When Mia was a newbie she hated the bath. She would scream so loud for so long every single time! She has the lungs of Mariah Carey and can scream at a higher octave then I’ve ever heard before. Hearing her screams made me insane so it was quite a stressful time trying to bath her. We tried so many different suggestions and It took two months to find a solution that literally fixed everything…instantly.
A swaddle bath. (Video here)
Seems crazy right? I was all for it but Matt was a little reluctant. Bathing a baby swaddled in a receiving blanket seemed ridiculous. I didn’t really give him a chance to say no so one night we decided to try it.
We prepped the bath as usual Then undressed her and swaddled her in a cotton receiving blanket. We were already worried because straight out of the womb she hated being swaddled. The nurses even had trouble keeping her in a swaddle. She cried less not swaddled.
Anyway, we Lowered her in the little tub and nothing….silence….no screams.
She was just chillin. We couldn’t believe it!
So we kept the swaddle wet and just lifted a piece and washed underneath, rinsed and covered back up in the blanket. I guess she was just too cold before? I don’t know but this did the trick and it saved the day. Bath time was no longer stressful.
When she was about 5 months old and sitting up by herself we tried the regular bathtub without a swaddle and she was fine! So fret not, you don’t need to do the swaddle forever.
I really hope this helped you. It saved my sanity during the toughest phase of motherhood I’ve encountered yet.
If you did this or something else that worked for you I encourage you to share on the comments. Moms and Dads helping Moms and Dads
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