Safety. It’s a word that, to no one’s surprise, is on the minds of parents from day one, dollar one. While we would just love to help you do everything safely with your babies, today we are focusing on how to safely bathe your baby at any age, from newborn to toddler. While we will try to cover the fundamentals, we can’t necessarily cover everything, so if you have any safety tips, tricks, or tales, please share them with the class! We’d love to hear how you tackle bathtime safety in your family.
Tip 1: Never Leave Your Baby Unattended In The Bath, Even For One Second
If you read our other article, you will notice that as part of our bath time preparation tips, we strongly recommended gathering everything you will need for their bath before actually bringing your baby to the bathing area. This is because it is vitally important to never leave your baby unattended in the bath, even if you think it will be for a second or two. If you absolutely need to leave the room during your baby’s bath, then either tag out with your partner or other responsible adult, or let it wait until after the bath is over. Or, if you are bathing your baby alone and you need to leave the room to either answer the door or a phone call or you perhaps forgot the shampoo in another part of the house, take your baby out of the bath and bring them with you. You can always pick right back after you left off later. There is no need to rush!
Tip 2: Thoroughly Test And Retest The Bathwater Temperature
Babies are very sensitive to high temperatures and even water that feels semi hot or very warm to our skin can potentially burn or overheat your baby when submerged. Make sure the water is just above room temp and feels almost cold or neutral to your hands. Pick up a baby bath thermometer so you don’t have questions. The water should be right around 99 degrees, not over 100 (you will risk burning baby’s skin) and usually not cooler than 98 degrees (babies don’t like to be cold).
Tip3: Try To Keep A Hand On Your Baby At All Times
Your baby isn’t used to taking a bath just yet. They tend to squirm and wiggle and try to do silly things when you are trying to bathe them. If you keep a hand on them at all times, you can keep them from slipping down or turning around and getting into the water face-down, which is of course dangerous.
Tip 4: Set The Mood For Bath Time To Make It More Relaxing
We may think of taking a bath as one of the ultimate ways to relax and pamper oneself, but to a baby, it can actually be quite stressful at first. Try to set the mood for their bathtime to help them stay calm. Use lamps for light instead of harsh overhead lights. Make sure the room is warm (you can run the shower for some steam for a few minutes prior) and quiet and relaxing. You can even put on some gentle music like classical orchestral music or something similar that you think will help them relax.
Before You Go
We hope you enjoyed learning about tips for bath time safety. If you would like to know more about this, our sleep learning, consulting or training programs or any of our excellent newborn care services or overnight newborn support, we are happy to help. Just contact us and we can go over your options and help you find the best path for your little one.
We hope these tips have helped you along your journey. If you have any questions about helping your baby to sleep better, or about your baby in general, please reach out to us HERE. We are experts in all things baby and sleep and would love to help!
Katie B.
Expertise You Need:
- Certified Master Pediatric Sleep Consultant
- Certified Advanced Newborn Care Specialist (2016-2022)
- Board Certified Holistic Healthcare Practitioner
- 16 years professional childcare experience
- Certified Postpartum Doula (2015-2022)
- Travel & ROTA Nanny
Katie has over 16 years experience working with children of all ages. As a Pediatric Sleep Consultant and Newborn Care Specialist, she has professionally supported families and babies worldwide over the last 10 years. Her mission is to help the entire family unit get better sleep, utilizing a holistic approach that supports the baby or child’s natural biologic drive to sleep. She has personally served hundreds of families, holds 20,000+ hours exclusively caring for infants & babies and has 69+ 5-⭐️ Google reviews.
