I’m due to give birth in five months.
Besides the actual birth, there is one thing I am absolutely petrified about.
Bathing the baby.
The whole water, slippery hands, little baby, potential drowning situation has me completely freaked out.
So I’ve been researching how necessary baths are for babies. I mean, all they do is sleep, right? But it turns out they are very, very necessary.
I recently attended a JOHNSON’S baby event, and beyond the calming smell of their baby powder, I learned that, 120 years on from pioneering baby skin care, they had been doing research on the one thing I feared the most and how beneficial it is.
Just as an FYI, you should know that this is an advertorial for Johnson’s Baby.
For more than a century, JOHNSON’S® have been providing products that are formulated and designed with baby in mind, and they have published more clinical research on the science on baby’s skin than any other global skin care company over the last five years.
They’ve been looking into what, in fact, makes a healthy baby. According to them, babies are born with all their brain cells. But what happens next in those first few weeks, months and years is when those brain cells start talking to each other and making connections with each other.
Baby brain development depends on how babies interact with the world. And it’s not just connected to those early milestones like walking and talking – it has been shown that routine massage and touch can lead to improved cognitive performance and increased alertness and attentiveness.
So…important, then.
GP, TV presenter and journalist Dr Ginni Mansberg says, “Sharing beautiful experiences like bath time, touch, massage and even verbal communication will not only create special moments between parent and child, but stimulate their baby’s brain as well.”
When a baby is exposed to the senses like touch, smell, sight and sound, their brain cells talk to each other, making connections. And the one activity that ticks all these boxes? Bath time.
Why? Well, first you can’t bath a baby and be distracted. No Facebook checking. No watching last night’s episode of Game of Thrones. Nothing. It’s just you and the baby.
Second, it’s something that happens every day. No matter how crazy the day has been. No matter how many tantrums, number two nappies, or emotional breakdowns you’ve had, bath time is a ritual that brings all of that to an end as baby gets ready for sleep (hopefully, through the night) and brings you a few minutes closer to that precious, precious time when mums get to rest too.
Top Comments
Johnson's products caused my newborn baby's skin to peel. It was awful. Ok for when they're six months old. As for bathing get a $10 plastic bath aid so bubs can securely lie on that in or slightly above the water then you wash him or her with the flannel. Otherwise it can really hurt your back.
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It was my fave part of the day....both my boys aged 5 and 2.5 had baths everynight.... we love both top to toe wash and also the bedtime bath...and dont know if its just my kids but i washed my boys hair everynight and neither of them got craddle cap at all...💕💕👶👶👶