what are you told about bathing your baby?

[BeautifulMadness]

We use j&j. The yellow bottle. Can't remember the name of

Just always used it.

[e_p]

we birthed at home with an independent midwife - she specifically said to avoid products and said even a lot of the 'natural' and 'organic' baby products still contain nasties. We knew this already but it was good to have her support.

Bub is bathed in warm water and a few drops of olive oil if his skin is looking dry.

We had planned to wait a few days after birth before we bathed him...but when we woke up the morning after he was born (he slept wrapped up in a blanket in bed with us) he was *covered* from his waist to his knees in meconium and there was no way what was coming off without a bath!

The antenatal classes we went to didn't cover bathing, except to say there's no need to bath the baby straight away...they were independent classes run by a childbirth educator.

[onthefly]

on midwife told us to use J&J - blerg. the others told us to use nothing, or olive oil. We used nothing and only started using our chem-free soap stuff from 5-6 months (when they started getting mucky). In fact, with DS, we were in such a mess as he was so unsettled we often didn't bathe him at all in the first few months.

[sepata]

Hospital gave us j&j but we didn't use it cos my doula told me not to but, bubs had very dry, crackly skin so we ended up using a moisturising milk based one when we got home, because the plain water was making it worse

[*TripleJ*]

i got told nothing for 6 months just water did that for both of them we use moogoo

[Ladylove]

This is really interesting. I'm expecting my first and had no idea that it was best not to use anything for the first six weeks. I guess it would be different for things like nappy rash, dermatitis or cradle cap etc though?

[MissEm]

This is really interesting. I'm expecting my first and had no idea that it was best not to use anything for the first six weeks. I guess it would be different for things like nappy rash, dermatitis or cradle cap etc though?

Nappy rash can be lessened with fresh air and some corn flour to keep it dry when wearing a nappy. Dermatitis is generally caused by something, more often than not its a soap (in my case and various other peoples cases of whom I know) and cradle cap can be sorted with bicarb and water made into a paste.
Honestly, there is no need for soaps and the likes. Water is all you need to clean your skin and hair. Skin and hair produce natural oils for a reason, soaps just strip those oils away.
If you really feel the need to use something to wash with, opt for something without soap and that is closer to nature. Olive oil is good, as is grape seed oil. MooGoo has various products that don't contain soaps and chemicals. Or there is goat milk soaps that you can buy online or from health food shops.

Their skin is so new and delicate, why ruin it by using artificial cr@p?

[Maruschke]

We were told that all we would need is warm water. We still pretty much only use warm water (sometimes bubble bath goes in) and we use baby shampoo on her hair.

[~TT40~]

Every hosptial I've worked at has supplied stuff, mainly J&J.

I tell new parents though that they don't need to use anything for the first 6weeks but water, and then after the bath if bub has dry skin to rub some oil (like a massage). but I dont know of any other midwives who say that. (that i have worked with)

I also tell parents no bath for 48hours, even though we comprimise and come to 24 hours (which is what other midwives say)

[Kimbles01]

We use just a touch of sorbolene in the water, as using anything else or just water left her with dry skin.

We tried rubbing in sorbolene after baths but that just made DD mad, so it was easier to add some to the water instead!

[Taurean]

They didn't bath DD until she was about 24 hours - that's roughly the standard timeframe for newborns at my hospital by the sounds of things.

J&J products were readily available. It was my choice to use them or not. The midwife who demonstrated bathing to us said it wasn't necessary, water is adequate. I did use the products though as A. I personally love the smell of baby shampoo/bubbles and B. I personally had nothing against J&J products.

Once we were home, I only used Gaia products on DD and still do. I've used Aveeno a few times but generally it's Gaia.

DD has never reacted to Gaia nor did she to the J&J in hossi. She has only reacted to a cheap supermarket bubble bath which was in her cousin's bath recently.

[Gigi]

my midwife told me to use nothing but water, to clean my baby, for the first 12 months. i was skeptical this would be enough, but it was. We started using very mild organic personal care products, after the 12 month mark. My bub had minimal chuck ups, so i wasn't challenged, with the water only cleaning.

my planned home water birth, evolved into a ambulance/every intervention/emerg c-section. The vermix i wanted left on my nb, was wiped off immediately, i think she got a bath in the hospital (we were there for six days) and there were J and J products everywhere. I thought that meant the hospital approved of them and they must be safe.

i used J and J baby wipes on my baby's bottom for nappy change time, for the first six weeks of her life.
(i figured, baby steps, i was using 100% cloth nappies, i thought going the extra step with water and facewashers, would be too much for me, one thing at a time).
The same six weeks she had a red bottom and nappy rash.
I had heard of, and then tried out "facewashers and water" idea, and immediately her bottom stopped being red and the nappy rash disappeared.

I then found out about perfumes, SLS, parabens, all sorts of ingredients in products sold to be put on newborn skin. This was a fast track education for me, i totally changed what i had in the house for her, threw heaps out and started buying simpler products and really reading the ingredient labels. Stuff i always had MEANT to get around to, but never had the motivation before (my child arrived) to actually research and act on.

My assumption, that governments, woudln't let unsafe products be on the supermarket shelves, was severely disproved. It's a market economy, companies sell what they like, can make all sorts of untrue claims, there seems to be little policing of them. e.g products that say on the front "suitable for nb skin, perfume or alcohol free" - when perfume and/or alcohol is in the list of ingredients on the back of the pack.

Five years later, i am still buying personal care products for her and me, based on those same principles (plus other household products like washing powder, dishwashing liquid, cleaners etc). It has helped both of us with skin issues.

[helle]

My hospital gave us j and j products to use, or Gaia or whatever it's called. Which I did use up there with DS, but with DD (omgawsh, first time ive made a "dd" post XD) I opted for plain water after all the j and j hype lately.

However, they don't encourage bathing for the first 24-36 hours after birth, that inc mum, so all the vernix smell lingers. Nom nom.

At home I use plain water with a few (like two) drops of lavender oil for calming purposes (I like to think ) and moogoo if I think they're a bit dry.

Gigi, both my gremlins get a bright red butt from j and j wipes (and Huggies) surprisingly not curash considering how soapy they feel. It was my mum who suggested I go oldschool and use flannels and water.

[MrsBexie]

We gave birth in the birth centre so the midwives supported our decision to go chem free. We use Gaia and moogoo now, never has our dd had j&j on her skin. It is HORRID stuff and I cannot believe they are allowed to say "no more tears" on their bottles! On my phone so cant link but there is investigations that have been done saying the people who make j&j's baby stuff have to be in full protective body suits/head gear etc, and if they have to wear that to make it, no way will I put it on my bub.

We threw out all our samples from the bounty bag and what we got as presents cause we didnt want to use it and didnt want anyone else to use it! Lol..

Traveller it is AWESOME you are trying to change things!!


Sent from my iPhone so sorry for the spelling and punctuation!!

[SunnyRain]

I didn't get given a bounty bag - they explained it was because it was a baby friendly hospital and they don't agree/support all the products in the bag. They never said anything to us about whether to or not to use products when bathing the baby but they had a bottle of QV in the bathing area to use if you wanted to. They also had a bottle of gaia and something else....it was a blue and white bottle, I think it starts with M.

This.

It was some French brand of baby stuff. They had samples in the little gift baggy they made up for us.

I never use j&j because I'm ethically opposed to that company due to animal testing . I've been using gaia on my kids for 3 years.


They bathed dd a couple of hours after birth because she was caked in meconium but just used water. It was about 3 days before I have her a bath. It was about 4 days before I gave ds a bath.

--'--,--'--

[natblack]

We were shown how to bathe him & discussed products.

I don't know the policy just know our midwife discussed soap free and no products etc.

We were given the Johnson & Johnson stuff for free.

ETA: He was bathed 4 days after birth.

[emc2]

We used water but I would have liked to have used something like Sunlight soap or some mild product. Poor bubs was a little bit grubby and neglected by the time staff had time to run through giving him a bath, he had a rash already, and I had thrown up on him during our stay in hospital, so that is the only reason why I would have liked to have used something.

I used those J&J products up on washing other things when we got home. Quite useful as washing up liquid.

But I don't understand why, sorry haven't read this thread completely, I have noticed some Mum's are anti J&J - but use disposable nappies and wipes, which are quite horrible as well to use on baby's skin.

[~ Zarava Flutterby ~]

DD1 was J&J soap supplied by the hosp, DD it was supplied but i just used water as i was not a fan of J&J and DD1 had skin issues so i wanted DD2 to start out 'fresh' IYKWIM.