Bathtime Help

[Ninetales]

My 8.5 week-old hates baths and always has. She's had only 3 so far, with spot cleaning in between because she gets so upset. Even the spot cleaning is a battle - she seems to hate getting wet period.

I've tried water in her tub, no water in the tub and just using the sprayer attachment, warmer water, cooler water, going fast to get it over with, going slow to try to show her it's fun, everything.

Any tips on how to make bathing pleasurable, or at least keep her from screaming bloody murder until she sounds like she's going to pass out? It's horrible trying to bathe her when she's so terrified afterward that she shakes and hiccups, but she needs a bath more often than she's getting them.

[Katie T]

What about filling the big tub with water, wrapping her naked in a receiving blanket and getting in together, holding her close. Then you can slowely unwrap her if she stays happy.

How warm is the water, I find most people think it needs to be too cool and that makes my babies scream, they like warm (not hot, not tepid) water and they are much happier.

Have you tried putting a heater in the bathroom for a little while before to get it nice and toasty?

Hope some of this helps. It is so hard when they cry, luckily at that age they don't need a bath often.

[cristeen]

I take my little guy into the shower with me - in a water sling. He's not crazy about it, but he likes it better than the sink.

I will say though that most babies don't really NEED bathing more often. My 7 mo gets maybe one shower/month. I'll run his butt under the faucet on occasion if it's particularly nasty, but that's it.

[lifeguard]

I agree with Katie. The first couple baths for ds he screamed, after that we did all his baths with me in with him. And I have always done the water much warmer than most people.

[Critty]

We used the Spa Baby Tub with DD and she loved it, the first time we put her in it, she fell asleep as it mimics the womb. When she outgrew it (6 months) I just took her in the tub with me until she was safe to sit in the little tub on her own (11 months).

[flavorfull1]

we had this problem. Seriously, I thought I would never be able to give him a bath without him crying. the thing that seemed to make it better was putting a baby towel in the bath over his body. It was wet and I think it helped him orient himself better. I would either get in with him or hold him leaning over the side (which is killer on the back). Once he was calm with the wet baby towel, I was able to put him in the infant tub. Now he takes a bath, at a little over 3 mo, in the infant tub all exposed and splashes and laughs. It is so cute and fun. Seemed like he need to just get a little older to enjoy it but the towel worked until then.

[Ninetales]

I do use a towel on her but it doesn't seem to make much difference. I'll probably try taking a bath with her next time and see if that helps since she prefers being held for most things.

[texaspeach]

ds hated baths until we started bathing together. he liked deep baths! usually I would shower, run a bath and dh would bring me ds. we eased the transition by nursing in the tub. once he was able to sit on his own he enjoyed bathing alone in the big tub

[SilverFish]

definitely try the big tub filled fairly full with water just a bit cooler than you'd have for yourself (i like pretty hot baths though) and have someone hand her to you the first couple of times. i can easily bath my 2 month old myself now, even with us both in the tub. i just lay her towel on the floor beside the tub and put her on it first before getting out myself. she hated being bathed in a baby bath or sink, but loves to float and kick in deep water.