Favorite Things - Puj Tub

One of the most stressful tasks as a new parent is giving your newborn a bath.  During the first few weeks of being a mother, my least favorite part of the day was giving my son a bath.  I watched I imagined a lot of things going wrong - water too cold or hot, getting soap in the eyes or mouth, baby peeing or pooing in the water, infecting the umbilical cord stump and most especially dropping the baby or drowning him.  Add to this the strain of having to squat on the floor (if you have a tub that will only work on the floor or you don't have enough table or kitchen sink space to accommodate a baby tub).  I had to use a regular tub the first few days after I gave birth and it was nerve wracking.  My baby would cry and shriek and I would get so anxious.

We got over that phase though.  I don't remember when exactly he started loving baths (maybe around the second month).  It's one of his favorite parts of the day I believe.  I think three specific things contributed to bath time being a soothing experience for him.

First was hot water.  My mom gave me this advice when she noticed that her grandson always crying during bath time.  Of course, the water shouldn't be hot enough to burn him but it definitely worked better when the temperature was more than just warm.

Next,  I started singing to him.  Just the same song over and over again - "Little Sunny Water"  (but I changed "Sunny" to my baby's name.

Lastly, I really owe a lot to the PUJ TUB.  It's a foldable tub made out of foam that you can put right in your bathroom sink.  The features that I loved about it are:

1. Since it fits in the sink you don't have to squat and you're in a better position to hold your baby and other things needed to give him a bath.  
2. It is made of soft foam that cradles your baby quite well.  No risk of hurting is head.  
3. When assembled in the sink, there are holes in the right places so the water level isn't so high.
4. You can unfold it and hang it which saves you a lot of space and it doesn't have to be such an eyesore. It also dries quite well.

The only negative thing I can point out is that you can only use it for a few months since the baby will be to big for it.  I was able to use it for about six months.  When your baby moves around more, he might squirm or stretch out and his head might go over the tub.  However, by this time, you won't need such a fancy tub since you're baby is no longer as fragile and (hopefully) bath time has already become a fun activity.

 

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