Advice on having a baby: What to do if baby hates the bath

Bath time is often an activity that leads to giggles and coos from your baby. But what happens if your baby hates taking a bath? You are sure to get all kinds of unwanted baby advice secrets to bathing but the more important baby health questions, bathing tips to think about is the root of their dislike. You’ll get all kinds of advice on having a baby and how you should be doing certain tasks, but what is most important is figuring out what is right for you and your baby. If your baby starts to cry and scream through every bath, you’ll soon find yourself dreading bath time. Here are some suggestions on what to do if your baby hates the bath.

What is the Baby’s Calm Time?

One way you can make bath time a little bit easier on everyone is to find the time that your baby is the most content. Is it when your baby is well-rested and just fresh off a feeding? Or is it first thing in the morning or right before bed? You can find lots of advice on having a baby and unwanted baby advice secrets to bathing but the only thing that will really work is trial and error. Figure out when your baby is happiest and try giving them a bath during that time.

Experiment with baby tub seats

There are a ton of baby bath seats available on the market. If there is any advice on having a baby to follow, it’s that what works for one baby might not work for another. There’s a lot of experimenting that takes place to figure out what is right for your baby. Finding the right seat or perhaps not using one at all, could help make bath time much more enjoyable for your baby. Some seats are more rigid, like the Angelcare baby seat, while others are more of sling or hammock style. See if friends or family have seats you can try out before you invest. That way you don’t spend a ton of money trying to figure out the best fit for your baby.

Advice on Having Babies Suggests Waiting Before Using the Tub

Some advice suggests sponge baths, especially for newborns. These baby health questions, bathing tips have you setting baby on a towel and quickly wiping them down. While this might be what you need to do, especially with newborns, babies quickly get cold and this could contribute to your baby’s unhappiness at bath time. Still, the vast space of a tub — at least from a baby’s perspective — might feel too large and make your baby uncomfortable.

Try a Baby Pillow

Whether you give your baby a bath in the sink or in the tub, you might want to try a bath pillow instead of a towel or baby seat. These bath pillows can provide support, which all the advice on having babies tells us is critical. It also more gently cradles the baby and can provide them a better sense of security, similar to how swaddling makes babies feel all tightly wrapped and safe. There are a lot of bath pillows on the market, so again, if you have friends or family willing to offer suggestions or let you borrow one they aren’t using, it’s great to test them out first before investing.

Make bath time fun

One way you can help make bath time less of a chore is to keep baby distracted with toys, games, and songs. Advice on having babies says that your voice is one of the most soothing sounds for your baby, especially to newborns. Singing them a song or keeping up a constant string of soothing statements while you wash them can help make a game out of bath time. You can also play music in the background if singing isn’t your thing. Giving them water safe toys to play with will also help provide a distraction. Make sure to check bath toys often and dry them out thoroughly after using since they have a tendency to grow mold.

Check water and room temperature

All the advice on having babies tells you to be sure to check the water temperature before putting baby in the tub. There are lots of tools on the market to help you figure out if the water temp is just right for your baby. If it is too cold or too hot your baby is not going to want to be in the water and it could be potentially dangerous to their delicate skin. You also want to make sure that the temperature in the room itself isn’t too cold. For both before and after baby’s bath. If the room is too cold, your baby will likely show how unhappy they are through their cries. Have towels at the ready for after their bath, so you can scoop them up and get them warm and bundled right away.

Get a routine down

Many parenting books that give advice on having babies talk about routines and how important they are. Getting a routine established for bath time can also be beneficial. If you do the same thing, perhaps before bed each night, your baby will quickly pick up on the familiar actions and get used to bath time before you know it. You might want to try finding that perfect time when your baby isn’t too sleepy, their belly is nice and full, you’ve got the bathroom nice and toasty, bath toys on hand, and do the same each time you give them a bath.

Bathe Together

Sometimes the biggest issue you might encounter during bath time is that your baby doesn’t want to be separated from you. Advice on having babies let’s new parents know that they are the center of their baby’s worlds. Your biggest hurdle to overcome with baby time may be that your baby doesn’t want to be separated from you. If that is the case, you can try bathing with your baby to alleviate some of that anxiety. Your presence alone might be the key to making bath time a happier and more enjoyable time.

What else could it be?

If none of the suggestions above help your baby settle into bath time, there is some other advice on having babies and questions that we can take a look at. Is your baby not feeling well? Do they have a rash or irritated skin that the bath would sting or cause your baby to cry when they get in the water? Maybe your baby has gotten soap in their eyes before and they are afraid of that sting. It’s hard to determine what the reasons are that your baby might not enjoy bath time since they can’t just tell us. The best thing to do is to keep trying out new things until you figure out what makes your baby happy.

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