what are you told about bathing your baby?

[Traveller]

I'm interested in what new parents have been told about bathing their babies. Specifically what are you told about using soap/baby wash and what, if anything, was used on your child in the hospital. Did you find the hospital you gave birth at had a common guideline for the use, or not, of soap or other products on newborns. Did you get any samples in Bounty bags of products? What are your opinions on the use of soaps in the first 6 weeks of life?

All answers welcomed please, I am trying to push through a policy change in my local hospital and would be interested to know if other hospitals act similarly wrt perfumed products on young babies.

[Calluna]

The only info I can really offer is that they used Johnsons bedtime bath stuff. He was 3 days old.

[Nai]

I can't remember but we used only water anyway as I didn't want to use any products.

[Aligater]

they used johnsons soaps in my hospital I refused to use it and just used water but then we were told no or minimul for the first few months

[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.

[Rowellen]

The midwives at my hospital told me to use water only for the first 12 months. I still only use water the majority of the time & DS is almost 3! I only use soap on his hands after toileting or if he is particularly muddy.

I occasionally use organic shampoo on DD but only because I like it.

[*LittleMissSummer*]

Can i ask what is so wrong with johnsons?

[Early Kids]

Can i ask what is so wrong with johnsons?

I found it irritated the boys skin and caused huge eczema flare-ups.

[Rowellen]

Can i ask what is so wrong with johnsons?

I'm not sure if it still does, but it used to contain certain ingredients that were dangerous There are threads on here about it. If I can find them, I'll post a link for you.

[Early Kids]

I was told not to bother using anything but water, the hospital did have j&j stuff there for us to use though (even in the NICU). I wasn't given a time frame at all though.

[Trillian]

My hospital was sponsored by J&J I reckon but they did say you needed hardly any in the bath and to only use a tiny squirt.

[Traveller]

My hospital was sponsored by J&J I reckon but they did say you needed hardly any in the bath and to only use a tiny squirt.

The Australian College of Midwives is genuinely sponsored by J&J, and they are also known to give out free bottles of their product to maternity hospitals so that new parents see it as being midwife endorsed. So you're probably not far off the mark there.

[sloane]

i didn't bath DS in hospital & they didn't mention anything (although one of the m/w that visited me at home may have ) but they did have a cloth nappy, only clean with water & cotton wool balls policy for nappy changes & i certainly don't remember seeing any products in the nappy change area (they had a central one). they still hand out the bounty bags - i got one for booking in today.

we tried a so-called natural product for DS in his bath when he was a few weeks old & it just made his eczema worse so we stopped using anything other than moogoo after baths.

[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.

[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?