Towels & Bathing Accessories
Bath time is an important time for you and your baby and requires careful planning if you are both to enjoy and benefit from the time together. By choosing products for ease of use rather than for style or colour you can make life much easier.
Layette Basket or Box
At bath time it is important to have everything to hand, so a layette box or large storage box can be useful, keeping bath sponges, bath thermometer, baby bath lotions, shampoo, hair brush, nail scissors, creams, cotton wool, cotton buds and flannels all together. Keeping everything together will allow you to select the best room for warmth or even with a sound system allowing for some soothing music, quickly and easily. We would recommend that you choose a small bath and a stand and use a simple bucket as a way to move the water safely and easily to and from the bath.
Hooded Towel
A flat towel will be needed to cover your knees but a hooded towel is essential for wrapping baby, the small hood section will keep their head covered and warm, while you pat dry the rest of babies body, cuddling baby as you do so- a benefit to you both.
Bath Supports
Bath supports give you an extra, essential hand when bathing a newborn baby - they are available in a range of shapes and sizes, with some in soft fabrics others made from plastic. Whichever you choose, the bath support will allow baby to lie safely in a position with their head higher than their feet.
Bath supports made from less absorbent materials dry quickly and easily, ready for next bath time, whereas sponges are the least 'user friendly' as they tend to hold a large amount of water. This makes them difficult to get dry, they also lie your baby in a flat position meaning the amount of water flowing around the baby has to be restricted.
Bath Thermometers
These can be in a functional shape or in a fun novelty shape, as they will be used for around a year, the fun ones soon become part of the bath toys and continue to be played with long after you are relying on the information they supply.
Bath Stands
By choosing a bath stand it will allow you to choose the best room for bathing baby - the bathroom may not necessarily be the best place to produce a calm relaxing atmosphere. Another advantage is that you can sit comfortably on a chair next to the bath, making the time relaxing and comfortable for yourself.
Bath stands can also be used as a Moses basket stand, or a laundry basket stand, so it will go on being useful for many years to come.
Changing Unit
There are a wide range of changing units - some that have an integral bath, this means you will bath baby while you are standing, these are certainly kinder on your back when compared with bathing baby in the family's full sized bath usually on your knees leaning over the edge of the bath.
Many of these have a good amount of space in drawers or on shelves for all your bathing and dressing accessories, some will be on wheels, this allows you to choose the room that is best for use at bath time.
Creams & Lotions
There are a whole range of baby friendly bath lotions, shampoos, body washes and creams, it is worth checking the labels for their contents, as products with fewer antibacterial, fragrances or abrasives are kinder to your child's skin. By not using to many artificially scented products the natural baby scents that make your baby so irresistible to you will not be masked.
Shampoo Shield
Shampoo shields allow you to wash your baby's hair without the risk of getting shampoo in their eyes, after this has happened once it can take a long time to gain your child's confidence that it won't happen again.
