By Amanda DeGrace
Who doesn’t love the smell of a freshly bathed baby? All clean and happy, snuggled and warm. I have yet to meet a person who says that they dislike the smell of a freshly washed baby in a clean sleeper.
As new parents, when we brought our first baby home three years ago we couldn’t get enough of this sweet smell. Then one day we started to smell something not so sweet. We checked his umbilical cord. It didn’t seem to be coming from there. Changed his diaper. Was it the cloth diapers? Nope! New sleeper? Just put one on him. And while I was using my mom nose I found where it was coming from.
My sweet baby’s underarms. Seriously. As I lifted his arm we discovered that he had started to get yeast. My husband wanted bath time to be daddy and baby time. It was something he could really partake in as I was spending most of the day sitting, breastfeeding and bonding with baby.
We were sponge bathing him while the umbilical cord was still in place and our son would cry during his sponge bath. My husband hated to hear him cry during this time – nobody likes to hear a baby cry, especially a brand new parent. So he would quickly wash him down, especially his diaper area, and would get him dressed again.
He hadn’t been cleaning under his arms fully as he wanted to get baby comfortably dressed again. Needless to say after this discovery we listened lovingly to our sweet baby as he cried and we thoroughly scrubbed him down. As new parents don’t we all learn along the way?
Now as parents of two children, we have come to love various products when it comes to keeping our babies clean. Thankfully baby #2 never developed any underarm gunk.
Below are some of our favourites for keeping baby clean and happy.
1. Angel Baby Shampoo & Bodywash is a delicate, sweet smelling (but not too strong!) body wash we have used on all of our children and ourselves. It is perfect for a newborn’s skin; not drying at all.
2. 3 Sprouts Towels. Each time our babies grow out of this towel it is one of those things that saddens me to pack away for the next baby. Wrapping them in the 3 Sprouts Towel after their baths, keeping them warm, and then laying them down for a nice massage brings forth so many nice memories of a relaxed and happy baby at the end of a long day.
3. Huggies Triple Clean Wipes. With babies there are messes. There are diaper changes, which also require full outfit changes (sometimes mom/dad too!). Projectile milk spit-up can happen too! Always having wipes close by for any mess that may occur is extremely handy. The Huggies Triple Clean Wipes ensure that the mess is cleaned up quick and we can continue with our baby snuggles.
4. Massaging a baby with a nice and delicate lotion to moisturize their skin and lock in all that yummy baby goodness we love using Earth Mama Angel Baby Lotion and Baby Gaia Skin Soothing Lotion. Both of these are extremely mild and perfect for a newborn’s skin. I have been known to maybe use a bottle or two for myself, too.
As parents we all love having clean and happy babies. Hearing their giggles, soft murmurs and stirs after a restful nap and the smell of their head as we snuggle them in close.
What are some of your favourite must-have items for keeping your baby clean and happy? I would love to hear them and try them out once we are ready to think about having a third!
The ultimate test for Huggies® diapers & wipes is in real life – from messy first birthday parties to playground playdates. Put the new and improved products, including Huggies® Snug & Dry Diapers with NEW SureFit Design and Huggies Natural Care® Wipes with Triple Clean Layers, to the test in and out of the nursery. Become an Official Huggies® Tester at Huggies.com/Tester.
Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Huggies® via Glam Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Huggies®.
Amanda DeGrace is a mom of two, avid yogi, entrepreneur, lover of life and always on the go! Amanda founded her company DeGrace Energetics almost 15 years ago and Little Lotus Yoga in 2004. Follow Amanda on Twitter and Facebook.
