After we brought Cameron home from the hospital, we bathed him in the baby tub we had. Cameron… tolerated it. Barely. I must admit, I was pretty jealous of all the moms who said that their babies loved bath time. For me, bathing Cameron was a chore. I specifically put it off, then felt guilty about it. (I will say that using a baby sling in a baby tub makes bathing baby so much easier!).
I knew that Cameron didn’t like bath time because he got cold so quickly. There was such little water in the baby tub that the chilly March temperature inside my house cooled the water down quite quickly. Not only that, but it was very hard to keep him in the water at all times, so my soggy little baby would quickly get cold.
One night, I decided I would try a new approach. I figured that if I was also in the water, I could make sure the water stayed warm, I could snuggle with my baby to keep him warm, and I could help keep more of Cameron’s body under water.
I started getting into the big-people-tub with Cameron. It took some effort to hold him and wash him at the same time, but our bath times became so much better. I even got to the point where I could get in and out of the tub while holding Cameron without help from the Hubs (this helped when we had blowouts or major spit-ups during the day).
A few weeks ago, I started noticing Cameron really starting to have fun in the water. He would kick with his legs in order to make splashes. I finally thought it was time to let Cameron be in the bath by himself.
I put just the slightest amount of water in the bottom of the tub and I gently laid Cameron down into it. At first he looked at me confused. This was a little new. Then he moved. He realized he was completely free when he moved, and his movement made the water move. He splished. He splashed. He sprayed himself. He sprayed me. He had a blast.
I think we have a new bathtime routine.
And I can finally say that my baby loves the bath!
