Bath Safety Tips For Children

Bath safety tips apply across all ages, but infants and toddlers need some extra attention to keep them safe. Parents of newborns who’ve never bathed a slippery, squalling infant can be daunted by the task, and frisky toddlers present another set of cautions. Here are some bath safety tips in light of January being bath safety month.

Never leave an infant or toddler unattended, even for a second, says Dr. Eve Meltzer-Krief, a pediatrician at . Always have a hand on a baby when they’re in the water, until they are about 18 months or 2 years of age, she says. “After that, never leave them unattended, not even for a moment while you run out and get a towel,” she says.

Just as important, she says, is to set the thermostat on your water heater to 120 degrees or under. “That way you don’t have to worry about the water being too hot,” she says.

Gather all your supplies before you run the bathwater – towel, diaper, pajamas, shampoo, lotion ‑ and put them within reach so you don’t have to take a hand off the infant. And check the water temperature before you put the baby into the tub.

Sponge bathe an infant before their umbilical cord stump falls off, which happens around two weeks of age, and keep the area around the cord dry until it heals, she says. Infants do not need to be bathed every day if their bottoms are cleaned regularly – bathing three times a week is sufficient most of the time, she says.

Meltzer-Krief isn’t a fan of bathing infants at the kitchen sink. Instead, she recommends using a hard-shell infant bathtub and, as they get older, an inflatable rubber boat like a dinghy that sits inside the bathtub. She also suggests using hypoallergenic soap and, after the bath, rubbing infants with hypoallergenic lotion. Use a baby shampoo when you wash their hair. “It’s good to keep one hand free of soap so it’s not so slippery,” she says. She also likes the large, baby-shaped bath sponges that help keep infants from sliding around on slippery surfaces.

Set the hard-shell infant bathtub into the regular bathtub, she suggests. “I think the bathtub is the safest place,” she says. “They can’t fall off a ledge and you can pour the rinse water right down the drain.”

Make the bath quick and keep infants warm during and after the bath. “Wrap them up in a towel as soon as you’re finished,” she says.

Toddlers are a different story, although they still need your close attention and cannot be left alone. “Toddlers love to take long baths,” she says. “Make it into playtime, just make sure not to leave them alone.”

Bring containers from the kitchen so they can pour water back and forth and splash, and buy some waterproof bath books. “Make it a fun time for them,” Meltzer-Krief says. Make sure to dry out toys and books between baths so they don’t mildew.

Be careful of bubble baths, she says, because the scents can cause vaginitis and skin irritation.