When to bath before or after feed?

[slippeddisc]

I'm a first time mum to my three week old daughter. Have had conflicting advice on when to bath in order to establish a good night time routine. Some say bath around 5.30 pm then feed then settle for night. I found that my lo (who isn't too keen on baths yet anyway) is starving if I bathe beforehand and screams the whole time. Others say feed first, leave 15 mins to digest then bath, but this way lo is too sleepy after feeding, and it seems cruel to strip her off and wake her up by bathing her. Any advice welcome from mums who have had success with their methods, Thanking you in advance.

At that age I didn't really bother bathing any of mine as a daily routine. It seemed a bit pointless to do it every day as they hadn't done anything to get mucky! I bathed every couple of days to freshen them up. I think it is great as part of the bedtime routine eventually, but I wouldn't really be worrying about this yet. Just try a few baths a week when she is in the right mood for one, to help her get used to it. A routine will take hold by itself as she gets a bit older.

My advice after having just gone through all of his myself, is to try not to worry about establishing a nighttime routine just yet and bath your baby when it's a relaxing and calm time for you.

When my dd was a newborn (she's now now 8months) I usually bathed her mid-morning- I just didn't seem to have the time (or energy) in the evening.

I only started doing the evening bath/ routine thing when she started to sleep through the night at around 3 months (lucky me! )

With my pfb I gave a small feed (5-10mins) at about 5.30ish, then bath, then give another feed at about 6.30. Dc2 didn't have baths until she was about 5 months. I just washed her quickly and fed her whilst pfb was in the bath. fwiw she had much better skin which I'm sure is down to her not getting washed too much.

I think at that stage we fed at about 5 pm, bath at about 6, then last feed at 6.30, and in bed for 7.

It sounds very rigid reading it back, but times were flexible.

My ds responded really well to it.

You really don't need to bath her every day. If you and she are not enjoying it much I'd knock it on the head unless she's had a vomathon or a pootastrophe and needs a soak.

Alternatively, bath her earlier in the day when she's awake but not hungry (hmmmm... been a fair few months since I had a three-week-old but I'm now wondering if there are any times when they're awake but not hungry.)

I think at three weeks when dd had a bath it was really little more than a dunk in an oversized mixing bowl. Took minutes. Dry. Feed. Sleep.

DS1 had a boob before and a boob after, iirc.

DS2 didn't even have a bath till he was 6 weeks old and then only sporadically till 3mo. He has the most gorgeous skin of any child I know - no soap on it even now at 23m. Luckily he loves having his legs tickled, so I get to stroke his smooooooooth skin loads

Or get your DP to hand her to you while you're in the bath. Have a cuddle and a soak - she might enjoy that more. You can even feed her in the bath that way!

I always had a routine- it was called the 3 Bs

Bath
Boob
Bed

Gradually it changed to

Bath
Bottle
Bed

and then as time went on it changed to

Bath
Book
Bed

I have to say I have 3 DDs and treated them all the same and so far so good (eldest one is now 13, and I have never had any problems with their bed time routine. Plus it got to the point that I didnt need always to have a 3 Bs routine!

I used to dunk DS2 in the bathroom basin when I bathed him till he was about 6mo.

Agree with the others.
No need to bath your DD every day and really wouldnt worry about (or even consider) a routine at 3 weeks either, it is very early days...
With both DS1 and DS1 we got into a gentle routine-ish at around 6 months, certainly not any earlier.
That said, I always did/do feed before bed, even if that meant a feed before and after bath/wash in the first few weeks/months.

Agree with the others.
No need to bath your DD every day and really wouldnt worry about (or even consider) a routine at 3 weeks either, it is very early days...
With both DS1 and DS1 we got into a gentle routine-ish at around 6 months, certainly not any earlier.
That said, I always did/do feed before bed, even if that meant a feed before and after bath/wash in the first few weeks/months.