Baby Baths

There are bunches of ways to give a baby a bath.

My mom washed me in the kitchen sink.

(If you know me, my kitchen sink is empty for about 5 mins a day. 

So I've never used this method of baby bath time. But it sounds convenient, if you can keep a clean sink.)

I've done sponge baths on a towel.

And we have a really nice baby bath tub that my friend gave me.

It has a really cozy fabric hammock attachment for newborns.

And in the tub itself, you can set baby on one side and it has a sloped back.

And when baby gets bigger, they can sit on the other side and hold their self up.

Its a great baby tool.

(And actually, its a good toddler toy for J at the moment. 

She calls it her "seat" and drags it around the house! lol.)

But far and away my favorite way to bathe a baby 

is like this:

Getting in the bathtub together.

And as you can see,

Baby A is a fan as well.

The idea of washing a baby like this never occurred to me on my own.

I actually came across the idea in a postpartum weigh loss book that I read after J was born.

The author was talking about learning to appreciate your body in the moment,

and one thing she suggested was talking a bath with your baby.

Initially the idea sat strangely with me.

I was a new mom used to a world full of so many precautions which are there hoping to avoid abuse.

I wasn't sure it was entirely appropriate.

(In hindsight, now that J is two and interested in potty training, meaning that she follows me into the bathroom, nearly every time I need to go...

I can see that my fears of being naked in front of my baby were almost laughable.)

And of course,  mommy-and-baby bathtime is the furthest thing from abuse.

In fact 

its a seriously beautiful time.

Both my girls seemed thrilled every time we did a bath like this.

Its so fun.

Baby gets to do the closets thing to swimming that they can, 

while I hold their head up out of the water.

Baby A loves it.

She kicks and swishes, 

and is all smiles the whole time.

And I find it really easy to get baby clean this way.

I have a much easier time getting in all those baby rolls, and neck, and hands and toes,

while I'm in the tub too.

I feel really in control and don't worry she's gonna drowned or choke, 

because I've got her head in my hand.

Its great.

So I'm really very glad I came across the idea in that weight loss book.

And I do think it helped with my postpartum body image.

Its really sweet 

seeing your baby next to your belly,

it gives you a solid visual of what a miracle you both are.

Additionally,

I also came across the idea of bathing with your baby 

in regards to emotional healing from  c-sections.

The idea being

 it kind of forms a sort of birth type environment for mom and baby

naked, wet, warm and close.

I read one mom's story about how

 it wasn't until she bathed with her baby, that she really felt he was hers.

For me,

the c-section emotions and bath time still mainly revolved around

postpartum body image.

C-section bellies can have a strange look to them.

And like I said,

bathing together gave me perspective on

 what

was worth more to me.

I think it was in those baths with J

where I realized

I would never get rid of my stretch marks

(which had initially broke my pregnant heart),

because without them

I couldn't have her.

And I would do anything for her. 

So

I continue on with the tradition of baby-bathing with Baby A.

In fact,

We actually took our first bath together

as soon as I could stand after she was born.

And now,

It's one of my favorite things to do.