Bumpie Tip of the Week: How to Help Baby Enjoy Bath Time
Photo: FAN / The Bump
How can you get baby in and out of the tub—without tears? Try these tips from users on our message boards.
User frankie119 says the best trick to helping baby love bath time is to make sure he never gets cold. “We put a space heater in the bathroom on 80 degrees so it’s warm when he gets out,” she says. If you don’t have a space heater, try user 54hj96er34ws’s method. “My fiance or I take a shower first so the bathroom is nice and steamy,” she says.
For a happy transition into the tub, the extra warmth of a towel or washcloth on baby’s skin can make adjusting to the water easier. “We have a body towel that we drape on top of him to keep his chest warm,” says frankie119. “It’s shaped to fit perfectly around his neck, across his sides, and down to his legs.” Skin-to-skin contact can also do the trick. “I usually keep one hand on him and wash with the other,” says user Lollilately.
To get baby out of the tub without tears, make sure he stays as warm as possible. Lollilately lays a towel on her son’s bouncer next to her before bath time. That way, he can go straight from the water to the towel. “I also lay another towel on his changing pad so he has a dry one when I get there, because by that time the other one is damp,” she says. “I use a lot of towels, but my son screams less!”
Did any of these tricks work for you? How do you get baby to enjoy taking a bath?
The Knot Blog
The Nest Blog
There’s also the option of getting into the tub with baby. I place the baby tub in our regular bathroom tub, bring baby into the tub with me, let her dangle her toes under the running water to get used to it, then place her in her own little tub while it fills with water. I plug it up, then enjoy a mini bath myself. She loves it – no tears!
In preparing for the bath I allow direct body contact with me & my baby. I introduce him to water gradually i.e starting with washing his head first while the body is embraced to me. Before proceeding immersing him in water totally. I concentrate keeping him on his stomach position while sponging him before rinsing with water, with my arm beneath him. At times, with this he pass on sleeping comfortably in bath.