baths are really getting wild

I have started bathing the kids together and i must say it is sooo much fun! So much so, that i am thinking i need to move the time to earlier in the day because they are wound up instead of sleepy when we are finished.

The biggest problem is DD will not stay seated! She is really stable on her feet but i do not want her standing in the tub. Today i put her back down 23 times in a row! I return her to a sitting position and sternly say, 'sitting'/'you must sit'. She thinks it is funny, and it just gets her more wound up.
She is not getting it!!!... this really is the first time i have tried to give her instruction.
Is she too young to get this? I have tried distraction it works for about 2 seconds.

My thoughts:
- i could remove her from the tub and put her on the rug in the bathroom. this might work b/c she really does want to be IN the tub. (the bathroom is really warm so getting chilled is not a concern)
- is there a bath chair that i could strap her into after i ask her to sit 3 times?... i have seen some with suction cups on the bottom but our tubs floor is rough and they wouldn't stick.. any other chairs ideas?
- i could go back to bathing them separately. i would really rather have them together. if i can get the standing problem taken care of would be faster and they love it.

Any ideas thoughts would be welcomed!! Thank in advance!

 

If you can find one big enough, try something like this. Not to be all doom and gloom but I wasn't as strict as I should have been with Vivi about not standing up in the bath tub and one night while throwing a fit her hand slipped on the side of the tub and she ended up with a broken front tooth. (She was 18 months at the time, definitely stable on her feet.) We now have a rubber mat on the side of the tub as well as the bottom. I'm going to use an inflatable tub with Livie and Sophie from the get go until they outgrow it.

 

I'm so not strict about them standing up

 

That sounds so fun, I can't wait until my girls are big enough for such shenanigans! She's not too little for you to be giving her instruction but at this age expect to be doing it 23 times fro the next 23 days! She'll get it eventually. She's not being naughty, just experimenting with cause and effect. I would suggest playing some games when you're not in the bath where she has to sit down and you go wild when she does and clap and cheer, put a mat on the floor and have pretend baths so you can say 'we have to sit down to be safe' lots of times... give her lots of safe opportunities to get the concept. Personally I'd avoid the angst of strapping down a child unless she's willing, I'd rather cut the bath short than make it into a negative experience or a battle of wills. Just my two cents worth!!!

 

I'd just get her out, too. Give her a chance but when you are tired of sitting her down, just plop her out.

 

I agree that it's just a stage and not really a defiance thing. However I was pretty strict about not standing, and would either take them out, or give them a slap on their butt. They sat down pretty quick after that (after repeated warnings that is). Not even a hard slap, but enough that it caught their attention, I told them "Sit down now or you get out!" If they didn't listen, out they came. They caught on very quickly.

 

I like everything all of the above people said but if you really want a chair to use I would try a bumbo seat. Depending on how full you make your tub though. Since they are so light that they do float unless there is a child in it. =)

 

Ditto all of the above...I must say I could probably be stricter with the standing in the bath as we have had a few slips even with a non slip mat. Although they do now tend to sit back down when I ask them to. I take them out if they get too rowdy (which is usually a lot of splashing) and I found that even though they seemed wound up instead of calm, before bed, I've made a slight change to their routine, with a half hour of quiet play - 15mins downstairs (where the toys are) then 15mins upstairs in their room looking through books. ETA: I find they expend their last bit of energy in the bath and after, which has been making them sleep better.

I did look at getting a seat for them initially but decided against it - the reviews I read meant that Liara's chunky legs would be a bit of a problem with getting in and out.

 

Standing is a phase. Babies and toddlers are impulsive and it takes a while for them to make a connection between an instruction and action and/or a natural consequence (ending the bath because they are standing). The best solution is just to continue carefully supervising baths and sitting her down when she stands while also saying, "We sit in the tub. Sit down"--it will catch on eventually. If you're having a particularly rough bath, just end the bath for her or for both of them.

I'm strict about it in the sense that I always sit the baby down when they stand up, but I don't make a huge, negative deal out of it. It's just one more thing that will take them time to learn. My oldest learned eventually and as a toddler we only had to say, "Sit down or the bath is over" and he'd sit down. My twins are 8.5 months and are now standing up in the tub. DD is the worst offender.

And, yes, baths get more stimulating the older they get! That said, all of mine go to bed just fine even if they have a rocking, roaring good time in the tub before we start bedtime routines. But bath time isn't part of the routine every night in our house (every other night, alternating the babies one night and the toddler the next).

 

I like this idea and she would probably love it. It could backfire though if she thinks 'wow, this is a fun bath game'. I am going to give it a try, if nothing else it will be fun and a good learning thing.

this is what i am currently doing.. only problem is it is continual up/down after about 3 minutes in the tub. basically, for the last few days baths have only lasted about 6 minutes and there has not been any actual washing happening (or even me playing with them) since i am spending all my time putting her back down. She thinks it is great fun! I agree that, i don't want to make it a negative thing. I appreciate all the comments that confirmed my feeling about not making this a battle.

On a side, i have been strapping her in her reclining booster chair for bottles. she is sooooo busy that finishing a bottle was taking forever, or not happening and then she would be hungry early. She is happy strapped in her chair and rarely complains. Which is why i thought strapping her in a chair might work. I still might try this.

However, I think first, i am going to try ignoring her when she stands (she really is very stable. i recognize there is risk to standing). I am going to get really busy playing with DS and maybe she will be motivated to come join the fun..
I will let you know.

 

I started giving my kids baths in the tub together since they were 5 months old and we used bath seats. I had 2 different brands but I would recommend this one of course I never left them unatended but at least I knew the one was not climbing out of the tub or falling in the water while I rinsed the other. Now they outgrew the seats, but they were very useful while they lasted - we used them about 18 months. This seat is really sturdy and I liked it better than the other, but the other one was useful also. At times the kids still want to take these seats in the bath, but they really have to sqeeze in now . The kids seemed to like them also.

 

Quite honestly, I have always just let my kids stand up. ardon:

I always stayed right there with them, and there was maybe once or twice where each of them slipped, and that made them much more cautious. We have a tub mat that covers about 2/3rds of the bottom of the tub, so that helps, and we have one of those spout covers, too, in case they bump their head on the spout. They were also very stable on their feet very early on - they rarely fell at all, even when learning to walk, etc.

 

Yep! i ignored her and she sat down and looked at me like, tada! i praised her and she stayed seated playing happily for the rest of the bath.

I am smarter then my 10 month old, i am smarter than my ten month old.. i am gonna keep saying this until i believe it! (at least it is true when i have all of you to bounce things off of.. thanks!)
:acute:
What fun times we have ahead!

 

YAY,that is awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Hey, I might try the ignoring thing! Yay! I'm going to try that and see if it works with mine.

Mine do seem to be getting the sit down thing lately. It worked well with DD last night as I was able to just say, "sit down, sweetie" and then would make a move like I was going to sit her down and she would plop back onto her bum. Now DS is standing so need to work with him.

that said, I'm getting wild with baths these days: I bathed all three kids at the same time on Sunday which was complete and utter chaos but it kept the babies from standing up because they were so interested in their older brother!

My 3-year-old's take on it was this, "It's crowded in here, Mom! She's crawling on me!" (and, yes, my 3-year-old has started calling me "mom" instead of "mommy" WTH? sniff)

 

The ignoring is still working (mostly), except when DH comes in.. Hello!! can i have some support here! He totally doesn't get the.. making faces is NOT ignoring!

I bet 3 in the tub is WILD! :catfight: :blbl: :bump:

 

Ha ha three in the tub here too! Our baths sound something like: Sit down! Sit down! Leave the stopper alone! Sit down! Be careful! Sit down! Ewww stop drinking bathwater! Sit down! Who wants a shower from the watering can? Stop crawling all over her! lol Maybe I'll record a bath one day just to see what we say.

 

:rotflmbo: sounds about right!

 

I have used bath seats since the biginning of using the big bath tub so they have never had the option of standing up.