Baby soap

[npl]

Please recommend a baby-safe soap for bathing my newborn!

Doesn't have to be specifically "green" but would prefer to avoid the nasties in the mainstream commercial baby products. Also needs to be fragrance-free.
Most of the "natural" baby products I've seen contain ingredients I want to avoid because of the high risk of allergies (nut oils, dairy, goats milk, etc). And yes, we did have a kid have an allergic reaction when he insisted on drinking his bath water when bathing with a soap that had almond oil in it!

And, if I can get it at a regular store (drug store or Walmart, etc) that would be best. Baby needs a bath before his bris tomorrow, and DH doesn't have time to shlep all over town to the hfs to find out the product isn't available here!

[elisheva]

Unscented Dr Bronners and Val's Veggie Bar (I have this if you want me to list ingredients but I know it's veg based soap as opposed to detergnet - no SLS or anything) are both available at our reg grocery store - YMMV as this is a pretty crunchy part of Canada...I'd use both on babies but I generally avoid soap except for the diaper area.

[Ima5]

At the suggestion of my homeopath, I don't use soap for newborns at all!! I add some salt to the water, that's all and occasionally use the foam from baby shampoo to wash hair. My newborns always smell delicious nonetheless!

[npl]

I think we'll just use plain water, although when we'll do the bath, I don't know. He's having a very sleepy day!

[LearningFromExperience]

I have this feeling that baths are highly over-rated. A little warm water here and there is more than enough. You don't want to wash away their natural oils, and it's not like they're playing in the mud. Yet.

[Chavelamomela]

Just warm water for newborns. No real soap required until they have solid, dirty poops. (and the corresponding solid food in their hair, on face, etc).

[npl]

Yeah - we don't bathe them much. Even my toddler only gets a real bath once a week. If she enjoyed it more, it might be a different matter.
And, yes, I don't mind admitting that this was his very first bath, at 1 week old. We rubbed him off after birth, and then left whatever vernix was left to condition his skin. Only just started seeing dry skin today.
I actually just put him in a basin of water (small like a mixing bowl) and used a washcloth to rinse him all over very quickly. It was over so fast he didn't have time to cry!
More interesting will be the timing of the next bath - 3 days after the bris is shabbos, the next day is Tisha B'Av. Waiting to get instructions from the mohel to see whether dressings will be removed on day 2 or day 5.

[Chavelamomela]

We have one of those "Baby bucket" baths that someone gave us for ds2 that we like - it's nice & cozy and makes bath-time quick and easy (also helps w. no bending - can be done on a counter, in a kitchen sink, etc).

[elisheva]

Hope the bris went well, npl. thinking of you...

[emunahbutterfly]

hope the bris went fine (well?) and we also dont do baths for the 1st 2 weeks, and then just with water untill they need soap and then just olive oil soap. also for the hair. after bris i just spray milk on the penis 9even with the bandage on it, and also on the bellly button.

[npl]

Bris went fine. Baby bled quite a bit afterwards, which was a shock to me, especially as I've not had to change the first few diapers after a bris before, as my wonderful father has been around to do them. We called the mohel back on the same day, and he dealt with the bleeding and returned again the next day or the day after (can't remember). It was rather traumatic for me to see the blood and hear him cry but the mohel was a metsch and dh was there to help him out (finger in baby's mouth instead of a pacifier, etc).
And, the mohel said to bathe the baby every day for 2 weeks after the bandages were off, which was new to me. I sat him in a mixing bowl and washed with plain water.
Now I'm using something I found at ToysRUs which might only be available in Canada. Can't remember the name, but it's a natural product that comes in a bottle that you tip upside down and squeeze and it dispenses a foam. DD2 likes it too, which I think is what got us past the hairwashing angst (she now lets me wash her hair as long as I'm only rinsing with a washcloth!)
emunah - does the olive oil soap help with cradle cap?

[shirarocklin]

All three of my kids have lost their cradle cap in the last few months when we switched all our household cleaning and bathing products to natural soap, ie Dr bronners baby mild. I never washed baby's before, except in water, but this baby needs the dr bronners soap to wash detergent residues from the environment off each night. It hasn't dried his skin at all.

Olive oil can help with combing the cradle cap out, but it will just come back. I'd try washing daily with natural soap for a few months as an experiment, based on what I've seen in my kids recently... I guess it could be a fluke too.