Lets talk about bath time

dh works 24 hour shifts. so there are baby bath nights that i am alone with all the kiddos...twins 10months and a 5 year old. If both of us are here dh baths one at a time. but when he is not here i give a bath to one while leaving the other, crying, in the playpen. then switch. I would love to give them a bath at the same time...but it looks like this right now..one in the bath seat and one everywhere in the tub. What do you guys do?? I know could just get another seat but they will be out of it soo soon... any help would be great!
Marisa

 

we always bathe ours at the same time... one thing I'd say is that when you do have both of you there, I'd try to get them used to bathing together, that might help when you go to bath them together.

logistically, I would bring the exersaucer nearby so I could quarantine one while I put the other in the tub, then I would get that twin and put them in. Then when I was drying, I'd do the same, I'd dry one and put them in the exercaucer then get the other and dry them. then get them both into the gated play area and put diapers and PJs on.

we never used a bath seat, they seems cumbersome. ours just stand/sit in the tub w/a tub mat.

good luck.

 

We put one in the bouncy chair in the bathroom while bathing the other one, than switch. An exersaucer is a good idea, but it might be hard to carry to the bathroom if it's on another floor. I don't know if they will still sit in the bouncy at 10 months though.

 

I just bathed my almost 10 month olds together by myself, for the first time. It went pretty well. I just put an inch or so of water in the tub and let them crawl around and splash. DD normally tries to escape her duck tub, but did better in the big tub. I just brought them both in the bathroom with me while I was getting everything set up. I carried them to their nursery at the same time to dress them for bed. The only problem was that DS pushed on the water stopper and let all the water out on 2 occasions, so we had to refill. I think we need a new water stopper.

You might consider bathing your LOs together and see how it goes.

 

At that age, if I were alone, I bathed them one at a time. The other waited in the exersaucer or the Bumbo seat until it was their turn. You might enlist your 5 year old to help entertain the one that isn't in the tub!

 

I am still bathing them in a baby tub - one at a time!! I can't wait to let them at it in the big tub but haven't got round to it yet lol maybe i will try this evening? I will let you know how it goes...

 

Do you have a big tub (like master garden tub) or a shower/tub? I found it much easier to bathe them in our big tub. I just put about an inch of water in the tub and washed really quickly. There wasn't much "play" time. For you, you could quickly wash the one not in a seat and then take them out dry and diaper then do the other. I used a bouncy seat to contain my boys when they were small, but at 10 months, I just brought some toys in the bathroom and closed the door. They were excited for a new space to explore.

 

This is what I did. Except I have a 3 YO.

 

Hmmm...are they sitting up reliably by themselves? (Do you think they will fall over if you sit them in the bathtub without the bath seat?) If they are not sitting up reliably by themselves, I would probably continue to bathe them one at at time (making certain one was occupied in another room and could not get into any trouble, or in the bathroom with me at the same time as the bath, in an bouncy seat).

If they are sitting up reliably, you can bathe them yourself. The process I use is to put a couple of inches in the bathtub and put in tub toys. I place all the towels, washcloths, baby soap, baby shampoo, lotions, comb, diapers, pajamas and whatever else I might need in the bathroom and in arms reach. I close the bathroom door. I place both babies outside the closed bathroom door. Then I put both babies inside the bathroom and close the door. I undress both babies. Once they are both undressed, I put them both into the tub. I wash one baby fully and then the other. I shampoo and rinse each baby. I drain the water from the tub and I take one (very wet) baby out and wrap a towel around the baby and then the next one comes out and gets a towel. I dry off the first baby and put on a diaper and pajamas while the other baby plays with tub toys outside the tub (or something inappropriate like the toilet paper which produces much "no, don't touch that, come heres"). I dry off the next baby and put on a diaper and pajamas while the first baby plays with the tub toys.

Writing it all down, it seem exhausting and it is something of a coordination effort. It is definitely do-able for me because I have a very small bathroom. If you have a larger bathroom, you may want to consider adding a bouncy seat or exersaucer to help entertain one baby. Best of luck!

 

I do baths by myself right now too bc my DH is a farmer and its harvest here right now. I basically just plop them in with toys and begin washing their hair then their bodies them rinse them off and then I can sit back and let them play for a few mins before laying them both on a towel together, smooshing them together and carrying them in their room to get ready for bed. We also have a lot of "no no sit downs" going on during bath!

 

I'm not sure why the notion they have to be sitting up, because I can tell you that 2 wet squirmy babies crawling around in the bathtub is not only hilarious but cute as heck!! :wub: ( I secretly love nekkid baby booties, but that's just me! :lol

I normally have dh here to help me, but even without him it wouldn't be difficult. Grab a couple towels, and diapers to take into the bathroom, put a couple inches of water in the tub, and throw your naked babies in. Add some bath toys and you got a tub full o fun! I put some baby wash in when I run the water to give them bubbles, and make washing them easier.

We let ours play for awhile, then you could simply wash both, take one out onto one towel, dry, diaper and then let them roam (this requires pre-babyproofing of course), then take the second one out, dry and diaper. If you want to lotion and jammie in there great, if not...well you get the idea

 

Thanks everyone. I think I've kinda got it now. It turns out ds is afraid of the bath tub when not in the bath seat...so he just stands at the edge of the tub and dd plays all over the tub. I'm using the handheld to rinse them off. I can do it. Check that off my list...now what's next...hehe