Because of our tiny house I spent a while researching
compact baby baths, since every “must-have” list told me I needed one. There
are some pretty cool solutions out there – like the Boon collapsible one, or
the bath divider that fits in your tub so you only have to half fill it. But
unfortunately these all tend to be kinda costly and I was really looking for
something cheaper. And the traditional ones take up a lot of space we just don’t
have.
I’ve now come to the conclusion that there’s no need for a dedicated
baby bath at all.
We sort of had one for the first few weeks – our laundry basket is a black plastic tub that worked out to be a pretty good size for a newborn bath, so we filled it up and had benchtop baths. It was unwieldy to empty though – and if we hadn’t had it I probably would have given the kitchen sink a good clean and used that.
As Young Sir has almost doubled in size since this photo was taken he no longer fits in his box |
However. Young Sir really likes kicking around in the deep
water, and it’s much easier sitting in the tub than leaning over the side. So
that’s a good option.
The other option is the shower. It sounds treacherous but
honestly – easier than filling a tub and the baby is only the same amount of
slippery. It’s easiest as a two person job – getting in and out is simpler with
an extra set of hands to pass the baby to – but completely doable solo as well.
If I’m on my own I get Young Sir ready, wrap him in a towel and pop him on the
floor, shower myself, pick him up and get him clean, turn shower off, wrap him
in a towel, put him back on the floor while I get sorted, then dry him off and
get him dressed. Like everything this will get harder when he gets mobile… But
for now we’re good!
As for the other baby bath stuff you ‘need’ – the hooded
towels are nice and quite cute, and we got given several, but regular towels
(astonishingly) also work just fine. Washcloths are handy – when Young Sir was
very little we used a muslin as the cloth is a bit softer, but now we just use
the regular flannels we already had.
We don’t use much in the way of shampoo or soap (he’s mostly
bald and doesn’t get very dirty!) and we have a few samples we got from I-don’t-know-where
which do the trick if we do want more than water. By the time we’ve used those
up he’ll probably be fine with our normal shower stuff! Toys are completely
optional (and reasonably useless in the shower) – Young Sir was given a set of
squirty bath toys and he loves them, but he also loves flannels and splashy
water so the toys are optional.
So basically… We’re lazy and cheap, but it works for us and our
baby seems happy and clean. Happy days!
Where do you bath your baby? Have you tried showering them?
We tend to use shower for cleaning bodies, and bath for playtime about once a week.
ReplyDeleteAlso in our house showering little babies is a Dad job, which is great for two reasons, firstly Mum gets lots of one on one baby time during feeding, so it's nice Dad can have some special time too, and second, Mum still gets a nice childfree space in her own shower, so good for a sanity break. :-)
I love the smell of Johnson Sleepytime lavender bathwash, so we often use that in bath.
Nice! Love the special Dad time, sounds like an all around win. :-)
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