Dry skin after newborns (4wk) first bath?

[HazelEagle]

We bathed our newborn (4 weeks old) for the first time yesterday and only used warm water around 37 degrees.

Since this he now has dry skin around his forehead!

Should I be concerned? I thought it was best not to use any bath products initially and to just use warm water.

Any advice would be great!

No there skin will peel several times as it renews and grows water or not water. You should be bathing baby much more than you are

Very normal for newborns but I would be bathing 2-3 times a week minimum and I would use soap! They’re regularly sat in their own poop! Aveeno baby stuff is a really good and inexpensive option. The bubble bath and then the lotion dealt with any dry skin.

We have been top and tailing him with cool boiled water for some time now but first proper bath yesterday. I don’t think it’s too late is it?

We have been using a few drops of baby oil in our 4 week olds bath as his skin was a bit flaky and then moisturising afterwards , it has done the trick

4 weeks seems a very long wait to me.

We’ve been top and tailing for the first few weeks with cooled boiler water which is ok from the NHS.

Why cooled boiled water?!

I didn’t bathe my son until his cord dried up and healed. Since then we’ve just bathed him in warm water. No soap or lotion. Soap is drying and lotion is full of additives. Their skin does dry out and shed over the first few weeks as they adjust to life outside the womb. I occasionally rub some organic avocado oil into his skin if he needs to moisture, all natural and contains vitamin A B and E which is great for skin.

Oh give over. A flannel dipped in warm water can handle poo, along with a good top and tail wash (obviously with a different flannel!).

My youngest had horrific eczema and when we bathed him once a week on our GP's advice, we used an oatmeal bath soak and an oatmeal shampoo that really helped him.

The stuff we bought was from Itchy Baby Co, we tried SO SO SO many different things (Oilatum was good too), but the cream we got from there made a huge difference to his scabby scalp, the poor little thing!

Once a week is fine for a pre mobile baby who isn't getting mucky. I bathed mine at 2 weeks old first. No need to use soap until they're actually dirty. Of course you're cleaning poo off asap anyway.
Use coconut oil OP. Rub it between your hands and it melts. You can do it as a baby massage with baby laid on a thick towel after the bath in a nice warm room, with nappy off. Baby massage classes are available or I'm sure you could Google and learn some techniques. Though really it's nothing more complicated than smoothing coconut oil on your baby and cooing at them!

I bathed my kids every day as part of their bedtime routine. No dry skin.