Until your baby begins crawling and really getting dirty, he or she actually should only be bathed once to twice a week. Not only does an infant not need more bathing than that, frequent bathing can dry out a baby’s skin. Once your baby does get mobile and into everything, you can add as need to this once to twice a week schedule. By age one or so your toddler will need bathing every day to every other day.

In between baths always be sure to cleanse your babies genital area well each diaper change. The cracks of the neck, armpits, and behind the knees also tend to gather milk, lent, and sometimes a white cream like substance produced by yeast. This can be cleaned away with a baby wipe or moist cloth. Think of it sort of like spot cleaning.

When it is time for a bath, newborns that still have their umbilical stump should be given a sponge bath, Avoid wetting the belly button area. Once the stump has fallen with younger, smaller babies sometimes bathing in a sink, small tub, or baby bath is easier. I found when I did need to use a full sized tub laying a towel in the bottom of the tub seemed to make my baby more comfortable. When using a full sized tub only 2-3 inches of water is necessary. Be sure the room you are bathing the baby in is warm so he or she will not catch a chill. Also pour water over the babies body throughout the bath since the water cannot be deep enough to entire cover the baby.

Never leave your baby unattended in the tub. A good way to make sure you never have to do so is to prepare and have ready everything you will need to bath baby. This includes baby shampoo, washcloths, etc. Note that it is not necessarily even necessary to use shampoo on a baby. When your baby gets older and begins sitting up you may also want to install a faucet cover and valve locks, this way baby cannot hit his or her head on the faucet or change the water temperature.

Run the water before placing your baby in the tub. The water should be warm, not hot. You may want to set your water heater to no higher than 120 degrees F to prevent accidental burns.