Thursday, October 11, 2012

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.

9 comments:

  1. LUCKY! We don't have a bathtub, and won't until at the very least when Noelle is 18 months old. At that point, probably way too late :-)

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