Today was a great day enjoying many more parks in the city – I am impressed at all the green spaces that if you aren’t looking, you would just walk right by.  After the day, it was time for a bath for the little guy.  In Sweden we were on 2-a-week baths, but now here in Hong Kong, where the air is not as fresh and clean as it is in Sweden, we are bumping it up to 3-a-week.

When we first had the little guy, we had read a lot about being careful not to make the water too hot.  So we did all the tricks to ensure it was not too hot- after making it barely warm, we put our elbows in the water to test it (why is that an accurate test, when the skin is thicker on the elbow?!).  Of course what happened?  He hated it.  From the minute we put him into the water he screamed.  SCREAMED!  It was too cold.

We later figured out that we needed to use warmer water than our elbows told us to use because we put him in water we thought was a little too warm according to the books/internet, but seemed a bit more reasonable for us – and he loved it.  So the moral of the story is to just use good judgment.  The function of a bath is to get the baby clean, not to help them relax like it might be for me or you, so you need the temperature to be at body temp.  That temperature to me or you might seem a little cold, but to a baby is like being back in the womb.   Test the temperature using your hands or stick your hand in deep enough for your forearm or wrist to give you a good idea of the temperature (by the way, it shouldn’t be too deep, maybe up to the baby’s belly when you hold him).  Just remember an easy rule of thumb: will this bath increase my baby’s core temperature?  If the answer is yes, then it is too warm.  Then if you lower him into the water slowly, feet touching the water first, you will know immediately if the temperature is ok – too warm and the baby will probably not like it, and the skin will turn a little pinker (this has never happened for us, but this is what it says everywhere online).  Too cold and the baby will let you know 😉

My wife and I were talking about it, and we are really glad we bought 2 things for the bath:  Stokke Flexi Bath (we got the white one), and Stokke Flexi Bath Newborn Support (also in white).  We like the bath because it folds up – so it is not taking a lot of space.  We like the support because it is a platform to place the baby on and it helps make it less stressful to control the baby – and now at this age of 4 months, he can lay there and kick the water and have a little fun, while we pour water over him, scrub him, play a little, and so on.  We usually give baths as a team, so one person can make sure his head is ok and he is not at risk.

In the bath we use Libero Baby Wash and Libero Oil, and that’s all we use.  The oil keeps him nice and greasy moisturized.  Gotta be sure all the little folds are clean when bathing him, so we also use a little washcloth mitten to make sure he’s as clean as possible while using minimal products.  For after the bath, I’ve learned those baby bath towels (with the extra fabric in the corner) are just there to make it easier for you to dry the baby’s head – and that is their only function.  Apparently, they are not there for the purpose of making the baby feel like superman and flying around with a cape. 😛