I will miss giving sponge baths to a newborn! Next week (at full 3 weeks), our boy will start his real dipped baths. He should’ve started a week ago since his belly button was ready to be submerged the week after he was born but I wanted to enjoy sponge baths for another 2 weeks 😉

I love and enjoy newborn bath time but days pass by so fast that they’ll be over at once. Newborn sponge baths are given by some moms until the 4th week but a must for the first week.

Here are the things I can share about newborn sponge baths. Hope tou get tips for you or your loved ones. Giving this bath is a bit scary at first especially for first time moms or for any first timers but they’ll get the hang of it in no time.

BATH TIME

Prepare the following before bath time:

1. small basin with lukewarm water – not too hot, not too cold
2. soft towel or blanket – that’s water absorbent
3. thermometer – you need to check the temperature of newborn babies before giving sponge baths. Their temperature needs to be at 36.5 degrees celsius or above (no fever of course) since their body is so young and small that it does not easily adjust to bath time temperature.
4. soft wash cloth
5. mild baby cleanser – Sacred is a very gentle cleanser I am using for our boy now. It’s a wonderful new product that I also use on my face everyday. More about this cleanser here
6. padded mat or rubber mat – where you can safely put baby while bathing or where you can dress him/her up. This one’s classic and I remember my parents having this when I was a baby too. We bought our rubber mat from Landmark for less than Php200. It is very durable too.

Bath time:

• Gently undress your baby and wrap him/her in a towel to keep him/her warm. Make sure the aircon and electric fans are turned off. Give your baby a hug and talk to him/her.
• While holding your baby with one hand, clean the face area with water using the washcloth or you may also use cotton balls for this. Clean the ear area (around and behind the ear) but avoid putting water in the ear. Clean the chin and neck area well too.
• Still holding the baby, wrap his body with towel or keep him/her close to your body while washing his/her hair with cleanser using the wash cloth. Dry the hair after rinsing. Babies have a soft spot called fontanels (soft spot since the skulls of babies are not yet closed  and they needed this to pass through the birth canal easily). You may touch and wash this area of the head gently too.
• Wash his/ her body using the wash cloth with the cleanser. Wash the diaper area last.
• Make sure you rinse well the cleanser in all parts of the baby’s body.
• Dry baby very well before dressing him/her up.

DRESS UP TIME

Prepare the following before bath time:

1. cotton buds for babies
2. diaper
3. clothes – we keep a few of these since babies grow up so fast
4. booties – we keep a few of these too (around 7-9 pairs only)
5. mittens – we have a few of these too (around 7-9 pairs only)
6. bonnet – we have around 5-7 only
7. Infant hair brush
8. baby’s swaddle or blanket

Dressing up time:

• Put on baby’s diaper
• Put on his/her clothes
• Put on the mittens and booties
• Clean baby’s ears and belly button using the cotton buds
• Brush and dry well before putting on the bonnet
• Wrap your baby in his/her blanket and/ or swaddle him/ her.
• Give lots of hugs and kisses!

ALL DONE! Your teeny tiny baby’s fresh and clean! 🙂 It will soon be second nature to you if you do this everyday for a couple of days.

Always keep bath time a fun time for your little ones.