This is a question I have for down the road a bit, but I thought I’d gather ideas now… Currently, my husband and I bathe our baby once a week in a baby tub on the kitchen counter with “spot cleanings” the rest of the time. Once he starts crawling, eating solids, etc. he’ll need full baths more often, but we live in an apartment with only a shower stall and no bathtub. The set up in the kitchen requires a bit of time and effort, including getting all the dirty dishes taken care of, so trying to do this every night seems like too great a challenge. The bathroom is small and has a weird layout so there isn’t really a lot of space to put the baby tub we have anywhere but in the shower itself. Has anyone had the same problem to solve? I could just put the tub in the shower and sit on a low stepstool myself but I was wondering if anyone had other ideas. I found a couple of websites that have baby carriers that are designed to get wet-- has anyone used one of these? We aren’t planning on moving anytime soon!
We have a tub, which makes it easier, but my son has always been happy to take showers. Start him early, and turn the spray against the wall or away from his face. I used to hold my son in the standup shower when he was a baby because having a toddler who will shower can make your life MUCH easier.
I think you can teach him to use the shower, however it will mean that you have to be in/near every second and may end up wet.
good luck!
Reese showered with me until Camden was old enough for them to bathe together. When she was little (before sitting) I would just have her sit outside of the shower in a bouncer or something (naked, with a towel underneath) and clean myself, then pull her in to get clean. Then, when she learned to sit I just brought a ton of toys in with us and plopped her down away from the spray. When I was pregnant with Cammy this was a lifesaver because my back hurt so badly it was impossible for me to bend over the tub. Once you get the hang of it it’s easy as can be!
We’ve taken showers with both our kids…held them when they were small, but they get so very slippery, so we had to be very careful. When they were able to sit up well, we just sat them in the middle of the shower with water toys, cups, etc. By this time, they had already become used to water in their face. This has worked out so well. It’s so easy and so much quicker than a bath.
I would get a big bucket/tub like the kind for bobbing for apples. Get a small garden hose - cut it to the size you need and get the adaptor to fit your sink. Fill the tub this way -no need to clear out sink. (we did this to fill our birthing tub).
The shower is fine to get baby clean - but baths are more soothing. He can play with toys in it and relax before bedtime. It’s a great ritual to start. You won’t get that same effect with a shower. Plus, the shower is a bit forceful and no one else will be able to bathe your baby this way.
I just gave each of my boys a bath in our kitchen sink when they were that age :O) I just didn’t have the energy to keep running upstairs for things like that :O) So, I bought one of those BIG sponge pads made for babies bathing, and I put it in the “sink tub” to sit on & lean up against instead of the cold sink. It also prevented their little butts from slipping like crazy. And, I turned their back from the faucet…for obvious “curosity” reasons :O)
Around 10-12 months, we had to “graduate” because they get too busy to sit still long enough, and I felt it was time to move on…
Getting in the shower was really fun, just VERY slippery!
Is the floor of your shower stall deep enough to hold a small bath? You can always try to plug it up for a bath ;O) Or, you can buy a “tub” of some kind that can be used IN your shower to be a “bath tub”???
That’s all I can offer :O) ~Nicole :O)
Not to be harsh but I find it somewhat disturbing that you arent bathing the baby every night. There is nothing sweeter than that clean baby smell. Bathtime is a chore the first 6 mos or so, but well worth the result. The ritual of a warm bath before bed (whether needed or not) is the most helpful tool for winding down the baby and beginning the “time to go night night” process.
The kitchen sink was the best place to bathe newborns since you can stand and reach everything right there on the counter top. I just threw a hand towel in the bottom of the sink to stop the slippage. When they are too young to sit and play you just wash them up and get it over with, sort of like cleaning your turkey for thanksgiving.
Advancing to the shower should be easy enough when he’s old enough to sit without toppling over, and is a good way to get them used to water in the face so you don’t have to battle that annoyance later.
My son is 1 1/2 and he loves the shower. We started him in nightly bathes which is a hassle but I think it will pay off because your child will have a love for water. We did not baby him too much. When it came time to rinsing out shampoo we let the water run down his face. As he got older and moving into the big tub we made sure that he got splashed with water and that there was no fear of having water on his face. Once he was walking he would walk right into the shower and we never stopped him. It speeds up bath time so much. Good luck
I bathe DD every night in her baby tub which is in our tub. I’m guessing that would be the same concept as you putting the baby tub on the floor of the shower. She plays for a bit and then I rinse her off w/ the hand held shower. We’ve had this daily ritual since she was about 8 weeks old and she absolutely loves this time.
Its fine to take your baby in the shower with you, I had a friend with the same situation, she would bath her baby once in a while at friends houses. You could always sit in the shower as the baby can get slippery against your skin.
Also if you don’t mind cleaning the kitchen sink your baby could sit in there for a wash, easier once he can sit up.
good luck
I used to just take a shower with the little ones when I was too lazy to fill the tub. It worked just fine. And once they can sit up, you can set them on the floor of the shower to play while you wash them up. Filling the baby tub up in the bottom of the shower until he is too big is also a good idea :).
A couple of suggestions for a container that you could use as a tub by setting it on the floor of your shower stall… I got a wheelbarrow liner at one of the home supply stores that we use for an activity tub at our daycare. It’s about five or six inches deep and large enough for a toddler to sit comforatbly in. I also thought about one of the larger storage tubs you can buy in Target or WalMart… or other places… Most of them are a bit deep, but maybe during the holiday season you could find one of the ones designed for storing decorations that would be more shallow, and they are usually wider and longer than some of the everyday containers. You will probably want to measure the dimensions of your shower floor before going out to purchase anything, and take along your measuring tape when you go to the store to be sure whatever you get will fit.
You could check online for one of those European baby buckets. They are narrow and deep so it wouldn’t take up as much room and they are supposed to hold a baby up to three so you would get a long use from it. I cannot remember the name but I am sure if you searched online you could find it. Good luck! I too live in a small place and its so much harder to store things and have living space!
My dad would shower with the kids (as many others here have suggested) and then hand us off to my mom so he could finish his shower. We loved the closeness and actually my brother disliked bathes so this was the best way to clean him. My dad says he loved the one on one time with us (even if it was brief).
We lived in a 700 sq. foot apartment with our son until he was 10 months. We got a baby bathtub and put it either on the counter straddling the bathroom sink or when he got bigger and wigglier we put the baby tub in the bottom of the shower and bathed him that way when it was cold and in the warmer months plunked it on the dining table on top of an old beach towel to catch splashes. My brother took all 3 of his kids in the shower - but our place was 40 years old and the tile etc. looked gross so I just couldn’t ever get up the nerve to try that. the tile was grey - so how can you tell if it’s clean??
I used the sink with a ramp type of thing for the baby to lay on and it was great because it was safe. It was a royal pain with the dishes but I did it anyway. I’d have to clean it out, too. I can send you my “cloth on a wire ramp” type thing if you’d like. Just email me. It was a great saver. Then later I would switch to a baby tub in the bathroom on the floor and put it up when you’re done. Or put the tub in the shower on the floor and get a kneeling pad. I can send you one of those too. Anything to help out a mom. : ) Later when your baby is older they have a sitting up chair for babies that goes on the shower floor. He uses that at 10 1/2 mos. old. Okay well good luck. I hope that helped . Let me know if you’d like me to send you those 2 items.
Dear Pegeen,
I had a bath tub but I liked to give my kids showers even when they were small. I bought a yellow foam pad, that was shaped so you could lay the baby down on it. Then with the hand held shower head I had a soft sprinkle and “showered” our babies that way. They liked it. Once they were bigger I used the hand held shower head to give them a shower while they stood. I would buy several things: 1) hand held shower head. (I think most shower heads from the top can be changed.), 2) yellow foam bath mat/pad (if I remember correctly I bought it at babies Rus), 3) non-slip dots or mat when the child is older. I hope this helps. Good luck. Andrea
Even though we have a bathtub, we still use the baby tub within the larger bath tub. I find that it saves water and ‘confines’ the space a bit so everything isn’t everywhere. I sit on a low stool in the bath tub to bathe him while he’s in the baby tub. (Or sometimes I’ll just kneel from outside the large bath tub) I gather that when he’s older (and can stand), you could probably just shower him (as i remember my parents doing for us when we were kids).
Hi Pegeen-
We had the exact same issue. Ikea has a blue baby bathtub that is perfect for older babies/toddlers and we’ve used that for the past year or so (our son is almost 2 already!) We do still put away most of our dishes, etc., but then we put it up on the kitchen counter and go to it! It has worked out pretty well so far, but you are right, it is a bit of a pain to clean up the dishes, etc. before bathtime. Good luck!
Dear Pegeen,
I started putting my babies in the shower sooner than 4 months and they loved it. Either dad or I would get in the shower with them, wash them, let them feel that nice water on their backs (as long as the pressure isn’t too hard for their tender skin, we had adjustable sprays), then hand them off to the “dry” parent while the one in the shower finished up. It takes a little practice, but I got to where I could even do it during the day by myself. I’d use a towel to get the baby dried off so it wouldn’t be so slippery and then slip on my big terry robe and bundle us both up in it while drying. I already had the baby’s clothes layed out and ready in the crib along with a towel for my hair.
If your baby gets used to the shower, the older they get, the easier it gets because they can sit up by themselves and then stand. My son’s favorite toy in the shower was a cup that we used to rinse his head off. He liked filling it up and pouring it out while I finished washing myself.
I’m sure there are probably some pretty great new-fangled gizmos these days to make showering easier.
I’ll be interested to see which ones are mentioned as I know of a new baby coming along soon.
Best wishes and enjoy your baby!