Now that we've had Edith for two weeks (today! happy two weeks, baby), we figured it was time to actually give her a bath. Tamsen had already taken a plastic bathtub and added claw feet to it because of course she had, so we made sure it was watertight, filled it up, and put our baby in it.
We thought about taking pictures or a video, but it quickly became apparent that that wouldn't have been such a good idea. Edith really, really didn't like being in the bathtub. She screamed and thrashed and got pretty close to sticking her face underwater. I did my best to hold her head up while Tamsen gently scrubbed her skin and washed her hair. We only subjected Edith to a few minutes before plucking her out and wrapping her in a towel. Once she was safely out of the tub and back in my arms, she gave me a sad, mournful look out of the corner of her eye, as if to say, "Don't put me back in there, Dad."
So I guess we're terrible parents? Either we need to find a better way to clean our baby or resign ourselves to having a stinky little person around the house.
Resign yourself? Don't you already live with Tamsen? (...Zing!)
ReplyDeleteI have angry pictures of all of my kids' first baths. They're sooo slippery when they're newborns that it really is a two person job.
ReplyDeleteBabies are like that. They don't grow out of it by age two, either.
ReplyDeleteOne tip we got that helped our newborn enjoy baths more was to put a small towel on the bottom of the tub (softer), and a wet, warm washcloth over her tummy while she's in the water, that way she doesn't feel the cold air. Also, to avoid peeing accidents in the tub, hold a warm, wet washcloth on each of her hands for about a minute before putting her in the water (while she's still wearing her diaper, of course); and use the washcloth to wash her face before the bath.
I'm sure this advice is late, and you've got it figured out by now. :)
I think we made the mistake of making Will's first bath too cold. I was so paranoid about burning him that I made it lukewarm. The next time I made it a lot warmer and he LOVED it.
ReplyDelete