Keeping the area free of dirt helps. Bathing Your Beauty Bathing cleans away the obvious, but it also serves another purpose. It's a major way the little one and her adoring parents get to know each other through the tactile stimulation as a result of the gentle touching and stroking that occurs at bathtime. As a result, some pediatricians advise using only warm water to wash newborns. So are many pediatricians.
Soaps contain ingredients that can be drying to skin.
That being said, pediatricians say you are safest to use a soap made specifically for babies with the proviso that the soap has no perfumes and is hypoallergenic. Save the head for last so your full attention will be on towel drying the hair and keeping baby warm. Open the diaper to clean around and then reclose it right away or immediately put on a clean one. Shampoo baby's hair once or twice a week and rinse very thoroughly using a soap-less albeit wet washcloth. Towel dry the hair right away.