Towels and washcloths
Kerri Stalton

Attractive, plush towels may seem like a luxury. If it's just a matter of cleaning up the baby, a thick cotton cloth can also serve the purpose. But as parents, we want nothing less than the best for our little ones. Like babies, parents also love the feel of soft towels, and bundling up Junior in a beautifully patterned towel is almost a matter of maternal pride. During the first few years of his life, when a baby gleefully makes a mess everywhere he goes, he is in constant need of cleaning up. Towels and washcloths help clean a messy baby.
A baby's towels should be useful as well as creative. The most popular towels for young infants are the hooded towels. Put simply, a hooded towel just has an extra length of fabric added to one corner of the towel to create a hood. Just after a baby is born, you may observe the nurse quickly covering the infant's head with a towel. Soon after, the tiny head is covered with a cap. This is essential because a baby can lose a lot of body heat within the short time that his head is bare.
Baby bath towels are important bath accessories. After a bath, a baby's body temperature can fall rapidly if his head is left bare. Hooded towels provide a special pocket for the head and prevent loss of body warmth. These towels are therefore the perfect bath time accessory to keep the baby warm and cozy. Hooded towels are available in a variety of shapes with trademark characters and designs. This makes taking a bath a fun experience for young children.
For a newborn baby, being snug and warm is the epitome of happiness. Since he has been used to the steady warmth of the stomach, a baby feels cold even at room temperature. Most parents like to keep their babies within a hooded towel using the towel much like a blanket. The bright colors and attractive designs add to the beauty of these towels, which come shaped as cute bunnies, puppies, ladybugs and so on. Many hooded towels even come in designs that complement baby clothes, so your little bundle of joy is perfectly color coordinated.
Towels make excellent gifts for expectant mothers. A large set of towels may contain a receiving blanket, a hooded towel, a sleeper, a bib and a baby washcloth. Different styles of towels are available in sets to match with layette items. Smaller sets may contain only hooded towels and washcloths.
Washcloths, on the other hand, are rougher than soft towels. They are used to clean the skin by removing dead skin. In the friction they produce, they speed up blood circulation and revive the skin, making it soft and pink with health. A newborn baby can start taking regular baths only after his umbilical cord falls off. Until then, you can sponge him using a wet washcloth.
A washcloth is useful when you want to clean all those areas that are a bit difficult to reach, like the inside of the ears, between the toes and fingers, folds of the neck etc. A wet washcloth is all you need to wipe your baby's bottom clean before a diaper change. Washcloths encourage the skin's exfoliation process by getting rid of dead skin.
Towels and washcloths are important bath time accessories for your baby.