MJ Loves Bath Time!

When MJ was about a week old, I gave him his first bath.  I dug out CJ's blue bathtub from the garage and set it up in the tub in CJ/MJ's bathroom.  I was out of practice giving infants a bath, but it went pretty well.  CJ was very sweet and offered to be my assistant.  He squeezed baby shampoo into my hand and handed me the hooded towel after the bath.  MJ cried a bit and I'm not sure if it's because the whole thing was new, he didn't like the water, he didn't like the noise, or what.

A few days later, I gave him a second bath and that went much better.  I had everything ready (towel, baby shampoo, diaper, footy pajamas, etc.) and I sang bath songs.  This time, he didn't cry, but instead just looked at me intently while I scrubbed his head and body.

In fact, MJ has not cried during bath time since his very first bath.  It seems that, like his big brother CJ, MJ likes baths!  He's very serious during baths; he just stares intently at whoever is giving him a bath but he does not cry.  Of course, we make sure we give him a bath a little bit after nursing so he's calm and full.

My tips for a successful bath:

• Make sure baby is calm and happy.
• Prep the bathtub ahead of time with warm water, baby wash/shampoo and towel. Make sure everything is within easy reach.
• Get your post-bath area ready with an extra towel, lotion, diaper and pajamas; this way, you're not running around, looking for supplies while baby is wet and cold.
• Make sure baby's hair is fairly dry but be gentle when drying his hair. A dry head means he's less likely to feel cold.
• Put baby in a blanket or sleep sack and snuggle with him so he's nice and warm after bath time.
• Sing and talk a lot during bath time. The singing will distract the baby if he's not especially fond of bath time.
• Explain to baby what you are doing, every step of the way. I did that with CJ and eventually, he could understand everything I was doing.