Showering with baby: A (not so) shitty experience


Dr Breanne Kunstler (BBiomedSci, BHealthSci, MPhysio, PhD).

My husband and I have a 4-month-old daughter (Abby) who is growing fast. She is becoming so long now that we need to start bathing her in a different location; her baby bath is far too small now! This has led us to explore alternative, quick and easy bathing options. Cue the shower!

Hubby tends to workout in the afternoons on the weekend, creating a great opportunity for us to give Abby a shower in the evening instead of a bath. She seems to really enjoy it. I was hesitant in the beginning; how can a baby enjoy looking up at a shower head that’s spewing water in her face? So, I thought I’d look into why babies might like showers so much.

I decided to pay close attention during our shower last night. Hubby gets in first to make sure the temperature is just right and I follow quickly with a naked baby who could wee or poo on me and the floor at any moment. The rush of the transfer and anxiety associated with the possible slippery and smelly mess quickly subsides as I hand Abby over and she is safely in the hands of hubby and under the shower. I start to watch. What is she doing and how is she responding?

She gently shakes the water off her face after that first dip under the stream. There’s no distress, no tears or grizzles. She’s just going with the flow (excuse the pun) and seemingly enjoying being swung around as my hubby sings and makes close eye contact as he talks to her with a calm or excited tone, depending on her mood.

Now, Abby has not been sleeping or feeding well recently. She also hasn’t pooed for a while, so I knew it was coming. Well, the shower was the time for said poo. Four breast milk poos later and now I have an even happier baby, one who seems quite pleased with her efforts. But, aside from pooing on Dad, what else might she enjoy about the shower experience?


  1. She is experiencing close skin-to-skin contact with Dad (and Mum when she jumps in too), which babies tend to enjoy as it has numerous benefits like reducing stress and crying time and not just in premmie babies;
  2. The warm water flowing across her skin, which is close to body temperature, feels nice to her. Conveniently, the temperature can be changed quickly by moving out of the stream or changing the dials. This is more difficult with the bath and often results in a naked and wet baby having to wait a bit while more hot water is added to a too-cool bath;
  3. The baby is doing what the parent is doing, which might be enjoyable or natural to them, almost like they’re just hanging out together. This is similar to starting solids, where caregivers eating with the baby are modelling the behaviour, which can facilitate uptake of the behaviour (e.g. eating solids).
  4. The room temperature is usually just right because naked adults can feel exactly what the room is like, as opposed to making an educated guess;
  5. Showers are quicker than baths, which might be nicer for babies who don’t enjoy the potentially prolonged bathing experience;
  6. The baby is sitting in comfy hands instead of a hard bath, which I’m sure we’d all prefer;
  7. Babies enjoy being carried, rocked, cuddled, moved around, held and talked to as it has a calming effect. This happens nonstop in the shower!

So, I think our shower times will continue well into the future, hopefully with less poos.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Run fuelling: Within-run carbohydrate intake

Image
Dr Breanne Kunstler (BBiomedSci, BHealthSci, MPhysio, PhD). Physiotherapist, behaviour change scientist and run coach. Many people have enjoyed my 'The sweet series' Instagram posts. Some have liked the relevance of the information to their within-run fuelling, but most have really just enjoyed the comparisons. I compared the amount of carbohydrate between gels (e.g. Gu ) and common snacks ( lolly snakes  [Image 1], muesli bars , glucogel jellybeans , jellybelly jelly beans , skittles , dates and red frogs ). I also outlined how much of each snack you need to consume to meet the equivalent amount of carbohydrate found in one gel. Image 1 : Lolly snakes were yummy but really impractical! Each of my posts included a pros and cons list related to the consumption of each snack during a one hour high intensity run, ending in a rating out of 5 stars. I didn't include any comments on how the consumption of each lolly impacted my performance because performance is influenced by m...
Read more

Run fuelling: A holistic approach

Image
Dr Breanne Kunstler (BBiomedSci, BHealthSci, MPhysio, PhD). Physiotherapist, behaviour change scientist and run coach. There are people who insist on eating before a run to feel energised and prevent the dreaded mid-run "bonk" (no, not that kind of bonk...) and those who absolutely refuse to eat to avoid tummy upsets and hope for the best. Both of these runners will use stored carbohydrate, which comes from food consumed in meals consumed in the hours and days before the run. Regardless of whether you eat before a run or not, your run is going to use carbohydrate/carbs (sugars) to fuel your muscles. Therefore, getting the most out of your running depends on the food you consume, and don't consume, at times when you aren't running too. Those who make sure they get sufficient carbohydrate in their diet throughout the days leading up to their run will likely get more out of their running. Eating to run: How much carbohydrate should I eat each day? There's plenty of e...
Read more

Screen time and sedentary behaviour in the early years (Part 2): Six physical health risks thought to be related to sedentary and screen time

Image
Dr Breanne Kunstler (BBiomedSci, BHealthSci, MPhysio, PhD). Last week I wrote an introduction to sedentary and screen time . This is the second post in a series of posts on children’s screen time and will involve examining some of the physical health risks associated with screen time. Parents often worry that their children are spending too long watching screens. Screen time involves time spent with various devices, such as laptops, desktop computers, game consoles, smartphones, tablets, TVs and anything else I have forgotten to mention and that you are probably holding right now. Screens dominate our lives, making life both easier and more entertaining. However, there might be risks associated with using them too much, making them dangerous for the health of our kids. Image 1: Are TVs really dangerous? (credit: The Imaginative Conservative ) I did a quick search and found hundreds of studies on screen time and child health, dozens of which were review-level (some of the bes...
Read more