Bathing can be great fun and enjoyable for a toddler, but only if they are comfortable and certain conditions are met. Does your baby cry as soon as you put him in the water? Find out what you should do.
The first baths can be stressful, but over time your baby should get used to being in the tub and even like it. Unfortunately this is not always the case, and some babies start crying right from the start of the bath. There are various reasons for this: inadequate water temperature, inadequate air temperature, inadequate size of the bathtub, or too bright light are just a few of them.
There is also a fear of water, which increases when the eyes, ears and whole head are bathed. You may also find that you are using bath products that irritate delicate skin and cause unpleasant pinching when they get into your eyes.
Newborns and babies also cry during bath time when they are hungry, tired, or overexerted.
The daily bath does not have to be a family nightmare. Below we have prepared a short guide on how to make your child’s evening stay in the water enjoyable.
When preparing the baby’s bath, first take care of the conditions in the room – bathroom or room. Do not use strong lights, as they may offend the child. Also adjust the temperature so that it’s not too cold while undressing. Ideally, it should be around 23-24℃.
Next, you can move on to preparing the tub. Pay attention to its design – whether it’s too big, too tight or shaped in such a way that it’s difficult to hold and bathe your baby comfortably. As for the water, the optimal temperature is 37℃. If in doubt, a special water thermometer will help. Don’t pour too much water.
With the room and bath ready, it’s time for the bath. But don’t put your baby in the water right away; instead, slowly get him used to the new surroundings. You can cover him with a tetrad diaper and slowly immerse first his feet, then his whole legs, and only then the rest of his body. In this way they will better adapt to the water.
Your baby feels your emotions, so when you are tired or upset, your baby will automatically feel the same way. When you make sudden and hasty movements, you make the baby feel insecure and it expresses its fears by crying. So smile, speak to him in a warm and gentle tone, make gentle movements. Take care not to bathe the baby when it is very hungry or very tired.
To sum up, a lot of factors affect your baby’s comfort during bathing. Apart from the above-mentioned ways of making the ritual pleasant, you can also rinse the head with a watering can or a cup instead of a loud shower headphone (covering eyes and ears at the same time), put an anti-slip mat on the bottom, and when the toddler grows up, put colorful toys into the bathtub. For some, it may help to change the bath time, change the cosmetics and develop a whole ritual thanks to which the child will know that it is time to be washed.
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