When my first two children were born I bathed them in the baby bath like we were shown by the midwives and thought there was no other acceptable or safe way to bath them.  Then when my third child was born the midwife I had asked me if I had

ever showered with my other two children as newborns.  She said it was a wonderful way to bond with our baby.  So on day three when I went home from the hospital my husband showered himself while I undressed our baby and got him ready for the shower.  Then I would pass him to my husband in the shower and wait for them to finish.  Then I would take or son out of the shower, dry and dress him.  It was definatley a wonderful bonding experience for the both of them.  Our baby was always content and relaxed in the shower to the point where he would fall asleep with the water gently massaging his back.  It wasn't long before he could be put all the way under the water and have it go over his face without a fuss.  My husband and I totally believe that this has helped him (husband) have a much stronger bond with our son.  He always felt it hard to bond in the earlier days of our first two children with them all being breastfed.  This gave them their own close time with the all important skin on skin touch, much more bonding than being bathed with just one arm holding him.  It also came in handy when the weather turned cold knowing that the shower was always going to be the same temperature and not start to get cool.

He is now 18 months old and still loves to get in the shower with his dad and sit between dads feet and play in the bath.  Its one thing I wish we knew about at the beginning.