First bath - soap or not?

iceNICUnurse · Feb 10, 2004

We dont use soap at all. We bathe the babies 2x a week and use only water. We advice the parents not to use soap for the first few months.

If a mother has HIV or hepatitis then maby we would use antibacterial soap for the fist bath.

Baby soap is really just the smell and nothing more I think.

We sometimes put olive oil in the bathwater if the skin is dry.

We have used this policy for a few years and we have a very low infecton rate.

dawngloves, BSN, RN · Feb 10, 2004

I don't think it's that the soap is antibacterial, it that the germs slip off easier because (and I'm probably wrong, chemistry was a looooong time ago!)

of the emulsifiers.

We use soap and water on the > 32 weekers. I do a spot clean if they are >28 weeks and less than that I wipe them with sterile water only.

We also started holding off the first Vit K shot until after the first bath.

nurseiam · Feb 10, 2004

We don't really follow a policy but a few years ago we got rid of all the baby soap. Now we smuggle some in for the term and old chronics. We mostly do sponge baths. There are some articles in Neonatal Network, I think about two years ago...

BittyBabyGrower, MSN, RN · Feb 10, 2004

We spot clean the little ones with soap and water...you know how they get the neck goobs and ear goobs if you don't clean them well There are some people that will always wash a kid and others that don't. We don't have set guidelines. Personally...how dirty do most of these kids get laying in bed...not a lot! Chronics are another entity...whoooo they need scrubbed frequently! LOL

MishlB · Mar 17, 2004

How can you NOT use soap on the intial bath???? What is the point of wearing gloves???

Gompers, BSN, RN · Mar 17, 2004

How can you NOT use soap on the intial bath???? What is the point of wearing gloves???

We always used to use it, no matter what the baby's age/size was. But now the recommendations from NANN are to hold off on soap for 1 week on term babies and 3 weeks for preemies. We've been surprised to find that a plain water sponge bath gets the babies just as clean as if we'd used soap. There is also a recommendation out there to leave some vernix on the baby, but we try to get most of it off anyway. :uhoh3:

We're working on getting a non-alkaline soap like Cetaphil to replace our baby soap. Let's see how long it takes the purchasing department to get it to us...my bet is at least a year!

nekhismom · Mar 18, 2004

we don't do first baths in my unit, because we're a step-down level II. However, when we do bathe, it's usually q3 days, sometimes longer, and always with baby soap. It doesn't matter how young the baby is, they get soap!

wjf00 · Mar 18, 2004

On our unit we bath once a week. I have worked at 3 different hospitals and it has always been once a week. No particular policy on soap, but I personally follow the NANN guidelines and don't use soap on premies. Term babies only get it for their hair. I never have been one to rub all the vernix off, seems like it takes too much friction to get it all off.

Mimi2RN, ASN, RN · Mar 19, 2004

We have Neutrogena for the baths, acid/base balanced soap or some such thing. We also have those little Johnson and Johnson bottles of baby bath soap available. The early ones (

We bathe the babies every two or three days, and sometimes butt baths too.

I can't imagine trying to wash off thick mec without soap, and we seem to have a lot of mec deliveries!

Mimi2RN, ASN, RN · Mar 19, 2004

We have Neutrogena for the baths, acid/base balanced soap or some such thing. We also have those little Johnson and Johnson bottles of baby bath soap available. The early ones (

We bathe the babies every two or three days, and sometimes butt baths too.

I can't imagine trying to wash off thick mec without soap, and we seem to have a lot of mec deliveries!