Bathing a 14 month old while pregnant

smw123 · June 2011

I'm almost 10 weeks pregnant and I'm beginning to get uncomfortable when I bathe my 14 month old. He isn't a heavy baby either he only weighs around 19 lbs but bending over to pick him up out of his little tub is what bothers me. I feel like I'm putting a lot of pressure on my stomach when I do this and I'm afraid it's going to get worse once I'm bigger. He isn't walking yet either so I don't want to have him stand up. I also haven't tried bathing him in the big tub yet, I dont' know if that will help. My DH works evenings so getting him to help with bath time is out of the question. Does anyone else have the same issue? Is there anything that helped you? Thank you.

4realyo · June 2011

I'm 30 wks pregnant and my 19 mo old weighs 28 lbs -- I just lift her out. I dont see what the issue could be (especially early in the pregnancy and with a light baby). typically I lift her out of the tub first and put her on the mat next to the tub and then wrap her towel and pick her up again to carry her to her room. Before I would try to do it all at once. Women take care of babies all the time while pregnany, you'll be okay.

kcisthebombdotcom · June 2011

My DS was 19lbs when I was about 10 weeks pregnant, and I just lifted him. You're not going to hurt your belly by doing that. He was 25lbs at the end of my pregnancy, and I was still lifting him in and out of the bathtub up until the last 4 weeks when I passed that duty off to DH because my belly was too big to do it anymore.

The nice part is in the next few months, he will be walking and it will be a million times easier since he will stand on his own. Get some bath mats so he can't slip and hang in there.

Your other options are to only give him a bath every other day (assuming he doesnt absolutely have to have a bath to go to sleep) or have DH give him a bath in the morning.

JDWNYC · June 2011

While pg with DD I got DS into the big tub - probably when he was just about a year old. You should probably get on that bc it helps when you can just sit on the edge of the tub with your feet in it, instead of trying to sit on your knees to deal with a baby bath tub. It was a tough transition for DS and involved a week of more screaming than bathing, but now he loves the big tub and I made it through 40 weeks bathing him 4-5 days a week (2-3 days my DH was able to bathe him, usually on weekends).

howleyshell · June 2011

Ditto PP.

Put him in a big tub and then put your foot (or feet) in to get him out.

I felt off balance leaning over the tub and lifting once I had a big belly. Actually stepping into the tub with him made it more like just lifting him regularly.

And also ditto PP's - you're not hurting the baby.

CandT · June 2011

I'm uncomfortable sitting beside the tub and reaching in to wash DD, but lifting her out has been fine so far. I have an older house and one of our tubs has bars on the side, those really come in handy!

Could you bathe him at a different time when your DH is around? Also, as he gets older he'll be able to help you out more, start working on that now!

ak1234 · June 2011

4realyo:
I'm 30 wks pregnant and my 19 mo old weighs 28 lbs -- I just lift her out. I dont see what the issue could be (especially early in the pregnancy and with a light baby). typically I lift her out of the tub first and put her on the mat next to the tub and then wrap her towel and pick her up again to carry her to her room. Before I would try to do it all at once. Women take care of babies all the time while pregnany, you'll be okay.

This. I just gave my 17 mo a bath yesterday...I am 39w3d today. I actually never changed how I took my DS out of the tub. You aren't hurting anything by lifting your son.

smw123 · June 2011

Thanks to the ladies who suggested sitting on the edge of the tub. I didn't even think of doing that. I also thought about having DH bathe him in the morning but he doesn't sleep well at night without his bath. I am 5 feet tall and the edge of the tub is right under my armpit when I bathe him so for me it just feels hard. I already feel like my son is half my size in height since my DH is a little over 6 ft tall. I had preterm labor at 29 weeks with DS and was dialated to 4 and 100% effaced until I had him at 36 weeks. I had a 5 week hospital stay and 2 more weeks of bedrest at home. I'm still paranoid so when I feel pressure it scares me and I really don't want to go through all that again since I have a little one at home. Thanks again.

tazmania525 · June 2011

my DH works evenings too and we just had to start doing baths during the day instead of at night, sometimes now i'll give the kids a bath in the kitchen sink and i think to myself "why didnt i do this while pregnant with the twins?!" there is no strain on my back and DS thinks its really neat to be taking a bath in the sink!

Monsieur_et_Madame_Ha · June 2011

Don't know if this would help, but how would you feel about bathing with him? You could then start off crouching in the tub, then pick him up and get up? Would that make it easier on you? If not, do you HAVE to have his little tub in the bath tub? How about sitting it on a table or counter?

smw123 · June 2011

I have tried bathing with him when we are on vacation and it did scare me but at least DH was there to take him from me. I would be too afaid of trying it without DH here. I am thinking I might move his little tub to our master bathroom and put it in the soaking tub there or bathe him in the tub since it's a lot bigger than the other tubs in our house. If that doesn't work and once I'm big I might put his little tub on the counter. I'm sure that would really help me out.

Kristin131 · June 2011

I'm almost 39 weeks and still bathing my 19 month old (who is over 25 lbs). We have a deeper tub too. He stands up when he's reado to come out and I just lift him out while kneeling on the floor. It's not the easiest thing but I get him in and out just fine.

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