Bubble Baths & Bathing

L.,

My girls were given baths when they were small infants, but from then on I always took them in the shower with me. I probably did this more once I had my twins. I was just easier to take the 3 girls in the shower with me. It was much quicker, and less messy. I also find it to hard to wash hair in the tub.

I have never been a bath person myself ( unless it is to relax).

L.

What i did to get my son to get used to showers was fill the tub like a bath & start as a bath then i had my son at one side of the tub & i turned on the shower & i let him go in & out of the water as he was comfy It did take a couple of tries but he now starts as a bath & about 1/2 way into it asks shower momma so ill put it on 4 him

Hi L.,
I have a 3yr old daughter & 4 1/2 yr old son and have dealt with these same issues, in my case we began seperate baths/showers soon after our son turned 3 which was when started having curiousities about the differences of his little sister.
As for girls & bubble bath I too ended up at my Peds office (no bubble baths for my girl since) instead I sometimes substitute with body wash I just have to use more than with bubble bath but she enjoys it, also her doctor said shampoo can be just as irritating & not to let'er sit in water with shampoo from her hair.
My kids hated showers up until last summer when they really enjoyed the playgroung sprinklers now they pretend they're at the playground as they shower.
Good luck!!!

Dear L.,

I just wanted to say something on the bubble bath. My daughter is 2 and my son 4. I do give them a bubble bath every once in a while. But I also make sure that I clean them off when the get out. I usually rinse them off with water and sometimes soap. My daughter and son have both had problems with the bubble bath. But since I started rinsing them off and limiting the amount of times they get bubbles they don't have problems anymore. As for the showers. I got my kids to like them by buying squirt guns and letting them squirt the walls while in there. Good Luck.
B.

The time to do it is when you start to doubt it is the right thing to do. God gave you your conscience and noone else can really dictate to it. If your daughter started having rashes, itches, or bladder infections that would be an immediate cause for action. If you think they are noticing bodily parts, then maybe, but you can decide, really. If you rinse the tub and bathe your daughter separately, you really can't prevent much else. Use organic products if you are still concerned about her. :o)

It is totally up to you when you want to seperate them. I remember taking baths still with my brother until I was 8 or so. My son who is 3 still takes baths/showers with me occasionally, and we are trying to promote him not to be hung up on nudity.

To introduce my son to showers, we just took him in there. He cried and squirmed alot, but we were just very patient and held him close and comforted him and told him it was ok, nothing to be afraid of. Also don't run the water full blast cause the pressure of the water flying at them I think sometimes doesn't feel good on that sensitive skin. Most of the time now he prefers showers and takes them mostly with my hubby cause I shower in the morning very early before work when he is not awake. And baths now are seen as kind of "a treat". HTH a little.

I just wanted to respond on the Bubble Bath. I have a 3 year old daughter and I started giving bubble baths once a month as a special treat and after the second time her vagina area started itching very badly and became red and inflammed.

When I took her to the ped she knew immediately what the culprit was and gave me some cream for the rash. It took forever for the rash to finally go away and my poor little girl was so uncomfortable. I will never give her another bubble bath. I was even using the sensitive skin stuff, but if you read the bottle it does caution of skin irritation.

My daughter was actually thrilled not to use it, when I told her that was why she was so itchy. She calls it the yucky stuff that hurts.

Bubble baths in general are not good for kids' skin. With girls, there is the added concern of urinary tract infections. We do bubble baths once every 2 weeks or so. I also have a son and daughter, 1 year apart. I feel that when they are uncomfortable with the other being in the tub, I would not bathe them together. They are 3 and 2 now and don't pay attention to each other in that regard, but we openly get them dressed, etc., so it's just normal for us now.

My older would be given the hand shower at the end of bathtime to help rinse herself off. By doing this, she started to like the idea of showers, and already has sometimes requested a shower instead of a bath.

Hope this helps!

My children have been bathing together all along and now for lack of space, bathe separately. I have an almost 11 year-old daughter, a 6 yr-old son, a 2 yr-old daughter, and a 2wk-old daughter. The 6 and 2 yr old enjoy baths together. M y oldest likes to bathe with them, but likes to take up the whole bathtub too!, so she has swtitched to her own showers now! Plus she will be growing up here pretty soon! I am not worried about curiosity as such. It's good for children to learn from parents about their bodies and ask questions. It shouldn't be such a mystery that they feel like they need to explore later on. Children can be educated, informed, and taught about right and wrong in an appropriate way for every age. That's what were doing with our children and it's working well.