Bathtime strategy?

elizabeth0705

Hi all,

I used to post on here more frequently, but my twins started getting more mobile and that's been the end of my web surfing :-). Anyway, I was wondering--how do you entertain/distract twin B when you are bathing twin A (and vice versa)? Up until now, I've been putting one baby in the rock 'n' play in the bathroom next to me while bathing the other baby. Now that they are both starting to outgrow the RNP and are crawling around, I'm not sure what to do! 

I don't think bathing them at the same time would be a great idea yet...DD still topples over occasionally while sitting up, and I don't think I could handle helping her while also keeping my very active DS under control. I also don't love the idea of DS crawling around the bathroom floor, although I guess we could do that if we had to.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

amex0107

We have an exersaucer that we use.  It's too big to be in the bathroom, but I put it right outside the door in the hall.  It works, but lately they've been getting fussy.  I think they're over the exersaucer as entertainment.  What about one of those Johnny Jump Ups?

jessican08

That was a tough stage, for sure. Once they got too big for the RnP, I used the bouncey seat and then the PnP (I'd pull it up close to the bathroom door).

bethCT

As soon as one was sitting well enough for me to be comfortable, I bathed them together.  The other one went into a bath seat.  And I put bath bumpers in in case of falls.
Now, when I bathe them together and I am home alone, my trick is to bring 2 diapers into the bathroom.  I let one play while I dry off the other (no lotion yet) and diaper, then the other one comes outand gets a diaper while the first one crawls away.  I do lotion when I dress them.

jcath

Bathing was really hard until they were about one.  We used the plastic infant bathtub for a long time, we actually had two and my nanny would sometimes bathe them at the same time with both bath tubs on the floor of their bedroom - it worked well but lots of set up and clean up. 

I also just gave up on bathing them that frequently.  If dh wasn't home, they generally didn't get a bath.

yinyang124

I never had issue bathing them together once they were sitting up. I have a non-slip mat in the tub and would fill with only a few inches of water at first.  If either of them tried to stand or crawl, I would take them out immediately so they learn no horsing around in the tub. They are almost 10 months now and still well behaved in the bath.

meldoo2002

I always bathed them together once they were out of the infant tub.  I used bath seats like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Baby-Bath-Ring-Seat-KETER/dp/B000TBK4RY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376697339&sr=8-1&keywords=bath+seats

Obviously not that $$$$.. they were under $20 when we used them.  They were great from not great sitters... that or a laundry basket in the base of the tub with both in the basket worked too.

elizabeth0705

Thanks everyone!! This is really helpful info :-).

AmyJoy728

Once they were out of the baby tub I had them sitting in a bath seat/sling type of thing but they outgrew that fast. Once they were steady sitters I just had them in the tub with only a few inches of water. Now the trick is to keep them sitting!

CNYBride05

@meldoo2002 - I used those bath rings when I was nannying for twins.  They were great.  I have no idea why they are so crazy pricey now and unavailable in most stores

I also like the clothes basket idea.  Our girls LOVE their bath so far (4w, 1d), so here's hoping that stays true and when they are sitting, we can tandem bathe :-)  I'm not opposed to getting in with them, sometimes, but it seems impractical to think that I'll bathe with them on the regular.

Rynleigh

We just started bathing them together this week (see pictures https://forums.thebump.com/discussion/12039739/goodbye-baby-bath-tub#latest) 

We will probably keep doing that until they're old enough to want to take showers on their own. Just so much easier to put an inch or two of water in the tub and just let them both sit in it while we make sure everyone gets scrubbed down. 

(edit: just saw that they aren't sitting just yet - up until this week, we were just waking one baby up a little bit earlier from their nap to get them washed and dressed, then we'd put dressed baby back in their crib and wash the other one)

earlyspring1

I don't know if this would work for your unsteady sitter, but I put two laundry baskets in the tub and do both at once. When they weren't sitting as well I'd put towels underneath them to make it less slippery. If they did happen to topple, they wouldn't hit their heads on the side of the tub or get a facefull of water. Now that they're great sitters I still do laundry baskets to keep their toys from floating away and keep them from drowning each other. I do like pp and diaper them in the bathroom and bring them to their bedroom to get dressed.

caden

We use bath seats too. I don't know what I'd do without them. I use them even though my kids are almost 3 b/c it keeps them from standing up. I started using them before my kids were good at sitting up and stuffed them with towels. And like a pp if my DH isn't home they don't get baths.

Here's some cheaper bath seats:
https://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_04915381000P?ci_src=184425893&ci_sku=SPM746436701&sid=IDx20130125xMPBBYx003

https://compare.ebay.com/like/251213040892?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar

The cheap ones used to be everywhere but I think there was a stupid recall (kids can drown in them. duh, they're in a bath and need supervision) and now they're really hard to find. If you have mom-to-mom sales near you they might be there too.

BananaPancake

We just do baths rapid-fire. When they weren't sitting up, one was on the floor on towel and the other went, got, washed and went onto the towel. Baby B went right in after, washed him real quick and got him out. Now that they're sitting up, I put about two inches of water in the tub and let they go nuts. They flip all over, acting like fools. Once the bathroom warms up and the boys are washed, I let the water out and they slide around in the tub, just because I think it's hilarious to watch them wrestle around all slippery. :-)