bathing very small kittens

Hi,
My sister and I have recently rescued a litter of 5 very young kittens. We figure they're about a week and a half old at this point. The day after we rescued them I gave them a luke warm water bath with a clean washcloth to get the flea blood, the rest of the birthing sack and urine/feces off. I got them pretty clean and killed many fleas. Now, a week later, they have developed a love for sucking on each others private parts (which I hear is normal) and as a result are dirty. We've been giving them sponge baths daily with a washcloth and a small bucket of warm water in the dirtiest places but today they were particularly gross. I tried to use the soaking under a gentle tap and rubbing down with the washcloth that worked a week ago, but I simply can't get some of the dirt off of their back legs and they are starting to smell of urine. Being chilled isn't a concern because we turn on the gas fireplace in the room with the door closed before we start and give them a nice towel dry afterwards until they're completely dry.
What I want to know is how soon I can use shampoo of any kind on these guys, because I need backup. Also, if anyone has any safe suggestions for me, I'd love to know.
Thanks!
Jess

I would call your Vet and get their recommendations.
When I found our orphan kits who were 2-3 weeks old,I put them into the sink with shallow warm water and used baby shampoo on them.I kept them wrapped in a towel while rubbing them dry.I used 2 towels per kit and kept them wrapped in a warm one until they were throughly dry.

You could use just a drop or two of baby shampoo in the water to help get them clean.

I had a litter of kittens once that were horribly infested with fleas because the mother had fleas. At 2 weeks we were using plain Dawn dish detergent on the kittens, it killed the live fleas and cleaned the babies wonderfully and didn't dry their coats. Be sure and rinse them well. When you dry them be sure and fluff their fur and use a flea or a lice comb to get the dead fleas off of them. The stuck ones I think (don't know for sure) lay eggs as they are dying. Good luck

I would definately get advice from a vet before using anything. Those are some very small kittens! A little Dawn shouldn't hurt... they use it on ducks and wild birds to clean oil off them. But I would still consult a vet first since they are so tiny.

When I hand my handrased litter I gave them a bath at 2 weeks old-with baby magic shampoo...they kept stimulating onto eachother and until then I used microwaved baby wipes(lol ya I know odd but I didnt want to add water to them so... also if they are nursing on eachother be careful-my boy kittens ended up with scabs on thier -privates- cause of it...luckily cleared up on own after I seperated them RJ