Infants Bathing.

My next few posts may be about infants. Whatever I am learning, I will be sharing with my readers. So this post is about how to bathe an infant. I remember when I first handled my new born baby, I was so nervous. I felt that the baby is so tiny. I was nervous of anything going wrong, of soap going in his eyes. But now after years, I watched a nurse handling my new born nephew so deftly. I must say I was impressed. Her hands were very gentle yet had firm grip. The first bath given to my nephew was in the room in an ordinary sink. Few pointers need to be kept in mind.

A new-born child should be bathed only in warm water, in a warm room. The best test of its not being too cool, is, the infant being rosy and merry after the bath. A child should like its bath, if it is rightly managed; never startling it with a sudden plunge. A mother had better bathe her own baby, if she is well and strong enough to do so. Start with the head first. Use a gentle baby shampoo. Take a dollop of it in hand and work your way through baby's head. It should be all done in quick and easy movement. Towel dry the baby's head first and now comes the turn of his body. Similarly lather some very gentle baby soap on his body all over quickly while you are holding the baby firmly with one hand and quickly rinse out all the soap with luke warm water. When you are drying the baby, make sure you are also drying between his/her creases. Specially watch for their folds in thighs, tiny little fingers, behind the ears etc.


Quickly swaddle them up in a comfortable wrap.

One error especially to be avoided is, letting a child, once wet all over, sit half in and half out of the water; being thus chilled by evaporation from the uncovered part of the body.

Much soap does not need to be used in bathing infants. If the child be bathed daily, it needs (after its first thorough cleansing) only an occasional employment, unless about the thighs.