to bring my baby in the shower with me?

[Flingmoo]

He's 8 months old and I am fed up with being stinky and greasy where I seem to have no time for baths and showers these days, he sits, crawls and climbs things so can't just stick him in a bouncy chair for the duration. He's a light sleeper so can't make noise showering or bathing while he's asleep.

DH and I usually bring him into our bath but won't be practical if I'm home alone. Wondered if shower would be possible though as it's an enclosed en suite shower so maybe he'll just sit down while I shower? I could sit down with him... Anyone else done it? Or am I being completely crazy?

Well of course it's possible and I'm sure everyone knows it's possible. But sometimes people like stuff if said stuff makes their life a bit easier.

I'm not talking Kim Kardashian levels of stuff just helpful things like bouncy chairs.

We had a Roman orgy level of decadence and had a jumparoo and a bouncy chair. Ds plays in his cot whilst I shower and always has. He'd be eating loo roll if left to play in the bathroom and he's a wriggler so just wouldn't be safe in the shower with me. I wouldn't do without a shower all day to avoid a couple of minutes of crying but it very, very rarely happens- he mainly just plays.

Hehe, no I must admit I didn't expect my shower question to inspire so much intense debate

DisappointedOne (a few pages back): "Made much much more sense to me to have DD in the shower with me than rolling around in a room full of hard wooden furniture unsupervised."

I buy my luxury baby kit from Farah and Oxfam. Still thrifty and ethical.

Id love loads of 'stuff' to make my life easier... Can't afford it though

Can all these babies really climb out of their cots??

My one year old DD is taller than average for her age but there's no way she could climb out of her cot. The top of the bars reach just under her chin.

Could he sit on the bathroom floor with a toy to keep him occupied?

Do you have a high chair you could bring in or sit the door with a snack he could eat?

I feel your pain, DD is 7mo and my showers are about 30 seconds long these days

I had lots of friends who told me they were able to leave their child playing with toys in their cot whilst showering. I was able to leave DS in his bedroom when he was about 3...

I've just had them both in the bathroom with me, on the floor. DS wasn't too much of a climber, he was more of a pull everything out of all the cupboards child, DD is a bit more of a climber, but so far she's been fine...

Surely Kim Kardashian could sit the baby on her ginormous arse with some toys to play nicely while she showers?

Dissapointedone- I have had to do a LOT of research into the developing baby brain and attachment trust me- and this 15 mins a day having a shower without baby impeding their development is a new one on me certainly.

Sharon - I don't think that's what they meant.
On the other hand, there is no problem having you baby attached to you all he time either. It is a recent thing to actually leave a baby alone for any time tbh. Can you imagine if say the Maasai tribe left a baby alone 15 mins, it would probably be eaten before they returned! Same in the il a few hundred years ago

To those saying they leave the baby in the cot to play whilst showering... what makes this acceptable whereas there was recent post I read where the mum left the baby in the car for a few seconds and she got told it was a really bad decision even though the car was in sight. It's a genuine question... a car where the baby is strapped in and within sight is bad, but leaving the baby to roam around in the cot out of sight is fine.

Disclaimer: FWIW I've done neither of these things

What's the difference between leaving a baby in a cot in their own home and leaving them outside in a car often in an unfamiliar place?
Words fail me at times.

Err yes, in their own home or their own car. Don't know about anyone else's baby, but mine would have no idea if the car was in an unfamiliar place or not, what with the car seat being rear facing and the baby not being tall enough to look out of the windows

Mine can see out the window in a rear facing seat.

I don't have a problem with leaving a sleeping baby in a car but would worry about an awake one being distressed.

BMO I'm honestly asking - not trying to be awkward - would you worry about the baby being distressed if awake in the cot too?

The car is just as familiar to my baby as the cot. (But please be assured I wouldn't leave the baby... I'm just wondering why it's so different)

No

My ds showers with me all the time, he loves it and gets upset if he not invited! Try and see.

We had a playpen.. DS1 used to sit in it to avoid DS2 harassing him (DS2 would not countenance being in it at all, so it had to be that way round)

I suspect it is about factors which are within your control in the house versus those not in the car.

If I read correctly as well the car one had an unrestrained toddler in the car while the parent went into school. This is different to a child in the next room in a very enclosed space.

Ah, yes, Twitter that's a point.

Forget all the rod for your own back rubbish about hugging/co-sleeping/carrying - it's having them in the bath with you that's the real mistake.

I can't remember the last time I managed to have a bath without one or the other arriving in the room, stripping off and getting in with me

Mine doesn't get in but she 'helps'. She helps by hurling various plastic items at me so I 'can play'

Thanks pass I didn't realise the child wasn't strapped into the car seat.

When I think about it, I guess it's also a matter of being able to hear the child better through the running water of a shower compared to a car. It only got me thinking, as dd could get up to far more mischief in her cot (legs trapped through the bars, banging her head as she rolls over) than she could strapped into her car seat

Yes, I took all
Mine in!