WHAT the hell is that smell? We all know babies can be stinky. They are constantly drooling, spitting up, and going through diapers like they have stock in Huggies. It’s no wonder that baths are needed, and needed often. But what’s the best way to do that when you have more than one baby? All at once? Separately? If you don’t carefully plan it out, this could quickly be a dangerous scenario for your babes.
Bathing babies is supposed to be this magical, sudsy, bubbly, giggly moment, right? With one, sure! With twins or more? It seems to be a race to get them all cleaned, lotioned, and dressed before one of two things happen: 1) the bath water gets cold or 2) somebody poops.
Bathing multiples CAN be fun and magical. Here are some tips and tricks to help:
Be prepared.
Get a diaper or a bath caddy and stock it full of the items you use! This will make forgetting things a thing of the past. Stock it with towels and washcloths , soap and lotion, q-tips, a brush or comb, nail clippers, diapers, bath toys, and pajamas. Once bath time is over, just simply restock and forget about until next time!
Together of separate?
When the babies are itty-bitty, bathing separately is the only way to go. It’s not really until they can almost sit unassisted that you can start thinking about tossing them all in together. Once they get close to sitting, bath seats can be a huge help. The will help keep them upright and happy while you take care of business. I’ve tried bathing them together and separate and, personally, think it was way easier to bathe them separately. I quickly found that bathing them together can only be done if you have a helper. If not, you will be leaving at least one babe unattended in a tub. Yikes.
If possible, recruit a helper.
If you have a helper, make an assembly line. Bathe one and pass them on to get dressed! This will cut your bath time in half! If you are bathing them together, hand off one we baby at a time. Simple!
Where?
When I first brought the triplets home, I pictured baths in a regular tub. My back quickly disagreed with this picture. Also, the tub is so big that is becomes impossible to contain wet, squirmy babies. Lots of MoMs use a small laundry basket for each baby. Genius! This still didn’t solve my back-issue….so the kitchen sink, it was! Is your sink not big enough? For many months, I put this Skip Hop Baby Bath Tub on the counter right next to the sink to do all baths and it worked like a charm!
Try a Bath Hat!
One of my babes was super scared of water being poured all of his face. This became a major problem with major meltdowns. Usually, I’m all about tough-love and really didn’t want him to get used to not having water on his face but also really didn’t want him to hate baths for years to come. So, I got this bath hat to get us through this phase. It was functional as well as TOTALLY adorable.
How often?
The answer to this question varies from mom to mom. Some bathe their kids religiously each night. They make it part of their bedtime routine. Others, life myself, shoot for every other night but realistically only get them in the tun 2 times a week. For my kiddos, that’s plenty!
Have FUN!
Bathing multiples can easily be stressful. There’s a lot of moving parts and it can be physically and emotionally tiresome. Try and enjoy every bubble and every splash! This time is fleeting after all!
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