hi there. bath time was never an issue with my daughter as she loved baths from day 1 and it was always very relaxing, i would give her a bath then a massage with baby oil and she never cried, this lead me to believe all babies loved bath time.... BOY
was i wrong!
bathing my son for the first time i let the midwife in the hospital bathe him, here i was sitting getting excited about his very first ever bath and all ready to give him a nice massage to relax him for bed and give us some bonding time... um it didn't turn out like that!
as soon as the water touched him he turned into a hysterical screaming mess and refused to calm down! the midwife promptly removed him from the bath and started sponge bathing him, he screamed and screamed and screamed some more! lol
i then took it upon myself to end bath time and thought i would calm him with baby massage... um nope we were rewarded with even LOUDER screaming for our efforts! so i sat back and thought well OK this was his first bath perhaps it was a once off again I WAS WRONG!
the screaming bath times continued at home until very recently i thought id share a few tips of how we overcame our bath time woes... most of the tips are from what worked for me and some from what other ppl told me to try they failed for me but may help others in the same predicament.
don't give up! lol
a few ppl were around when i bathed Tobias and hated him being upset so much that they told me just not to bath him.... i don't think this is really an option.
babies DO have to adjust to things and its finding what works for them to be OK with new things that helps them adjust. sponge baths are fine for every now and then but i dreaded the thought of him never being OK with a proper bath and i think giving up on normal baths wouldn't have helped in the long run.
try to relax.
when a mum is upset or stressed a baby will pick up on it and react the same way. the baby is not hurt or in pain he/she is just crying and that is OK it wont harm them.
preparation
try to have everything ready before you take the babies clothes off. make sure you have the bath run and have tested the temperature, towel unfolded and ready to put bub in as soon as he/she is out, washer ( and shampoo is you are planning to use it) next to the bath and nappy clean clothes and moisturizer out wherever you plan to dress the baby.
be quick
if your baby really doesn't like the bath try to be as quick as possible, bath time need not take a long time. undress them, put them in wash quickly but gently and take them out. trying to stretch out the bath time to get them to understand that its not bad wont work they will just get more upset most of the time.
bath water basics
i found that we often think babies need water alot colder than they do, water should be around 32 degrees celsius, i know ppl who use the baby thermometers to do the water and i have one too but Ive had a bad experience with trusting a faulty one in the past so id prefer to trust my own judgement.
a bub in water the right temp will relax alot easier as it will remind them somewhat of what it was like in your tummy.
getting close
this was one thing that really worked for us. i always put my baby bath on the floor and kneel next to it as this works best for me.
try only wearing a tshirt or singlet top and leaning almost on top of your bub while you bath them. after getting bub undressed hold him/her close to your body and lean over the water, very slowly put bub in the water a bit at a time then keeping one arm underneath stay over the top of him/her really close to his/her face talking while you wash stay this way the entire bath and then lift baby onto the towel.
i think this works for tobi as it distracts him a bit and he has me nice and close so he wouldn't feel like hes alone.
another thing that would work the same is bathing WITH the baby.
timing for bub
try to bath bub at a time when he/she is calm happy and most of all AWAKE. waking a baby for a bath wont help them learn to like it, same as bathing them when they are overtired or hungry wont make the experience more positive for them.
stay the same
try to do the same things in order each time you bath at least the first few weeks.
this will help the baby know what to expect, changing routines can be very upsetting for a baby new to the world so try to keep everything consistent as much as possible. bathing at a similar time each day and bathing them the same way each time will help them to adjust to bath time more easily.
Tobi is now 5 weeks old and we have had quiet lovely relaxing baths all this week. he calmed more and more each bath time over the last few weeks till he got to the point where the crying stopped and he started to accept it and is beginning to enjoy baths, I'm still not pushing it even if hes calm and happy i am still sticking to what Ive done over the last few weeks I'm just now stretching out the time a lil longer each bath.
good luck and i hope this advice works for someone.
(January 6th) (
Shell
