Saturday, February 17, 2007

First Bath

Tonight was baby's first bath! He was getting pretty stinky, even despite my occasional sponge baths. This afternoon while his Aunt Emily was changing him, he treated her with an extra spectacular fountain of pee that managed to soak him, the general surroundings, his clothes, and, um, a bit of poor Auntie.
As you can imagine, this only improved the general sticky feel of the kid's little bod. That was the final straw--tonight is bath night!

Since his bellybutton is pretty close to being healed, we thought we'd give it a try tonight. We warmed up the bathroom with a space heater and got the little baby bathtub filled up with warm water. Michael stripped him down and gently laid his little squirmy body down into the warm water. He quieted down and looked up at us thoughtfully. We put a washcloth over his tummy to keep him warm when he started to shiver a bit. Didn't get a whole heck of a lot of enthusiasm from the kiddo, but he didn't seem particularly upset about it.

Michael washed him up. After a few minutes we pulled him out before he got chilly. We put him on a cozy towel in front of the space heater and dried him off. Michael put some goop on his diaper rash and got the diaper ready. Baby was so quiet and happy! Just as Michael reached down to pull up the sides and fasten little cozy kid all together... Pssssssssssssssssssss! Pee fountain! Whee! It went everywhere, all the way up to his chin, in the belly button, all over the towel, the diaper, the clean onesie....

Giggling, we put him back in the bath. (Well, ok, I was giggling. Michael was annoyed.) The water was a tad chilly by now, though, and poor little darling started to squall. Fast forward this time: quick bath, back onto a new towel, new diaper goop, new diaper, new onesie, and he was shivering cold. His little lips and nose turn purple when he's chilly. We wrapped him up in a sleep snack and hat and then in a blankie and snuggled him until he was warm and quiet.

So the bath turned out a tad more traumatic than we'd hoped. Apparently new mom and dad haven't mastered the "relaxing bedtime bath" that my mother has told me about. But the good news is that baby's hair is soooo soft and clean and blonde curly when it's freshly washed and dried. I've been burying my nose in all its deliciousness for the last hour. Ah, life is good! How we love our baby Jed!

-Vanessa

5 comments:

Jenni said...

Try a nice deep bath in the full sized tub with dad or mom (or both!) When you get out, wrap baby with you--skin to skin--in the towel.
S wasn't sure what to think of his first bath or two, but they were never traumatic, and now he seems to really enjoy 'swimming' around in familiar arms. (We can also nurse in the tub, which only improves the appeal for him!) :-)

Jenni said...

by the way, switching to cloth diapers helps a lot with diaper rash...S was getting one and it wouldn't clear up until I switched him...I was sticking to 'sposies at night for a while, but finally this week just went all cloth and now he has a happy bum!

Michael said...

I know! I can't wait to switch over to cloth diapers but I want to wait until he moves up a size so we don't have to buy two sizes of wraps (just in case I decide I can't handle it... frugality springs eternal.) Bag balm seems to be keeping things in check down there in the meantime.

The big bath sounds so much fun! We want to try that and a shower, too, which I've heard babies love. But we decided to start small. Which is probably just as well since we're both such beginners that even a little teeny bath turns into a giggle-and-pee-ordeal! V

Tania said...

What, no pictures!

My babies (and also when they grow up) always LOVE a deep bath, and I never bother waiting for the umbilical stump to fall off, I just clean it well, and dry it with a hair dryer on low afterwards.

Anonymous said...

Greetings and Congratulations upon the arrival of JED.
What a great looking and healthy boy. It looks like the parents are doing prety good under the circumstances, also. May I wish you all kinds of success and happiness to you three as a rather new young family beginnig a wonderful life together.

Your California Friend-Dick M.