what are you told about bathing your baby?

[Party-of-five]

the hospital supplied j & j

[Miss E]

Our hospital didn't give any recommendation - we were told at our birthing classes and again when baby was born that it was our decision, but that soaps/shampoos etc weren't necessary. The only thing they gave us was some disposable nappies and cotton balls. Mind you, I'm sure there were soap/shampoo samples in the bounty bag.

I still don't use soap on DS (2.5) when he has a bath, we do shampoo his hair though. I think we started using the shampoo at around 2 or 3 months because he had a full head of thick hair and was a happy chucker which meant it got a bit smelly.

[Eenee]

I had a home birth and the midwife didn't say anything about product use. All she said was "I don't need to show you how to bath her do I? Just don't drown her"

[Traveller]

This is all great, thank you! It may be interesting that in the UK there are national guidelines recommending only water for cleaning for the first 6 weeks because any product can strip the skin of its natural defences. UK Bounty bags no longer contain soap/shampoo samples. I would love to get this policy implemented in Australia and am working with the woman who changed the rules in the UK through her research and campaigning, but sadly our national college who represent midwives is sponsored by J&J so I don't see it happening soon. I am starting on a local level through my hospital and university, I would just be interesting in knowing if anywhere already abides by the evidence and recommends only water for the first 6 weeks so I could contact them and find out how they did it.