There's a lot of hype around giving your baby a bath. What products to buy, how to get the water just right, what kind of massage to do while your baby is in the tub. You can spend hours with Google.
Thing is, you don't need all that.
Alice came home to a house still under construction. We had a toilet and sink in what used to be a closet, a sink downstairs and a shower in our new master bath. The claw foot tub was on the property, but not yet in the bathroom. We had kitchen cabinets but no counter tops or kitchen sink. I had not planned on purchasing a precious self contained baby bath.
We purchased this sink and higher faucet anticipating the time without a kitchen sink -a tip I got from my mother- it's very hard to do dishes with a low faucet. Also hard to wash babies I'd imagine.
Fill the sink, a hand towel on the edge like a spa pillow and off you go. I learned quickly that it was much easier to drain the water and rinse Alice under the faucet. A few passes and all done.
Your baby will like whatever you expose her to and will like what you enthusiastically convey as fun. Was the first rinse without protest? No, but the next 30 were. Just because something isn't smooth at first doesn't mean it can't work.
Fast forward a few months. The tub is now re-glazed and set, but the plumbing is not hooked up. It would seem there are parts missing for the faucet because putting the sleep deprived new mom in charge of ordering things she doesn't really know much about because she can "just hop on your phone while nursing" and get it shipped is maybe not the best idea. Anyway. Alice is now too big for the sink. Still no kitchen sink (don't get me started), but she can sit up. The shower it is.
To this day, though now she walks in circles while I try to shave, Alice and I hop in the shower together. I wash, she pre-rinses, then it's her turn for a good scrub, one last rinse and we're both done. No fuss, fast, effective, fun. Environmentally friendly too.
Here's the part that I never considered while discovering what bath time routine would work for us: the products we were using. When she was in the sink, only her products mattered, but now that the two of us are in together, and the soap I use ends up on her too, and I need to consider all parts of the process. Never mind that I should be using safe products for myself because I deserve it too. I was, and am, horrified at what kinds of unregulated and untested chemicals are in personal care products- including those sold for babies. Just because you can buy it at the drug store doesn't mean anyone has verified that the product is non-carcinogenic and won't mess with your endocrine system. Scary stuff.
I'm so glad I found Beautycounter and their Kids Collection. Working off a Never List of over 1500 ingredients they will never use- including the 1400 banned for use in Europe (of which only 11 are banned in the US). The products smell amazing, work really well and I don't need to worry about Alice's products being safe and can go back to worrying about keeping her from actually running in the shower. The products for adults are great too- Alice is all about eating bubbles right now (it's the only thing keeping her from running) and now I know the products I'm using in and out of the shower are safe for her young skin too. We went to Maine on vacation in August, and she and I just shared. Talk about easy packing!
There's enough to keep track of every day. Now that I know what I know about the ingredients that were in my personal care products and cosmetics, I'll never go back. I could spend hours making my own products and looking for even greener alternatives, but I'd rather hop online, order what we need and go back to playing with my little love. If you have questions on how to #switchtosafer let me know in the comments!