How to wash baby's hair

Giving our baby a bath or washing his/hear hair can be quite a taunting task, especially when they are so fragile. Our confinement lady was doing all the bathing and washing during the first month. However, towards the last few days before she leaves, she wanted to pass the skills to someone in the house to take over. My wife naturally, nominates yours truly. Stressful was not even the word to describe the first attempt. I was sweating all over and my back aches after due to the strain and tension. Nevertheless, it got easier as the days go by and as Ryan's neck got stronger. So, this post is share what I was taught. Hopefully, it will be useful to you too, especially if you are expecting your first born.

Ingredient: 1 bath tub filled with lukewarm water, baby shampoo, 1 dry handkerchief, 1 willing baby.

• Lift your baby's head and put his head in the palm of your left hand. Make sure that it supports the baby's neck. Refer to picture (1).
• Using your thumb and your index finger, gently fold and cover your baby's ears. This is to prevent water from getting in. Refer picture (2)
• Once you have him firmly in your grip, place baby under your left arm as shown in picture (3).
• Wet his hair with the lukewarm water and then apply small amount of baby shampoo.
• Rub his hair and head gently and wash off with water.
• Dry with dry handkerchief.

Simple right? It is simple if your baby is not kicking up a fuss or throwing his/her usual tantrum. Otherwise, it could be a real struggle to hold him/her while he/she is kicking away. I would advise to leave him/her alone until he/she has calmed down. As the baby gets older and definitely heavier, it would also be increasingly demanding on your left arm to hold him/her in place.

Tips:

• Place the bath tub at your hip's height so that you can stand to wash/bath your baby. I find it extremely difficult and tough on my back and spine to bathe Ryan, when I have to bent over when the bath tub is placed on the floor.
• Get all the needed stuff such as shampoo ready (with cap opened) and handkerchief easily within reach before bathing him.
• Try not to panic when he/she starts screaming half way through. I used the word `try' because often times, we can get easily rattled when our baby starts screaming away.
• This is good. Make sure that your baby's diaper is still on while washing his hair. Ryan has the tendency to wee-wee while I'm washing his hair. I tend to get `drenched' and have to take a shower myself afterwards.

We will talk about giving him a bath in the next `How to' post.