Relaxation bathing
After nine months floating in amniotic fluid, it is no wonder a bath can relax a new baby. You can share a bath with your baby or bath them alone but make sure you keep the water deep and warm. Ask your midwife or child health nurse how to hold your baby securely and help them float. Deep bathing is a technique which especially calms sensitive babies and sometimes they relax enough to fall asleep in the water!
The goal here is not about washing the baby, though that is a natural outcome of the process. This bathing is used to help unsettled babies relax and calm down. By using deeper warm water and floating the baby securely supported by your hands, you are replicating the familiar environment of the womb. You can enrich the experience by dimming the lights and adding white noise in the background.
Some babies prefer to be covered by a cloth leaving their chest and abdomen less ex[posed. As you become more confident with handling your newborn in water, you can support them under their chin as the float tummy down. Many fathers enjoy taking on the role of bathing the baby and letting the breastfeeding mother use this time for some self-care and time out. In that case, choose a time when the baby is fed, calm and alert but avoid immediately following a feed as the baby might bring up some milk as you move them about!
Cobathing
Some parents enjoy sharing a bath with their baby and co-bathing can help reluctant babies seek and attach to the breast in a variation of baby-led attachment. Being in water with your baby can be part of the process of healing after a complicated or traumatic birth and can bring emotions to the surface. So much skin to skin contact with your baby can boost oxytocin levels and allow engorged breasts to let-down and milk to flow. Older siblings struggling to process sharing their mother will also appreciate the opportunity for skin to skin contact and their own oxytocin response.
You don’t need a dedicated spa service to give your baby a relaxation bath. However take care if pouring running water over your own baby. Water from a jug can ensure it is the right temparture.
