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Your Baby And Hygiene: 4 Great Tips For First-Time Parents


So you have become a parent! It's an amazing feeling to hold your baby in your arms for the first time. You realize how amazing bringing a life into the world is, and also, how vulnerable it can be. Your baby relies on you to protect him or her, while their body builds up the defenses to take care of itself. 


The vaccine schedule begins at around week 8. Some parents wait longer, while some parents go earlier. Listen to your doctor and follow his or her instructions. They will always do a checkup to see if it's the right time to have vaccines. But in the meantime, you have 2 whole months in which the care of your baby’s immune system is in your hands. So here are 4 great hygiene tips for newborns and their first-time parents.



The daily basics

Your baby will be growing at a great pace. It's normal for a baby to put on about 100-200 grams of weight in a week. This can amount to almost 1 kilo of weight in a month. And this will only speed up as time goes on. So the body is producing a lot of waste products from all the energy it's consuming. So around the body and face, you will see this every morning and noon. So it's a good idea to have a wiping and cleansing routine you can do every morning before breakfast.

  • Wipe your baby’s eyes with a lukewarm cloth that is gentle and suitable for sensitive skin. (A good choice is to get a set of bamboo washcloths.)  Make sure the baby’s eyes are shut and your cloth is completely clean. It should also be made from non-irritable materials such as cotton, bamboo, or linen.
  • Wipe your baby’s mouth in the same way. Check the lips for any splits and use vaseline if you feel the need to.
  • Then you will clean the baby’s genitals. Use lukewarm water that is poured from your cupped hands. Wipe the baby clean with a fresh cloth.
  • Clip the baby’s nails if you have to, to prevent him or her from scratching themselves.



Bathing your newborn

Time for the baby’s bath. Here are some basic tips for bathing your newborn. Gather supplies and have them ready to hand. You cannot leave your baby alone in the tub, no matter how low the level of water may be. Prepare your washcloth which will have the baby’s moisturizer put on it and soaked in the lukewarm water. Begin to pour water onto your baby, using a cup. Never pour water into the eyes, mouth or ears. This will frighten the baby and he or she will begin crying and kicking around making it much harder.

You may also use a sponge, if you don’t want to wipe your baby with a cloth. This can be done by dabbing the baby with the wet sponge. This will take longer but for babies with particularly sensitive skin, this is the best method. Make sure that the baby has a neck and head support. This is something you can buy at any baby store. Then when you are done, use an ultra soft towel to then dab the baby dry. Look for any dry skin spots at this point and use a moisturizer over them.

As your little one gets a bit older, add some fun with safe and stimulating bath toys that engage your child's visual and tactile senses!  It's also recommended to use a natural and organic bubble wash for the hair and skin that both cleanses and moisturizes.  

Use code SWEETSOFTIES20 on Mimmo for 20% off the best baby bath products in the market!


Daily change of clothes

Just like you the baby needs a fresh change of clothes every morning. This is because the baby’s skin is growing and in the process, lots of skin cells are being made and replaced. Although it may not look it to you, the baby isn’t waking up with exactly the same skin cells as they went to bed with. Not to mention, for adults it's quite clear. When our clothes smell, we tend to throw them in the hamper ready to be washed. However, a baby’s clothes won’t smell and so parents think it's okay to leave them on.

This is simply not the case. The baby’s sweat glands have not yet fully developed and thus, you cannot go by smell. A fresh change of new baby clothes will give your baby a better chance at not developing skin problems. It's just vital that the clothes are soft and have been washed properly so there’s no lingering detergent left in the fibers.


Your hands

If there are any germs to be spread over to your baby, they will be on your hands and face. This is why it's important to always wash your hands before touching your child, for the first 8 weeks. So many parents can be clumsy, but this can result in horrible consequences. For instance, you have left the baby upstairs in the cot to sleep, with a baby monitor. You are downstairs making food. You’re handling raw chicken, suddenly you get a call and without cleaning your hands you pick it up. You get distracted by the conversation you’re having and a few minutes later, you hear the baby crying on the monitor. You tell your friend on the phone that you have to go and run upstairs to console your baby. Except, you forgot to wash your hands.

Now the baby might suffer from germs such as salmonella. Obviously this could have been avoided if you always had a routine to wash your hands with sanitizer before picking up the baby. So place a sanitizer bottle next to the cot so you can use it whenever you enter the room.


The first 8 weeks of parenthood will be fraught with traps and banana peels. But there’s nothing you can’t do with a little bit of research and planning. Have all your bathing gear ready so you don’t have to get something while the baby is in the tub. You should always wash your hands before touching the child, just in case you have germs on your hands. A brand new change of clothes every single day is vital. This stops bacteria from forming on dead skin cells. And remember to build a daily hygiene routine.