Haven’t bathed my baby yet

[newmum234]

I’ve been very ill in hospital since the birth of my first child two weeks ago and have only recently returned home.

I’m worried as the baby has only been top and tailed twice so far since birth. Do I need to give them a bath ASAP and if so, how many do newborns need? Could I have caused any harm by not giving a bath yet?

Hello OP, congratulations on the new arrival and sorry you've been unwell. Baby will be fine I'm sure. In my opinion they need a top and tail each day to clean nappy area and a bath a couple of times a week and more often if they have a very messy nappy. Give them a bath as soon as you can but don't worry about it too much

Sounds like you need some help, I take it you are a single parent. did the midwife not visit? Have they stopped all that with covid?

I didn't bath mine for first 2-3 weeks either, I just made sure they were topped and tailed with water and their hands were wiped.

I only bathed them about once a week.

Congratulations on your newborn

Didn't bath mine either for at least a couple of weeks - this was on the advice of the midwife.

We have a very strange relationship with 'hygein' in the modern day. As long as the nappy area is cleaned up at each change and keep those neck folds as clean and dry as possible. We only bathed once or twice a week for the first few months - or when we had an explosive nappy!

I hope you are feeling better now and getting to spend some lovely time with your baby.

Your baby will be fine, bath him when you feel up to it, most people only start bathing there baby every day when they are trying to get them in a routine for bed time.

Enjoy you baby, and I hope you feel better in yourself soon, they and get as much rest as you can.

I'm sorry you've had a tough time. My little one is 9 weeks and I didn't bath her until her cord fell off at 3 weeks. I was told it was better to wait I now bath her 2-3 times a week depending. It's better for their skin in the first few weeks not to bath. And better to wait until no cord.

Same as PPs my HV advised me not to bathe DD until she was at least ten days old. Two weeks is fine.

A couple of tepid (body temp) baths a week, no soap or shampoo, are fine. Topping and tailing is all they really need, to keep their tops and tails clean.

Congratulations!

I didn’t give dd a bath for almost a month, waited until cord was off and healed and the vernix had come off of its own accord.

I did top and tail daily but needed help from DH as I was struggling with caesarean recovery and moving.

Once we started bathing it’s usually been twice a week.

Took me 27 days to bathe baby for the first time :) She had her third bath at six weeks!

Just keep your baby's neck and bottom clean with cotton wool and water/wipes and bathe her when you feel like 'now is the time'.

Hope you and baby are okay; give it two weeks and that'll all feel like a million years ago.

I think I win
6 months for mine.
Ill from birth and in hospital till 6 months old after having a liver transplant.

I didn’t bath my baby for 2 weeks, just topped and tailed because allergies run on my DH’s side and I read somewhere that delaying cleaning the birth products makes them less likely to present as exzcema.

It's fine, please don't worry! Doing the first bath is pretty stressful anyway, so even leaving aside baby factors it's a good idea to wait until you feel up to it. The tail end gets cleaned up when you do nappy changes in any case, and if baby were super-stinky in any other area you'd have noticed by now!

you’ve done really well, it’s much better NOT to bath newborns too soon. :)

"it’s much better NOT to bath newborns too soon"

There's no evidence for this at all.

Bathe your baby as often as you like.

Neck and underarm creases can get grotty and sore, so do check those.

I waited until my babies cords fell off which wasn't until 2 weeks. I only bathed them once a week to begin with. I didn't use any baby products until after 6 weeks (only water).
My girls are now 14weeks and I bath them twice a week.

At this age they aren't really getting dirty enough to need a bath more regularly.

Top & tail every day and bath every 3-4 days. They can get a bit gunky round the neck with milk dribbles so it's good to give them a proper wipe regularly.

Thanks for the advice - I will try to do a bath tonight. Cord has fallen off but is it ok to get the cord stump wet?

If you don't feel up to it then don't feel like you have to. When I had DC1 they said no baths until cord is off which was at least 2 weeks. With the others they said it didn't matter about the cord or stump getting wet. If you have a flannel then wet it a little and wipe in the neck folds as from my experience this is where babies tend to get the muckiest.

Still haven’t managed to fit this in on top of everything else - I must try tonight.

Really don't worry. Just get a damp flannel and wipe baby's creases and folds as you change her. She doesn't need a bath.

Honestly don't stress about it. My son didn't have a first bath for a long time. But I used to top and tail a lot. To ensure he was clean. As long as u keep on top of it with top and tail baby will be fine . Try and relax.

Don't bother with the bath
It's a faff and they don't enjoy it at that age
Wash in skin creases with a flannel though every couple of days

I hardly ever bathed my babies, just kept them clean and bathed maybe once a week or fortnight. Bathe baby when you're ready but don't worry even if it takes a month, it's not like he or she is rolling around in muck.

@youngatheart76 I have to disagree with that. It was the only thing that would settle my newborn