What do I need for bathtime?

[etwahl]

- Recommendation for best bathtub?
- How many towel & cloth sets?
- What else do we need?

Tammy,
Mom-to-be Mar 8, 2003!

[Rachels]

Well, we love the Eurobath, and found it really helpful in the beginning when Abigail was so tiny. I could bathe her and still kind of have a hand free. Now I have BOTH hands free, and she just lolls back and enjoys herself. We have a million towel sets, which we got as gifts. I really tend to use two or three, no more. I have about two dozen washcloths, which is too many, but I WOULD get at least 12. Those little Gerber ones work fine and come in multi-packs . I take 2 to her bath-- one to actually use, and another to remain soap-free in case I need to wipe stray suds or water away from her eyes. When she was littler, I used a cloth diaper to pad the bathtub, which worked just fine.

I love the Burt's Bees bath stuff, partly because it smells so delicious and partly because the shampoo comes in a bar rather thana bottle. You can pick it up and lather up without taking a hand off your baby or having to squirt a shampoo bottle over her head (makes me nervous-- shampoo and eyes do not mix). After the bath, I use lots of cream or apricot oil and do a good massage. She thinks that's great.

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02

[egoldber]

I had a Safety 1st tub I really liked (not the fold-up one). The model I had is discontinued, but there is a similar one available. I liked that it came with a pouring container. I still use it to wash Sarah's hair. My FAVORITE bathign accessory is the sponge bear you get at BRU for $4. Sarah HATED the bath until I got the sponge. I used it in the bath ring after she outgre the tub. I now use it for her to sit on after I take her out of the tub and dry her off.

I got a gazillion towel sets as gifts. I think 3 towels and about 6 wash cloth would be fine.

I tend to be a bath minimalist. I used J&J Baby wash, J&J Baby Shampoo and J&J Baby Lotion (baby powder scent, my favorite). Now Sarah was born with a TON of hair, so I also use a detangler for her. I bought a cheap Target brand detangler (which works fine), but my hairdresser recently gave me a sample of children's detangler from the Paul Mitchell line that smells dreamy. I am STILL on the first bottle of all of these products.

HTH,

[CherylT]

My tub, which I love, was discontinued as well so I can't help you there. I too have never needed more than 3 towels (I only bathe baby every other day per peds recommendation). I prefer the Carter's brand, all the other brands I have gotten shrank horribly or are just too thin IMO. I have a ton of washcloths as well - I use 2 at bathtime since I use one to cover up Alec's privates to prevent spraying and the other to wash (and sometimes a 3rd if big sis is helping out). I have both Gerbers and Carters (again I prefer the Carters as they are more substantial - bigger and heavier weight). I would suggest buying gender neutral towels/cloths in the event you wish to use them for more than one child (not that it matters except in case you want to take some pictures - I had to buy a blue towel so I had ONE that I could use in photos for Alec so the poor kid wouldn't be shown wrapped in a pink or flowered towel! :)). I prefer the Lavendar scented lotions and baths (I'm going to continue buying it for myself after Alec's done with it!!) and I just buy generic unless I can get a brand name cheaper with a sale/coupon. HTH

Cheryl (aka CT)
SAHM to Lilli 9/20/00 & Alec 10/21/02

[nohomama]

I used the Evenflo Newborn Comfort Sling tub. It was relatively inexpensive ($20) and worked well especially when Lola was new. As she got older, we continued to use the tub without the sling until she was six months or so.

I had 3 hooded towels and 4-6 washclothes (I tend to just soap her up with my hands and rinse her off using one of the Sassy stacking cups she plays with in the bath). In terms of products, I'm a minimalist like Beth. I use Tom's of Maine baby shampoo as a shampoo and soap. When she was younger and would lay still, I massaged her with either sweet almond or jojoba oil (any food grade oil will work though).

Recently Lola had a mild skin rash on her arms that I could not get to go away. I bought a jar of Nivea cream (I remeber my Mom slathering me with Nivea after a bath when I was a kid) and the rash was gone in a matter of days. I'm not usually a fan of most commercial creams & lotions because they often contain mineral oil. Aside from being a petroleum based product, mineral oil isn't readily absorbed by the skin and it tends to clog the pores. I'd avoid anything with mineral oil in general but wanted to mention the Nivea because it helped Lola's rash so dramatically.

You might also want to pick up a few bath toys. Lola had a stuffed frog that came with a towel set that she LOVED from a very early age.

Other than that I'd just tell you that young babies don't really need to be bathed that much. Their bits and bums are the things that get really dirty and you'll be cleaning them about a dozen times a day. Lola was bathed about once every 5-7 days when she was a wee one. Now that she's older, she get bathed every night as part of her bedtime routine. Even so she only gets soaped up every 3-4 days.

Hope something in all of that helps.

[suzska]

We have the EuroTub and that's what we used until Evan was 18 months old. We stored it in his room between the crib and a tall dresser. And we gave him baths (once we were past sponge baths) on the floor in his room. I used the little basin the hospital gave us and filled that with water. Then I carried the water to his room and poured half of it in the tub (I put some baby bath in the tub first). I used the rest of the water for rinse water. I received one pack of the Gerber washcloths and that's what we used. At first, one for his privates and one to wash with. I think sometimes I had a third (dry) in case I needed to wipe his face. Now that we've moved to an inflatable tub placed in the regular tub, we use one washcloth to wash with, and one for Evan to play with.

As for towels, I like the big, solid Carter's ones the best. The others seemed to shrink too much after washing, and didn't cover much of Evan after his bath. I have 3 of those, and that seems to last us from laundry day to laundry day. I have a bunch of other brands that I never use anymore.

I got a small pitcher made by Sassy (I looks like a fish and came with two "floaty" fish). I used that to wet Evan's hair and for rinsing from the clean water in the small basin. Evan's also weird and would enjoy having any water remaining in the little basin dumped over his head when the bath was done. Known as "the big rinse!"

Evan's not too picky about his soap or shampoo. I use Johnson's baby shampoo--maybe the one with the detangler, can't remember. And the Gerber Baby Wash with Oatmeal.

We've used a few other bath toys on and off, but now Evan just likes to hold onto his washcloth and splash.

HTH!

[luvtoshop]

We started with the Four Stage bathtub (how did I miss those awful reviews?) and only use it in the shower when we want to wash her after she's enjoyed staring at the shower spray. It's a really awful tub and now that dd is 3.5 months she kicks the plastic and gets really red toes. We love our Eurotub and use that primarily in the bathtub for our dd's bathtime. I have a ton of washcloths because we used those to wipe her bottom when she was a newborn. I would recommend 6-12 thick (Carter's) wash cloths. I rec'd a lot of the sets and honestly only use the Gap one when I remember to use it. We usually bundle her up in a warm bath towel that has just come out of the dryer.

We use California Baby Calming soap----love it! Very few chemicals. www.californiababy.com And use the Mustela foam shampoo. Dd has a ton of hair and we like that the foam can be controlled.

I also like the Burt's Bees Apricot oil for a quick massage after the bath.

Good luck!

P.S. The Eurotub was on sale at BabyCenter this week...

Forgot to mention that we do use the bear sponge from BRU in the Eurotub. We used this for sponge baths in the beginning and now to make her tub a bit softer.

[Magda]

I'm also sort of a bath minimalist. All we used wasa basic baby bath tub, Dove soap, and Aquaphor. DS's skin is super dry and this is what the doctor reccomended. Aquaphor is like vasaline, but it has lanolin and some other stuff. You can get it in the pharmacy (behind the counter) but it's not a Rx. We always used regular towels and washclothes.

[parkersmama]

The only thing I really have to add is that it is very helpful to have your shampoo/soap in a pump bottle. That makes it very easy to leave one hand on baby and use your other hand to get a squirt of soap. I have always used J&J Head to Toe (which is soap and shampoo in one). As a matter of fact, we are still using it with our 5 y.o. and almost 3 y.o.! My DH does the bathing but he finds the pump bottle easier to use than anything else we've tried. So, even if you use a brand that doesn't come in a pump, I'd recommend getting a generic pump bottle to put it in. I will say that based on advise I've seen here I'm considering trying the Burt's Bees for the new baby when she arrives. It sounds great!

Denise
mom to:
Parker, 9/1/1997
Wesley, 3/9/2000
and #3 (a girl!) due 4/29/2003