Bathtime Essentials

Now that Squidge has out-grown his Shnuggle Bath, we've moved him into the big bath, with varying success!  We had a bit of an 'incident' the first time we put him in it - we had no bath mat, put him in there (I was stood there and hubby was kneeled down by the bath with him), Squidge lunged forwards and went flat on his face in the bath - he was only there 1/2 seconds as hubby immediately picked him up of course, but it frightened Squidge so much we couldn't calm him down.

Next bath, Daddy got in the bath first and then we put Squidge in, he had a tiny cry and then was fine. By this time I'd bought a bath mat for him too.  He's now had loads of successful baths and really enjoys bathing with Daddy :)  Daddy keeps him steady, and after a bit of a play with some bathtime toys, I give him a wash and I cuddle him dry - it's a lovely experience :)

In readiness for switching to the big bath, I had a bit of a splurge and bought a few bits and bobs, all of which really are essentials, or at least, variants of them.

A bath mat

While this one is colourful and fab, it actually isn't that grippy - so I'd really recommend having a bath mat to help grip them (obviously your baby needs to be able to competently sit up unaided to be able to do this).  There are other options like little seats (whether upright or lying back) but I'm yet to try one of them.

Toys & somewhere to put them

Having a tidy for your toys is a must! We opted for the Munchkin one, it's colourful (in the picture on Amazon it looks navy blue, but the one that turned up was a bright aqua blue), sticks to the tiles in the corner above the bath, out of the way.  So far (touch wood!) it hasn't fallen down.

I also bought a range of toys for him, I bought a little submarine (it's fab, you fill it with water and when you hold it up, water pours out of it like a shower), some stackable toys that have moving parts inside when filled with water, and a selection of rubber toys that can be chewed and squirt water.

Skincare/Bathing products

Squidge has suffered with a little eczema since he was born - at the moment it's at it's best which is almost non-existent, but to keep him like that we only bath him twice a week otherwise his skin dries out too much.  He's still got a little cradle cap - I think it's more that it's left over from when he had it, but as his hair is longer it's not coming away, plus I love the gentle scent of the Dentinox Cradle Cap shampoo.  Up until I moved him to the big bath I had been using the Oilatum bath wash too, but I've not used it since (trying to work out if he still needs it) - it does leave a greasy residue in the bath which is dangerous for mummy and daddy (it's hard to get rid of).  I've started washing him in the Johnson's baby bedtime wash too, again this leaves him with a lovely soft gentle scent :)

Kneeling pad for mummy/daddy

One for the grown ups! I bought this so we had a soft cushion for our knees as we have a wooden floor in the bathroom.  I really liked this one as it's really colourful and fits in with his other bathtime toys, but a gardening one would also work if you had one handy.  Or, if you don't want to buy one of these, a couple of folded up towels would work too, but might be a bit slippery.

Bath thermometer

When he was in his Shnuggle bath, I used to fill it up from the shower, we'd keep the shower on the same number for all of us, so once I knew what the perfect temp was for him (he likes it quite warm!), I didn't need the thermometer (I'd obviously test it with my hand, but it'd always be the same).  But now he's in the big bath I really need this - I have to fill the bath up with hot water first to warm the bath, then add cold to bring it down to temp.  The first bath I did for him in the big tub I filled it from the shower as I always did, but the water went cold really quickly, I'd forgotten that you need to warm the actual bath first!

Do you have any other bathtime essentials?  Obviously we have towels too, and we do sometimes use some baby oil afterwards if his skin feels a little dry.

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