And Now There is Bath Time

Your Baby

For first time mothers, there is a batch of new skills and activities to deal with. Many are reprieves of basic skills that you learned as a young child. As an adult you may be so used to using them that you forgot you had to be taught. Well, now that you have become a mother, you go through it all again, teaching your baby what you are glad you learned as a child.

Bathing

Just one of the activities people are not born able to handle is washing. There are a number of ways to wash your baby. Baby wipes are handy. Still, especially due to how rapidly your child is growing - there is the need to wash the entire baby a couple of times each week. If you have dry or sensitive skin yourself, then you need very gentle cleansers and should moisturize after the bathing process. Baby oil works for many, but there are other ways. Ask your doctor or skin care experts about the gentlest methods.

There are special baby baths - often made of plastic and easy enough to stick into your sink. You can also use a sink. There are 2 most important factors. First is making sure the water is neither too hot nor too cold - although too hot can hurt your baby more easily than cold water, but both are unpleasant. The other is simply keeping your baby safe and able to breathe during the bath. Neither is difficult, but both are important.

Over time, your baby's physical development will change the experience. In 2 or 3 years, you will convert over to bath time. At that point you baby begins to be able to help wash him or herself. Your child may learn how to wash by age 4 but most will be 6 years old before they really can handle it for themselves - especially shampooing the hair.

Bonding with a parent and relaxing in the bath are common. A lot of people like to play in and with water. There are great toys for this. Other people find their baby dislikes bathing. In those cases, toys are to distract the child from displeasure. When bath time is more fun, then it is more fun. You may be able to negotiate with your child to have the hair washed if you let them pour water through a water wheel stuck to the wall of the tub on the inside. If you don't have a swimmer, sometimes just getting it over with quickly then giving the child a reward or soothing the child afterwards is the best you can do.

Many children are not able to take over their own bathing duties for themselves until they are 6 or 7 years old. Hair brushing and tooth brushing are the related 'life skills' with which there is the most 'drama' or education needed.