Lucy hates baths, and I hate giving them!

[ToughPrincess]

So I'm having a heck of a time with this bathing thing.

When I bathe her, I scrub the bath tub with dawn to get all our germs out and then with bathroom cleaner to get hers out.

Every time I go to put her in the bath she climbs up my arm and eventually goes still. She climbs to the most shallow part of the tub and stands as high as she can. Then she starts flailing around nervously after a while and she'll scratch at her ear when she gets water in it. This is so stressful for us both cause I worry about her and she hates it. She doesn't drink water and I've actually quit giving her water in her water dish because she totally ignores it and kicks sand in it. I give her baby food so she gets moisture.

I was thinking about getting a Rubbermaid tub just for her baths. How big should it be?

Does anyone have some suggestions! How often should I bathe her? What is the shortest amount of time i can bathe her for?

 

[Gail]

How old is she? babies need almost daily soaking but a adult can do with only 2-3 soakings a week. A rubbermaid tub is a good idea if you are concerned about germs. I only clean the tub after bathing Gideon if he goes poo in it.
Try and soak for at least 10 minutes. Put a wash cloth down so she has something to grip and don't make the water deeper then her shoulders. If she tries to crawl up your arm, don't keep your hand down in the water. If a wash cloth doesn't help giver her something to hold onto, try a rock.
Make sure you don't get the water too warm, room temp is plenty warm enough. The more you bath her, the more she will get used to it.

 

[jerichosmom]

Oh bath time.....this is always a fun topic. We went through the same thing with our oldest, he's almost 2 now so he's used to the bath, but we have a 6 month old who isn't quite there yet.
We tried the rubbermaid dish tub once, he jumped right out. We tried the kitchen sink, he jumped out. So we decided it had to be the tub. Like Gail said, don't fill it too high, and watch the temp. Use a thermometer if you're unsure of the water temp. I usually make ours about 100 degrees, since they bask at 105, its not hotter or colder than their body temp. It also helps them to go poop, which makes clean up easy. We tried the cloth on the bottom of the tub, that helps sometimes, sometimes they freak out anyway.
You just have to remember that you are trying to take the very best care of your baby, and it's not hurting them. They just freak out because it's new and it's water, so to them it's a threat. Obviously you're not going to let them drown!
Our baby still freaks out when we initially put him in, he flails and tries to run, he looks like a 3 legged dog trying to swim. But after a minute he calms down and then he just sits there. Our big guy just sits there for awhile, sometimes he kind of does this lazy swim/walk thing around the tub. I think he's accepted that the bath isn't going anywhere lol.
As for cleaning the tub, we use the shower head to rinse all the poop down the drain, then we spray the tub with a bleach solution (1 bleach: 9 water). Then rinse again. That's it!
ps: after i take them out of the bath I wrap them in their own little towel, sometimes they will stay snuggled in there for hours! They are such babies!

 

[jerichosmom]

I forgot to ask.....is Lucy on sand substrate?

 

[Sauzo]

Lol welcome to my world. Harley liked baths for about a week when I got at 6 weeks old. Now she's 12 weeks, hydrated since I feed her greens and water soaked phoenix worms and she absolutely hates baths. She flails, jumps, jumps on my hand and runs up my arm if i'm not fast enough and overall just looks miserable so I ended up just giving up on baths. About the only time I do it now is if she is shedding. Otherwise, she seems well hydrated, good poops, so active it makes me tired watching her some days and such a pudgebelly from all the roaches she eats haha. Lucky for me though, I don't have a beardie that walks through their own poop or tries to finger paint on the walls.

 

[jacody]

only thing that helped us w/ our babies getting used to the bath is using a small plastic tote and sitting on the floor w. a towel ready.. we place our hands underneath and w/ one thumb on the back behind the head and gently hold w/ the water up to the shoulders.. maybe w/ constant contact it might turn around for you.. :roll: