For the first week you may find that 'topping and tailing' is the easiest way to bath your baby. 'Topping and tailing' simply means carefully washing your baby’s face, neck, hands and bottom, morning and night, plus cleaning the nappy area as necessary. On days when you don’t bath your baby you’ll need to wash his face, bottom, hands and folds of his skin once a day. An ideal time to do this is during changing.
- Make sure the room is warmed to a suitable temperature for your naked baby, around 29 degrees is good
- Have a bowl of boiled and lukewarm, not hot, water on hand and a supply of cotton wool
- Clean your baby’s bottom as usual and take a ball of cotton wool dipped in the water and gently wipe around the genitals (changing the cotton wool often), particularly in the folds and creases of the skin
- Gently wipe each eye from the inside out using a new piece of cotton wool for each so any infection won’t be transferred from one to the other
- Clean around the nose, mouth and the outside of the ears using a new piece of cotton wool for each, not forgetting behind the ears
