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-Bath time is a wonderful time to bond with your baby. Hi, I’m Dr. Jennifer Trachtenberg for Parents TV, author of Good Kids, Bad Habits: The RealAge Guide to Raising Healthy Children. We are going to show you the steps to make bath time for your baby gentle, safe, and effective. Generally, it’s fine to give your baby a bath once the umbilical cord close off or the circumcision has healed well. Before you bathe your baby in a tub, it’s fine to just give him a sponge bath. You can use a sponge or a washcloth with some gentle cleanser or baby wash to keep your baby’s skin clean. It’s fine to bathe your baby in either the sink or an infant tub, but I will wait on a big bathtub until the baby can sit up by themselves. The first step when bathing your baby is make sure your hands are clean and wash your own hands with soap and water. Then fill the tub with warm water. You wanna just make sure it’s not too hot or too cold. You can use the old special method of testing with your elbow, but now there’s also some fun thermometers that look like bath toys that you can put in to also make sure the temperature is okay. The optimum temperature for the bath water should be about what your baby’s temperature normally is, so somewhere between 97 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s really good idea to be prepared before you start your baby’s bath ’cause you’re always wanna keep an eye on the baby. So make sure, in close reach, you have a washcloth, some gentle cleanser or baby wash that’s good for head to toe and also to have a rinse cup and a nice fluffy towel as well. Next, you wanna place your baby in the tub. Do it gently and carefully. Make sure to always hold the baby with at least one hand and have the other hand free with all the products and the things that you need to bathe the baby. So, once the baby is in the tub, and again, make sure that you’re holding the baby from behind, you also want to then put some gentle cleanser on the washcloth, and you can use just a head to toe to clean the whole baby. Now, I like to start from the head and work your way down the baby. So the diaper area, keep that for last. The last step is to rinse the baby, and you can just use a cup, fill it with water, warm water, and just rinse the baby from head to toe. Make sure not to get into the baby’s eyes. Lastly, gently take your baby out of the tub and wrap him in a towel. While their skin though is still moist, I really recommend putting a moisturizer on your baby from head to toe to help to protect their skin. You don’t wanna wait ’til you see signs of dryness. -Those little feet. -When you don’t have time for a full bath or that you’re traveling, a great alternative is to use disposable washcloths. They already have the soap in them. So all you need to do is moisten them with water and you can use them on your baby from head to toe, even to wash their hair. Bath time should always be an enjoyable experience that brings you and your baby closer together. -Thank you for watching Parents TV, our families, our lives.
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