Product spotlights: bath time

emmylou78 · February 2021

I know I’m putting up a bunch weekly lately but we are only on line 8!

This is a great time to, you know, SPOTLIGHT some PRODUCTS about bathtime, but it would also be great for STM+ to share your methods, tips, and techniques. There are so many other momentous things to plan for meticulously and you may then find yourself with a squirming 3-day old baby over a sink not entirely sure what to do!

So! Adorable baby towels and teensy washcloths? Soaps and shampoos that won't irritate that silky skin? Baby-holders/mini-baths for the bathtubs? Solutions for shower-only households? And looking ahead to older babies, what toys do you have in the bath with them? But more broadly, technique-oriented, how often do you really bathe a newborn? A 6-month old? A 1-year-old? Where do you do it (bath, separate baby bathtub, shower, sink)? How do you do it without that wriggly little peanut flinging themselves into the water? Do you get in there with them? Please share!

link to previous and upcoming topics https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mqlBWywDw6uR06rrrZZ0pQ5FdUpa5hMt4aB6jpO4ha4/edit

cyanope · February 2021

I had a fancy bathtub that sat inside our giant tub with DD...but hated it. We downsized to the “Angelcare” baby seat and LOVED it. I have also gotten my SILs (x2) obsessed with it. I’m a “minimal baby gear” advocate, so this thing checks all the boxes for me. I used the Honest all over wash and baby washcloths (no brand preference) for both my kids. Hooded towels are a must when they’re little, because they keep them toasty. I used the Carter’s hooded-towels. Nice and thick! That’s about it for bath-time gear for us.
This is a VERY unpopular practice, but I have bathed my kids pretty much every day since the day they were born. When they were babies, they both spit up like crazy, and I can’t handle that smell. I always like my babies to smell fresh. Then, as once they started eating, and as toddlers, they get SO dirty. So, I’ve always bathed them, every night. Again, I know most people don’t advocate for this, but my kids have never had particularly sensitive skin, and we slather them in the Tubby Todd “all over ointment” (it’s the BEST), so their skin is nice and hydrated!

claireloSC · February 2021

I bathe DD every other day, most of the time. Most people say 3-4 days when they're small but with spitup and poop and everything, it just seemed right. We had the boon naked collapsible bathtub because our place was small, but this time I'm probably just going to get some plastic junky thing that's cheap because that was really way too expensive. I mean, it worked and was nice, but $80 for a bathtub??? No. If you get a bathtub like that one without a sling, you need a newborn sponge which was nice for not only holding baby up but also keeping her warm. Number one bathtub item I use the most is the munchkin shampoo rinser. It's like $4 at target. Works very well for hair as DD needs shampoo and conditioner.

My other big thing is for newborns, I only used Mustela shampoo for the first few months and then the first few baths, also a scrubbie brush. We got rid of cradle cap right away with that and never had to deal with it again.

Agree on hooded towels. Ikea has some great ones that have lasted forever. We also use Honest co shampoo and body wash.

For showers, you can just take baby in with you and hold them. Once DD got a little older though, she was big mad about showers and is afraid of water in her face, so a bath is easier. We have a handheld head we use when she showers so she can control the water, otherwise she flips out. She's 5 though.

surrenderdorothy · February 2021

@cyanope we are the same bath every night fam. DS slept much better on bath nights so it became part of our routine. Thankfully he did not have dry or sensitive skin so that wasn’t an issue.

We love our 4Moms tub. It has a temp gauge on it that will beep if the water gets too hot. For infants you’ll need the sponge insert like @claireloSC referenced above. Only drawback is the size. It isn’t collapsible. We don’t have a ton of room in our kid bathroom and it fit fine between the vanity and the toilet. 99% of the time we just kept it in the bathtub. https://www.4moms.com/products/cleanwater-tub?variant=32183124623498&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIz9jJjMD87gIVy5yzCh2bVAn9EAQYASABEgIrnfD_BwE&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIz9jJjMD87gIVy5yzCh2bVAn9EAQYASABEgIrnfD_BwE

I love the Burt’s Bees baby wash as well as Aveno baby wash. Both worked great. The Burt’s Bees has the faintest honey smell that is lovely and not overpowering.

i honestly didn’t remember where we got our baby towels. They weren’t anything special. We did have a few animal personalized towels from PBK given to us as baby gifts that were really cute and super soft and thick. (That is now my go-to baby present.) I agree that hooded towels are a must. Also I would suggest buying a bunch of cheap white wash clothes. DS had a closed tear duct that required a lot of warm compresses. We went through so many a day, it was nice to always have a clean pile on hand.

Eta product link.

shoogapoff · February 2021

I was wanting to get a padded sink cushion like this:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5020794/uploads/editor/pp/zk3n3mu7ldah.jpg

But idk if others have tried this method and have thoughts.

I like the idea of holding a baby in the shower. @claireloSC in your experience, was YD slippery when you did that? That's my only worry.

surrenderdorothy · February 2021

@shoogapoff I did the shower thing once and almost dropped him so that ended quickly. They get sooo slippery!

claireloSC · February 2021

It can be, but we figured it out. We showered with her pretty frequently when she was a baby. Handed her off to other parent when she was all done to finish washing ourselves. @shoogapoff

emily1052 · February 2021

@shoogapoff we have one of those flower cushions and loved it when DS was itty bitty!! He was so comfy in it!

After that we had the cheap plastic tub that worked great. Then we got the inflatable duck tub!

cyanope · February 2021

@shoogapoff, we often showered with our babies! They DO get slippery, but we just adjusted. I held baby, sideways across my arm (head towards the elbow crease), and tucked her/him into my body. I also made sure to have a tight grip on their thigh with the arm they were laying on.

grogu · February 2021

I plan on using the shower mostly with the odd sink bath.
Again, tiny living 😅 we have a baby bath that my 4 year old still uses so I'll get an insert for that if needed, I just don't like kneeling on the floor to bathe baby.

mrspants0809 · February 2021

@surrenderdorothy we loved the 4Moms tub too. I still have it but need to see if it’s still in working condition (it’s 6 years old by the time babe comes around).

I’m tempted to look into a water sling for showers. We will definitely need one for when we travel and will only have a shower to wash everyone.

Clobert · February 2021

We have the “blue tub” with the sling insert. It’s perfect and cheap. I don’t like having unnecessary baby gear but it really saves water to have a little tub and we got it for free (plastic tubs are so easy to find cheap or free). It fit on our double sink with the notch perfectly and then went in the bath. We’ve used lots of different soaps. Earth mama angel baby, everyone baby soap, honest. I don’t have a strong preference.

We got baby towels with the hoods and washcloths and I’m glad we did, they’re so much smaller in the laundry than wasting giant towels on baby. Just like any towel you can get cheap or expensive, they both work great, but more expensive like pottery barn is a little plusher.

We give newborns a bath like once or twice a week and then we generally bathe every day after. About 4/5 months, because it’s part of their bedtime routine and once they’re sitting up well they start to play and enjoy it.

We have such random stuff in the bath and they don’t last forever, because they’ll get gross after a while. Avoid the squirt toys if you can.

mrspants0809 · February 2021

Speaking of squirting toys- for the longest time I would hot glue the holes on these shut so no water would get in/no mold. Once my daughter got older I stopped glueing them shut and try not to buy them but when she gets them as gifts I just toss them after a month or two depending on usage. Most are used as outdoor toys in her water table/pool.

litzi-2 · February 2021

we also used the cheap blue tub with insert for both my kids, tho now i think i lost the insert. i tried daily baths, or just as needed. i think baths might have helped my first one sleep, but it didn't for my second, so we just bathed as needed for spit up. i didn't use soap for half of the baths, and when we did we just used a bit of any sensitive baby soap. Also use the hooded towels, they last forever. Both of my kids were colicky (i swear the first screamed all day, thats all i can remember) and something that always helped them was gently "blow drying" them after the bath. i don't know if it was the warmth or noise or what, but they loved it.

BourbonBiscuits · February 2021

We've used that blue whale tub with the sling for both my bigs, so we'll use that for this one too. We just used J&J baby shampoo with DS, but switched to Aveeno with DD because she was more sensitive. DS (first child) got a bath every night. DD was lucky to get one weekly. Now they're 2 and 4 and they get baths together every other night but only wash hair once a week. We were just talking about this in our F19 Fbook group! We've never showered with the kids but aren't opposed to it. They just hate showers soooo ...

I was REALLY afraid of the first bath - my PPA/PPOCD was out of control with DS and I was terrified he would slip under the water. I think it's one of those things that seems really terrifying and unfathomable until you actually do it. Then it's just like bathing a little doll.

pickle-chips · February 2021

We were given the Fisher Price 4in1 baby bath and it has been great. I really liked bathing the kids at counter height, versus bending over a tub/kneeling. https://www.bedbathandbeyond.ca/store/product/fisher-price-4-in-1-sling-39-n-seat-bath-tub/5232875?categoryId=22947.

+1 on hooded towels!

We did baths every 2-3 days for the first month-ish? Then started daily baths in the evening as part of our bedtime routine. Like @litzi-2 we didn’t use soap with every bath, just warm water and a washcloth. Now we use the Everyone 3-in-1 kids soap... lavender lullaby I think? We bathe the kids every night now but we wash their hair every few days.

My absolute favourite moisturizer for after bath is MooGoo, but I haven’t found it in Canada and I don’t want to pay shipping from Australia haha. But otherwise we’ve had good luck with some grocery store available unscented, sensitive skin types.

Our favourite bathtub toys are Bathtub pals. We have the shark, turtle, puffer fish, scuba diver. They are great for teething too. You can chuck them in the dishwasher and they have big holes for drainage.

Now that the kids are in the big tub, we love this anti-slip mat https://www.babiesrus.ca/en/Baby-Works-Total-Tub-Bath-Mat/6B5D62CB.html. It’s long so it covers the entire surface of the tub. You can also chuck in the washing machine. And I would also recommend a faucet cover! Our oldest got a massive scrape/bruise on his back from standing up under the spout. We have the Moby spout cover that’s shaped like a whale.

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Product spotlights: bath time

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