Bath Time!

A couple days ago, we gave Chloe her very first bath at home. Unlike in the States, they give babies immersion baths (as opposed to sponge baths) very early here, even before the umbilical stump falls off. We think it has something to do with the way they are for umbilical stumps here, but never having had a baby in the U.S., we don't really know quite how the practices differ. We had everything laid out on the bed in advance: baby - check! diaper - check! outfit - check! We filled the bathroom sink with very warm water and plunked her in! At the clinic, they taught me to hold her around the back of her neck, folding her ears over with my fingers to keep water from getting into them. They also had me put a washcloth over her so she wouldn't feel so naked. The water temperature they had me put her in was surprisingly warm - 38-39 C was the recommendation, which is about 100 F. But she's only in it for a couple minutes, and really seems to like it - she gets really relaxed in the bath! And here is Daddy dressing her. We were a bit too preoccupied to take pictures of the crying that happened when we took her out of the nice warm bath or did the umbilical care, but rest assured that it did happen. She's not always so placid!