Does anyone do this? Any tips, advice, ideas, etc.
I started co-bathing when my daughter was about 10 weeks old, and SO was working overtime. It was the easiest way for me to get us both bathed.
I’ve heard of co-showering, but I can’t seem to find anyone who’s actually done it. I did hear one woman say a friend of hers made a sling or wrap for the baby that was made out of a mesh kind of material, but I’m a little concerned about safety. Another option might be wearing some kind of terry cloth gloves to hold the baby? I’d like to co-shower with my infant if it’s possible to do it safely, but I feel like we might be sticking to baths until she’s bigger.
When Zu was super little we had a baby bath for her & we would just bathe her in that. Now that she tries to climb out, one of us usually just get in our bathtub with her. If we put her in there and kneel over the side she screams like crazy plus its murder on our backs. I haven’t ever tried showering with her, but I have a friend who showers with his baby when his wife is working. He says he just angles the spray to avoid her, he will wash her then she’ll just sit there and play while he showers himself.
I think I would avoid co-showering til your baby sits up by herself steadily.
I would say holding her up in the shower even with special gloves sounds crazy. What if you slipped!? Plus you will need to use at least one of your hands for washing - I think it sounds both unsafe and impractical.
A friend of mine co-bathed until the daughter was 10 or 12 and all nice. I think it’s practical and fine but co-showering is just a risk. A mom would never forgive herself is she drops the baby or something. It sounds just unsafe.
OK, I do this. I shower with [name_f]Baba[/name_f] all the time. We’ve got a big shower, it’s more like a room really I think there’s be room for ten people in my shower (not that I’ve tried), and I usually sit down on the floor with Roo. I bring the baby monitor in there and when we need to get out I yell at Husband (he usually sleeps for a long time). When we bathe I either have her in this baby-bath seat or we both go in. When she was very little she’d just lie on my stomach/chest but now we sit. I don’t have a lot of water in just in case, and he water’s not that warm so it’s not exactly a comfortable experience.
We co-shower with our 2 year old boys. We tried it a lot earlier when they were maybe a year or less, but they really didn’t like the water spraying them, so we went back to baths. We tried it again recently and they love it so we do it. We don’t have a huge shower so the rules are 1 adult and 1 kid at a time and once one kid is clean the other adult takes him and gets him dressed while the other kid climbs in and gets clean. We have a removable shower head so they love that they can get themselves wet and have control over where the water goes.
Id say baths are much easier early on. Since my daughter was about 2 months id rinse her off in the shower with me after we swim so all the pool water & sunsreen are resting on her. But I a quick rinse & make sure im hugging her close to my body because with soap its pretty risky how slippery they are. But then I hold her in there a lil & she gets all relaxed next thing I know is she’s out for a 3 hr nap
I have co-bathed before when I just had one or two. I even had one of those mesh slings when my oldest was a baby-- it was easy enough to use (if you are a sling fan) but I found that I couldn’t make the water as hot as I’d personally like it and I would usually want to keep one hand on her in the sling so it was hard to wash myself. I didn’t use that sling with #2.
Now… I look forward to shower time so much. Sometimes, it’s the only time I am really alone all day. haha… I usually get interrupted though. What I generally do with infants is put them in the bathroom on the floor in a bouncy seat, carseat, or something along those lines if I can’t do it while they are napping. Maybe they cry the whole time I’m in there, but i need to be clean! this is usually what I’ll do for a mid-day “after a mess” shower. As far as bathing the baby – my DH is on bath duty so that helps. We don’t bathe them everyday unless they need it so if he has to work nights (he does this every 4-5 days) then usually it’s not a huge deal and it’s not like I am incapable of bathing them… he just likes to have that as his job and I gladly give up something to him to manage completely
We gave [name_u]Rowan[/name_u] a bath in the kitchen sink until she was about 8-9 months old and started splashing too much. I just put a hand towel in the bottom of the sink so she wouldn’t slip. It was easy on my back. She takes baths now, and loves them. She is perfectly content to splash away and play with her toys while I sit on the toilet seat next to the tub. We tried co-showering a few times to save time, but she didn’t like it. And our tub isn’t very big so she would be pretty mad if there was a big person taking up room in her bath.
I showered with my parents when I was little, probably until age 5-6 or so, out of necessity though. We didn’t have indoor plumbing, so we used a wooden outside shower with one of those black barrels full of water that was heated by the sun in the summer, and a public shower at a local campground in the winter. And we had an outhouse, too.
I have co-showered with both my kids. But I didn’t start until they were old enough that they could sit in the shower unassisted so maybe around 8 months? Our shower isn’t that big so it’s pretty cramped when all three of us get into it. But it saves time and my son really enjoys it. I also don’t really have anything my daughter can do other then sit in her crib looking at books (which by nighttime when we do baths/showers she typically is kind of fussy) while I bathe my son so sometimes I just do baths with both of them. We have a bath seat that we used when she was little.
SO co-showers with [name_u]Tally[/name_u]. He has since she was really little. When he’s done with her, he usually yells for me and I take her and get her dried off and dressed while he finishes up his shower. He never had a problem with almost dropping her.
With my set up I would be nervous to co shower, but we do co bathe almost all of the time. I have a claw foot so it isn’t really roomy for standing & I don’t have the option of a detachable shower head. I think it would overwhelm me & my daughter! Co bathing has been the easiest way to both get ready for our day when my husband isn’t here. Now that we are night weaning I don’t do baths with her as much though & her solo bath is becoming part of bedtime routine & I am enjoying some space & alone time.
I co-showered and it was so easy!!!
He got so cold in the baby bath (our house then was very open and airy, and it was always chilly) and always slid down and squished his boy parts that he hated the baby bath. When I was alone, or we had the time, we would put him in the sink when he could sit up. With a washcloth on the bottom to prevent slipping.
But his favorite way to bathe as a baby was in the shower. It started at about 8 weeks old I think. I was in the shower, and he peed all over himself and Dad during a changing. i just told [name_m]Scott[/name_m] to hand him over. And he got his first shower. He loved it!!!
So, I would get in, get situated, and [name_m]Scott[/name_m] would pass the baby in. I’d wash him up, we’d play a little while dad threw his towel in the dryer to heat up. Then Dad would take him, and I’d finish my shower. It was fast and easy and awesome. [name_m]Weston[/name_m] loves water to this day. It lasted until he could stand up, then Dad took over in the bigger shower. Before that, [name_m]Scott[/name_m] was too afraid of dropping him. But he always loved the waterfall.
When he was 18 months we moved to a place that had a bath/shower combo. And he began taking 30 minute baths… lots of playtime. He has continued to shower with Dad (because they’re both boys) since he was 2, but really it was only for the the hurry factory, he preferred baths.
When he turned 5 this summer, he was suddenly old enough to shower alone. So now he showers, and usually my husband helps with the washing details. (I’m a girl, and only useful in emergencies.)
With these 2 babies, we may try the tandem shower method, but our new place has a heater in the bathroom, so I’m thinking baths with bath seats. keep them warm and snuggly.
We never had a baby bathtub. I started out bathing him in the sink, then I started taking baths with our son. Now that he is 22 months and can stand up, my husband or I shower with him. He enjoys it, and it is quick and convenient. I’m not holding him, so I’m not worried about dropping him. I know that some people use shower slings (you can make a simple ring sling using that kind of mesh fabric that basketball shorts are made out of) but I never tried that.
We have some friends from [name_f]India[/name_f] who designed and built their house. [name_f]One[/name_f] of the things they have is this ENORMOUS bathtub b/c they all take family baths together- their boys are 5 and 7, I think? I thought that was cool.
I have showered with my little ones and I find it so much easier. We don’t have a bathtub in our master bath (DH designed the house as a bachelor…), so I can only shower. I think starting at around 6 months worked for us. We also have a seat in our shower, which makes it easier. If I shower with the baby, DH will stand by to take him/her and dry him/her off. Then I can finish my shower. I think it works well for the transition from infant bathtub to regular bathtub!
We stay in a flat with the kids from Mon-Fri, and there’s only showers, no baths. The bathrooms are teeny weeny so no room for an installation either.
We got a baby bath seat with suction pads at the bottom and put it in the shower, and also a plastic plug thing to stop the water draining, so some builds up at the bottom of the shower. It works pretty well. He doesn’t like being under direct water, so he generally plays outside of the jet and I wash him with a flannel and splash him with the water from the floor. It isn’t ideal but still does the job.
It’s useful for if i’m showering too because he can’t escape while I have my wash!
