Introduction
Bathing your baby is a precious experience for new parents. It’s a wonderful experience to the relationship as your baby or toddler enjoys the feeling of warm water on their skin. This commonly practiced routine often comes with questions and sometimes anxiety.
Bathing is a daily routine. However, several new parents remain uneducated about the possible danger of scalding burns in bathtubs and showers. Each year, approximately 43 K children are treated for bathtub and shower-related injuries. Never leave your baby in a washtub alone. It may cause severe injuries and fall off your kid in a washtub.
Bathtub and Shower Injuries
- Children can often drown from extremely tiny quantities of water.
- Hot water may cause burns, skin, and other injuries.
- Slipping and falling off can cause severe head injury, including fractures, cuts, and broken bones.
Who is most at risk?
- Children under the age of 5 encountered many bathtub and shower-associated accidents.
- Children aged two have the highest number of accidents.
- Children have no stamina and seem to have trouble maintaining their posture as they slip. This contributed to the greater head and facial trauma suffered by infants than older children.
Bathtub and Shower Safety Tips
- Never encourage small children to bathe or shower without parental supervision.
- Experts warn against utilizing infant bath seats. If you plan to use this, search for recalls and read the label directions carefully.
- Do not use infant bath seats.
- Ensure the water temperature is appropriate to your child before bath or shower. The most prevalent and most serious form of childhood burn is scalded.
- Set the heating system to no greater than 120°F. Setup anti-scald systems to avoid the water flow if it becomes too hot.
- Build handholds to help in showering and bathing.
- Keep in mind the shower door is shatter resistant.
- To prevent damage from rough corners, utilizing cushioned or rounded shower and bath fixtures.
- Minimize the risk of falls inside and outside the bathtub or shower.
- Have towels and other items within range so you can still be carrying your kid. If you’ve missed anything or need to answer the phone or door, carry the baby along.
Important things about bathing a newborn
Your baby is completely relying on you. They didn’t sit up, can’t control their neck, and can’t support themselves. It is 100% hands-on for parents during this time. When you have an older kid, they can tend to sit unsteadily while splashing, smiling, or playing with toys in the water. Several typical bath time hazards are shared below that are great to know about and help parents stay healthy and careful.
Umbilical Cord Infection
Keep the baby clean before his umbilical cord drops off. Please wait until he is recovered fully to avoid infection. When it is finished, the infant would be happy for a tub bath.
Water temperature
Put in a couple of centimeters of lukewarm spray. “Before you put your baby in the pool, dip your forearm into the water—it should be warm but not too hot”. Keep checking the temp. When it is so cold, bathing is done.
Depth of water
For newborns up to 6 months old, keep water at least 5 inches deep. This reduces injury risks. Putting the toddler in the bath should wait until the bath is filled. Because the water can rise quickly, it is risky if a baby is already in the tub.
The best baby bath soap to use
You are using a washcloth with a soft infant soap. Find items without additional scents and dyes, which may irritate sensitive skin. Wipe off with a cloth until you proceed. Hold the newborn’s head and shower the baby at the same moment.
The best baby shampoo to use
If your newborn’s hair looks dirty, wet it off with a moist washcloth, and use some soap. Once or twice a week, use a drop of mild, tear-free shampoo in his wash. Whether he has grown a cradle cap, shampoo it off while softly rubbing the scalp with a soft-bristled baby brush.
Accidental Submersion
Scratches to the head induced by tottering into a shower are the most common injuries in babies and toddlers when bathing in the tub. Often, as parents are washing their infant, they fall into the bathwater momentarily. It may hit the baby’s head and sometimes bay slipping and falling onto the bath spout. However, whether you’re not looking carefully or don’t see it, a kid will be underwater for a very long period. When that occurs, it’s best to talk with a health care professional. According to Parents, dry or secondary drowning seldom happens in drowning cases and accounts for only a few instances. Dry drowning applies to a situation in which an infant inhales too much water, triggering a convulsion in their airway. Secondary drowning is when inflammation induced by water entering the lungs arises.
When to bathe your baby?
Although your kid likes the bath, they shouldn’t be kept in the water for too long as this will induce hyperthermia. Hold bath time to less than five minutes. It depends on your kids, skin type, and how much they want to play in the water. Babies will usually withstand short baths every day, but not regular baths. It takes two to three days a week to refresh completely. Babies with diaper rash, which leaves dry, scaly skin on the buttocks, likely require more regular baths to soothe the skin. Children with eczema can wash their faceless often to maintain their skin healthy.
What to look for when buying a Baby bath seat?
When looking for a bath seat, stay updated for main product features and any security tags about restrictions. Look for elastic bands on the back of the chair. The chair may often have a rope or safety bar in the center (this prevents your baby from slipping). If you have the opportunity to inspect a seat before you buy, make sure you can open and close these clamps with ease.
Take notice of the height, age, or weight specifications. Infants can hit developmental milestones, including standing up, that is beyond the usability of bath seats.
