bubble bath, but a midwife friend uses Urtekram liquid soap on her boys who have a tendency to dermatitis.

PS- babies do not need perfume either!

Jasper,
Traditionally midwives do ( or did) the first bath in order to have a really good examination of the baby to ensure no abnormalities were missed ( this has already been done in the L/S but it is like a second check). More often or not the midwives do the check and an auxiliary does the bathing. You are quite right though, mums should be asked if they want to do it. I think hospital staff think they are doing mums a favour as they are 'recovering' from the birth.
Mind you, I have to say I enjoy bathing babies and if we have a baby in the observation unit post C/S that is unsettled I will bath it - purely in water of course - as they tend to settle better.

What marketing won't get us to try and buy.... it's just amazing ! I bought my 2nd bottle of baby shampoo ever when DS turned 2 1/2 !!!! We do not wash his hair everyday and when we do we use a drop and it foams ! Also we use one from Green People without any perfume.
And BTW we have never bought baby soap... he doesn't sweat enough to require that we use a smelly thing to wash him... water is fine ! I've just come back from a 2 weeks holiday and it was hot and sunny (sorry for all out there in the rain ) - so yes we used soap because he was out all day and running + we used sun block but it was for that reason that we used soap.

Mears, you are so right.

Many years ago, as a junior copywriter ( long before I had babies of my own), I worked on the Johnson & Johnson baby products account. I remember how carefully I had to choose my words. No medical claim or tangible benefit could be suggested. The products are intended to appeal to the emotions.

Fundamentally, this means they are for the parent's benefit. They give a perfumed ooomph to that lovely new baby smell, (if that's what you like) and also reassure parents that their freshly bathed baby is as clean and as cared for as they can possibly be.

If I remember rightly, the claim that 8 out of 10 midwives choose Johnsons products means Johnsons asked midwives if they liked to use baby products. Of the small proportion who did, most used Johnsons. But of course, many midwives don't recommend baby products at all. So the claim represents a very selective sample of those asked!

I suppose baby bath is useful for tempting a very reluctant toddler into the water. This situation doesn't arise with babies - and I always used plain water to bathe mine.

What about getting all the blood and stuff off the hair, out of the creases - the midwife at my hospital put a tiny amount of bubble bath in the water and used it all over dd's hair and body.

When I showed her my huge bottle of Johnsons top to toe wash she laughed and said 'don't bother buying that c**p, you'll still have it when she's 10 years old!' I never did use it and ended up chucking it away when she was about 8 months old.

Enid,

Blood and bits still come off with plain water. It just takes a bit of patience.

All I bought for dd prior to her birth was a bar of natural baby soap and a pot of nappy balm made with essential oils, so I was horrified to find out in hospital that she'd been bathed in stinky gunk. I mean, can anything smell sweeter than a new baby? I understand that babies naturally smell sweet to help with bonding. The nappy balm was and is brill -from Green Baby- and we only started to use the soap once dd started to stick her hands and feet where she shouldn't during nappy changes.

The midwives scrubbed all the blood & muck off when they dried the babies off (using towels) at the birth. I was surprised to learn that US hosptials (apparently) bathe newborns.

DS is 2yo+8 months... and I still hardly ever use soap on him. I can't see the point when water alone will get him clean. Both baby & toddler need more soap & baths in summer, from playing outside, but in winter, we only put them in the bath about 2x/month (they also goes swimming 2-3x/month, though!).

Your post reminded me of something, zebra. My husband was told me he'd read that it's bad to bathe babies and toddlers daily. It's not good for their immune system development and encourages skin problems. Anyone know if this is this true?

Dd has had a bath almost every day of her life. She loves it, I love it, it calms her before bed and she is hardly ever ill and has no skin problems. I mainly use cheap crappy bubble bath and my own shampoo, but sometimes put a bit of Aveeno oil in if her skin gets dry. I can understand daily bathing might be a bit much if your child suffers from a pre-existing skin disorder, but I can't really see why it would damage the immune system. She gets pretty filthy grubbing around in the garden so its not as though she's living in a bubble

I just took my ds for his appt for the rash he had and it seems to have probally been the new soap I bought. Lever 2000. I bought it because I like the way it lathers. I was told (which I have used before) to use Dove bars since it is a natural bar on my ds (20mo).

Enid - it is not daily bathing that is the problem. Bubblebath etc. in the first 2 weeks of life disrupt the formation of the skins acid - base mantle which is the skin's protective barrier. Bathing in water alone does not disrupt this process. My babies had terrible rashes and I wouldn't be at all surprised if it was down to using unnecessary perfumed products.As with everything there will be babies whose skin can get away with it. A friend of mine who has a gap between her first 2 babies and second 2 did not use perfumed products second time around. Her 2 younger children did not suffer the same skin complaints as the first 2. They had that terrible face rash in the first few weeks as mine did. She has just returned to work as a midwife and has a mission to rid the wards of Johnsons. I do use bubblebath now frequently with no ill effects.

My third child was born at home in Holland, and was not bathed immediately after birth (I think he was about 20 hours old when he had his first bath) Here, parents are advised to bath babies in water only, for the first 2 weeks. The blood and fluids after the birth were wiped away with a new cotton nappy. Yes, his hair was still a bit bloody the next day, but he smelled so wonderful and so new, like the newbrn he was. It was beautiful.

Our third child was born at home in Holland, and was not bathed immediately after birth (I think he was about 20 hours old when he had his first bath) Here, parents are advised to bath babies in water only, for the first 2 weeks. The blood and fluids after the birth were wiped away with a new cotton nappy. Yes, his hair was still a bit bloody the next day, but he smelled so wonderful and so new, like the newborn he was. It was beautiful.

double post - sorry! A bit carried away in the olfactory department !!

My ds wasnt bathed at the hospital when born just wiped over and dh dressed him. We didnt bath him until we got home. I would have hated it if someone from the hospital had bathed him before we could. Must admit used abit of johnsons in his bath. We didnt use it often or for long. He did development ezcema so dont know if there was a small link or not but will be using just water second time round.

Tigermoth - no, it is not bad to bathe babies daily. In fact, my ds has eczema, and we have been advised to bathe him at least once a day, using emollients, which can be used in place of soaps. Bathing apparently cleans the skin of unfriendly bacteria which can cause the eczema to flare up and become infected.

Having said that, now his skin is under control, I am using J & J products, because I love the smells. We are very rigid about using Unguentum Merck on him after his bath though, as this is a fantastic emollient.

Perhaps I should try bathing him in water only. It seems that many people on this thread swear by this, and it might clear up any remaining dry patches he has. I'm afraid that I have been taken in by the marketing people, and I have been conditioned to love that 'Johnson's baby' smell.