First Bath
We gave the twins a bath last night. They had baths while in the NICU, but those were of the sponge bath variety and involved small buckets of water and tiny swabs. This was their first ever honest to goodness bath involving a bathtub, soft cotton towels, and of course lots of screaming.
We drug out our baby bathtub for the first time in months. It went into storage as soon as we discovered it was easier to let Abbie roam free-range in the big person tub than to force her to stay seated every time she tried standing. The twins are little more than cute blobs at this point, so we have no worries about them trying to stand.
Not only did we drag out the baby bathtub, but we also drug out the hammock that stretches across the bathtub. That hammock has been in storage for 17 of Abbie’s 18 months. It’s a good idea, suspending a newborn above the water and supporting his body since newborns, much like water, tend to flow to the lowest elevation. Unfortunately being suspended above water keeps the body wet and in a perpetual state of evaporation. This leads to infants in a perpetual state of cooling and in a perpetual state of cranky.
With Abbie, we could both afford the time to fawn over her as she writhed cutely in the chilly hammock. With the twins, we need a system where one of us stays bathes one child, keeping him wet, warm, and minimally furious, while the other parent preps the non-bathing, prepping or drying as needed. As for Abbie, I guess she plays nicely on the floor while the non-bathing parent checks on her periodically to ensure that she hasn’t stuffed too much dog food in her mouth.
I took the bathing job last night. Just as I remembered, the hammock severely ticked both of them off. Ian screamed for most of his bath, but Tory gave us some moments of silence. Not because he hated his bath any less, but because he became so mad that he refused to inhale for a few seconds after screaming. He’s fine, but I haven’t seen him turn those colors since he was on NICU oxygen.
Also just as I remembered, they both peed in their bath.
We drug out our baby bathtub for the first time in months. It went into storage as soon as we discovered it was easier to let Abbie roam free-range in the big person tub than to force her to stay seated every time she tried standing. The twins are little more than cute blobs at this point, so we have no worries about them trying to stand.
Not only did we drag out the baby bathtub, but we also drug out the hammock that stretches across the bathtub. That hammock has been in storage for 17 of Abbie’s 18 months. It’s a good idea, suspending a newborn above the water and supporting his body since newborns, much like water, tend to flow to the lowest elevation. Unfortunately being suspended above water keeps the body wet and in a perpetual state of evaporation. This leads to infants in a perpetual state of cooling and in a perpetual state of cranky.
With Abbie, we could both afford the time to fawn over her as she writhed cutely in the chilly hammock. With the twins, we need a system where one of us stays bathes one child, keeping him wet, warm, and minimally furious, while the other parent preps the non-bathing, prepping or drying as needed. As for Abbie, I guess she plays nicely on the floor while the non-bathing parent checks on her periodically to ensure that she hasn’t stuffed too much dog food in her mouth.
I took the bathing job last night. Just as I remembered, the hammock severely ticked both of them off. Ian screamed for most of his bath, but Tory gave us some moments of silence. Not because he hated his bath any less, but because he became so mad that he refused to inhale for a few seconds after screaming. He’s fine, but I haven’t seen him turn those colors since he was on NICU oxygen.
Also just as I remembered, they both peed in their bath.
posted by Matt at
9:59 PM
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