New JOHNSON’S® Global Baby Bath Report Links Bath Time with Sensory Development

As our team at The Motherhood was working with JOHNSON’S® to share the results of the JOHNSON’S® Global Baby Bath Report, released today, we started talking about our own special baby bath time experiences.

Brittney posed a question for us: How many adults does it take to give a newborn her first “real” bath?

In her daughter Emmy’s case – three! Britt says, “A special aunt held onto our squirmy little girl, Daddy did the washing and I took at least two dozen pictures! The best part? Snuggling my squeaky clean baby in a warm towel and breathing in the amazing JOHNSON’S® Baby shampoo scent. That familiar smell will always remind me of our first days as parents!”

Bath time provides the perfect opportunity to stimulate baby’s senses to help him or her learn, think, love and grow. For example, babies practice hand-eye coordination when they’re playing with bubbles, in addition to using their senses of touch and smell – both tied to memory development.

Talking and telling stories during bath time can help baby learn, too. Emily and her daughters (pictured below with a cousin many years ago) loved the ritual of bath time and created their own bonding experiences with storytelling and playing pretend.

Studies show that infants who are spoken with have larger vocabularies by age two, and the number of words children hear by age three is linked to their future academic success.

For Cooper, her youngest son’s first bath was a family affair that included her husband and eldest daughter. The JOHNSON’S® Global Baby Bath Report found that globally, 54 percent of dads are the primary bathers in their households, and in a quarter of households (26 percent), bath time is a two-parent job.

Do you have special memories of your baby’s first bath? Feel free to share!

Top image captured by Flickr Creative Commons user Iain Watson.