How to sneak a shower?

[Rachels]

I've always stuck Abigail in her Kick 'n Play while I take a shower, but she's finally too big for it. So NOW what?! I don't want to leave her in her crib because she has started pulling up, toppling over, and bashing her head. And I can't shower while she naps-- the slightest thing wakes her up. Hmm. A playpen? Another exersaucer?

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02

[egoldber]

Wow. You can't shower while she naps? I would NEVER get a shower...

Hmm. A Playpen may work, but I would introduce it soon while she is still pretty tractable. I do leave Sarah in her crib awake sometimes while I shower if she won't nap and I NEED to take a shower. I fill the crib with "special" toys and books that only come out for this occasion and that usually keeps her occupied, as long as I am super quick in the shower. And then sometimes she surprises me by falling asleep on top of a heap of toys. :) I think you will find that Abigail will learn pretty quickly how to handle herself in the crib. The falling down phase only lasts a week or so for most babes.

Then there's my neighbor down the street with three kids under 5. I asked her how she showered and she told me that she got up at 4 am before they all got up...

HTH,

[juliasdad]

Get the Pack-n-Play set up... or, start playing music or white noise during her naps, so the sound of your showering is masked!

-dan

[COElizabeth]

My sister brought the exersaucer into the bathroom (hers is large) so she could keep an eye on her son while she showered. Later on, when he was bored with the toys on it, she put it in front of the tv and let him watch Elmo or some other video while she showered.

Elizabeth
Mom to James
9-20-02

[cara1]

I've been getting up to shower at 5am forever now. If I'm not showered, dressed, etc. before DS wakes up, the whole rest of the day doesn't go right. On the weekends when I indulge myself by sleeping late (i.e., 7am), I always regret it because I also can't shower if DS is awake. He's not content to hang out in his crib. So I only sleep late if DH is available to watch him while I get dressed. Otherwise, sometimes I push his high chair (First Years Feeding Seat, actually) into the bathroom, but that's a pain. Yes, I also miss the Bouncy chair in the shower routine...

[muskiesusan]

I have the same problem! Ds, 17 months old, used to play in his exersauer, but has been too big for that for a while. He is an extremely light sleeper and even with a white noise machine, wakes up if the wind blows too hard! He hates his crib unless it is nighttime, and his naps are becoming very unpredictable now that he is moving from 1 to 2. He also has no interest in tv, which I can decide if that is a good or bad thing.

I baby proofed the bathroom hoping he would play in there why I shower, but most of the time, he stands at the stall door screaming. Its gotten to the point that I feel like I have had a productive day if I showered.

Susan
Mom to Nicholas 10/1/01

[ddmarsh]

This will not work in this house once Lily is at this stage, but for my other children our old house had the bedrooms all separate from the upstairs bathroom. I would latch the baby gate at the top of the stairs, close all of the bedroom doors and the boys could play in the hall and bathroom. Later when I was drying my hair, etc. in my room I would close the bathroom door and they had the hall and our room to play in. It worked really well for all three children, although the upstairs hall was quite small so that I could hear everything that was going on while in the shower.

Debbie

[brubeck]

We have floor to ceiling mirrors on our closet doors in our bathroom, and my babies both love(ed) to look in the mirror while lying on the floor. I actually gave my daughter tummy time and watched her from the shower! She used to use that time to practice rolling over. Maybe you could take a mirror and lean it against the wall on the floor?

Another idea I used when my baby wasn't interested in this was a bath. I washed my hair super quickly in the sink, then filled up the bathtub. I stripped the baby and we both played in the warm water. You soak and baby floats. This isn't really doable all the time but it does work sometimes. Baby also gets their bath at the same time!!! If you are BFing this is also a really nice way to nurse. (until the water gets too cold! :-)

I have heard of people who took their toddlers in the shower with them but the one time I tried it with my daughter she screamed bloody murder. After that I got no more complaints about her being outside the shower! :-)

[parkersmama]

Well, you could always shake the Cheerios box over the crib and she'd spend the next 30 minutes trying to pick up and eat them all! LOL! I'm JUST KIDDING! I have heard lots of people joke about doing that, though!

When mine were young enough, I did the exersaucer in the bathroom thing. That worked great until they got too big for the excersaucer. I believe at that point we did a variety of things, the best of which being make sure to take a shower before dh leaves for work! If I don't shower then, even with a 3 & 5 y.o., it's after lunch usually! Yuck. Once you can get them a little interested in TV, that's one of the best uses of TV as a babysitter that I can think of. When ours were toddler age, that's about the only time they watched TV...just so I could shower! I do think that she will get used to the crib and not mind playing in there if you make it fun. Just make sure that you've lowered the mattress and removed the bumper pads so she can't hoist herself out. Provide some stimulating toys and take a short shower. At that point, if my babies were crying when I finished showering, I'd usually grab the child and the toys and bring them into the bathroom to play on the floor while I finished getting ready. That always seemed to work pretty well.

Just in case you're thinking that things will vastly improve when she gets older...they don't! Now that I have two, it's prime fighting time when mom gets in the shower! Or, my younger son gets upset about something and stands at the shower door screaming until I turn the water off to get out. I guess moms just aren't meant to take long, peaceful showers! LOL!

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

[Sheila]

I really didn't want to do it, but I ended up changing my routine and started showering at night after my daughter went to bed. It was really hard to get used to, and as I said, I resisted doing it for a long time, but it has ended up working out really well for me. You just have to have your hair cut in such a way that you can sleep on it, and it still looks ok in the morning!!!

On the plus side, I can shower as long as I want w/ no interuption (can even do baths too, which is great) and getting ready is SO much quicker in the morning, which I really like. We did lots of early walks in the summer (on those days when it was going to be 100, it was the only time we'd be able to walk) and I couldn't see that happening if I had to shower first before we could leave.

Good luck!
Sheila



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