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The Care of Babies: Bathing

Bathing. Give the baby a tub bath every morning, preferably at a certain regular hour. A clean baby is happier and healthier than a dirty baby. A daily bath helps the baby to stand heat and, in hot weather, it may be well to bathe the baby twice or three times a day. Never bathe within an hour after feeding.

A good plan is to give the baby its bath, then its bottle and then a nap.

The first full bath should not be given for a week or ten days after birth. The water should not be below blood heat, which is between 98° and 99°. Or, better, make the water one or two degrees warmer than your own or the baby's temperature. If the infant is vigorous, the temperature may gradually be reduced to 95° at six months, to 90° at one year of age, and to 80° at the age of two and a half years.

Every mother should have a clinical thermometer. This can be obtained at any drug store. If you have one, use it when preparing the baby's bath. If not, test the water by putting your face in it. Never test it by the arm or hand. Until the infant is able to sit up unsupported, it should have only a sponge bath, but do not use a sponge. They cannot be kept clean. Use instead pieces of soft old toweling, or cheese cloth which can be balled up in the hand. As soon as the baby can sit up, obtain a small bath tub or use a wash tub. If the water is neither too cold nor too warm, the child will always enjoy its bath. The reason that some children do not like Bathing the baby. the bath is because they have been put into water that is too hot or too cold. Remember that an infant does not react quickly from a cold bath and is depressed or injured by water that seems only slightly cool to an adult. Children's skin is very sensitive and the baby must not be permitted to take cold. It should be bathed in a room warmed to a temperature of at least 75° and carefully guarded against drafts. A cold bath indoors or outdoor fresh water or surf bathing, should not be permitted under three years.

A child of two years may be allowed to run about on the sand with its bare feet and occasionally step in the water, but much harm has been done by immersing young babies in cold water. It is a good plan to sponge the neck and feet of a baby over twelve months old with cold water at night and follow with brisk rubbing. This in many cases will prevent its taking cold.