Cleanliness

Babies do not need to be kept nearly as clean as most of us keep them. It is adults who like them to smell of baby powder. The chief purpose in washing a new baby is to remove from the skin anything which might irritate and make it sore. The skin would take care of itself if it did not get drenched with urine, smeared with feces, splashed with sticky milk and lightly speckled with dust.

Most mothers will be taught by the hospital staff, to bathe their new babies every single day. If you want to carry on with this, check this bathing illustration. But if, like many mothers, you find that the bath is something that neither you nor the baby can enjoy just yet, you don't have to do it. You can make your baby perfectly clean by "topping and tailing," and what is more you can do it without frightening him or putting yourself through the horrors of trying to hold a slippery screaming mite safely with shaking hands in a bath full of water ...

The topping and tailing method of washing a new baby concentrates on cleaning thoroughly the bits that really need it: the eyes, nose and ears, the face, hands and bottom. It keeps undressing (and therefore redressing) to a diaper-changing minimum, and it can all be done without picking the baby up.

Notice that the method does not include any interference with any inside part of the body. It does not include poking bits of cotton balls up the nose, cleaning out the ears with "Q-tips," or pulling back the foreskin of a little boy. All of a baby's orifices are lined with mucous membranes which are designed to bring out any dirt. The slight flow of mucus from the nose will carry dirt out with it; wax will work its way out of the ears and within reach of your cotton balls in its own good time; tears bathe the eyes continually and far more efficiently than you can. So concentrate on wiping away what appears on the outside. Don't go hunting up the nostrils or into the ears with twists of cotton balls; if you do, you may actually push back the dirt. It is a good principle never to interfere with any part not visible from the outside.

Always use warm boiled water and a separate cotton ball for each eye and wipe from the inner to the outer corners. This will avoid the risk of spreading any minor infection from one eye to the other.

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Topping and Tailing

Put the baby on a towel on a bed or changing table. Gather together a bowl of warm boiled water - this is for his eyes - another of ordinary warm water, cotton balls, washcloths, a soft towel, clean diapers and any cream, powder, etc.

Wipe each eye with its own cotton ball and boiled water. Wipe always from inner corner outward.

With another cotton ball, wipe around ears and neck to get rid of dried sweat which might cause soreness.

Use a further cotton ball to clean around his mouth and chin creases to remove dried milk and dribble.

Use a clean washcloth dampened in warm water to wipe his hands, checking for any sharp fingernails.

Short fingernails are hygienic and will stop her gouging her face. Use tiny, blunt-ended scissors. If the baby's wriggling makes nailcutting seem impossible, try doing it while he is asleep.