Tips for showering etc

[Jamummm]

Hiya,

Sorry for posting here as not a single parent as such, my partner works away so for weeks at a time I work like one most of the time.

Anyway I have a 10month old and showering in the morning is becoming a bit of a nightmare. When younger I'd put her in a bouncer now I drag a walker in and chuck her in but she's very active and doesn't like being restricted so is starting to just scream and cry. Can't leave her in cot as she does the same when I leave the room.

Tried showering the night before but I sweat alot during the night so bit sticky and icky in the morning.

Also set an alarm to try get up before her to shower but she's now waking earlier and earlier.

I'm out the sorry before first nap so really I need to have a wash while she is up but can't handle another morning of screaming from before i even step in the shower until I'm completely ready for the day.

What do/did you do with babies this age?

I tend to lock mine in the bathroom with me and put some toys on the floor and talk to her. Most of the time this works fine, sometimes she complains but I need a shower so 🤷‍♀️

I have this same issue with showering. Only difficulty is, our bathroom isn't baby safe so it has to be done when Ds is sleeping. I literally have no other choice

I used a jumperoo, although she was only happy in that for 10 mins (so enough time to shower but had to deal with her when getting dressed etc). At 1 (when she was too big for jumperoo) I put her in the cot with the Ipad on a chair in front of the bars with YouTube nursery rhymes playing

An episode of in the night garden whilst in some restrictive safe device

Thanks for your replies!
My bathroom is tiny and isn't baby safe either. I have toyed with the idea of toys in the floor but she has thing for biting the radiator value and I know she'll pull herself up to standing and have already had a few near misses with her head and the ceramic bath 😐

We have same issue with jumperoo, it doesn't fit in my bathroom but it's in my Bedroom for me getting ready and she goes crazy in it.

Argghhhh

Can you shower later on when she has a nap? As long as you don’t need to look/smell presentable fort thing, that is!

Or can you put one of those baby bugee things in the doorframe and leave the door open?

I used to use the playpen with CBeebies
Not a lone parent but DH used to work very long hours.

Can she come on the shower with you? Ours was an overbath shower when mine were little so I used to put the plug in and let them play at the other end.

Either leave in cot for ten mins when baby is happy or settled. Do you have a bumbo seat? Bring that into bathroom.

I did as you did and put the baby bouncer in the bathroom. After that I would only shower when they were asleep. Or left them playing in the cot. If they cried it’s just tough, mummy has to wash. Just had to be really quick.

Would she sit in the bath with you? I've done this before.

Some great suggestions. I have plenty of things I could put her in and do put her she just screams because she wants to be loose to cause trouble 😂 my shower is over bath but it's right in the middle of the bath.
Think at this age having her in with me would be harder since I would have to dry and dress the both of us after.

The screaming everytime makes showering/mornings pretty stressful

I just shut all the doors except the bathroom one and have a stair gate on top of the stairs and on the bathroom door so the baby only has access to the landing. Stick some toys on the landing and it’s like a playpen on the landing.

If you have no option but to stick her in a playpen right at the bathroom door and leave the door open, singing and talking loudly to her, then she isn’t going to come to any harm in that 7 minutes. It’s horrible when they scream at you, but you’ve got to be able to shower, she’ll grow to understand that you are out of sight, but you do come back, she might “tell you off”, and seem really upset, but she’ll be ok

I don't have any advice, I'm afraid. DS wanted to be with me all the time before he was 1 (still does, but now a bit more independent) and never napped anywhere but in my arms, so I understand how you feel.
I tried taking him in the shower with me once and he HATED the water splashing at him.
The only 'solutions' I managed to come up with were: not showering - I sometimes went about a week without a shower in the early days, doing it before he woke up (and sometimes having him wake up and scream for me before I'd finished), or just leave him in the playpen (which would make him scream).
It got easier around the time he turned 1: he started sleeping a bit more predictably, I'd stopped breastfeeding at night so was actually getting some sleep, I'd gone back to work so was back to getting up at 5:30... It all sort of fell into place, but until that point I just had to muddle along with it...

I've had exactly the same the same problem, especially as my little man who is now almost 11 months has had seperation anxiety since about 6 months.

I have resorted to putting in the cot, which he stands up in and putting on a cartoon on my phone on You tube with my phone propped up out of reach.

We generally use tv in emergency situations in our house as do not think it brings benefit at this age, however, needs must!

I've tried in the bad with me, in a play pen in the bathroom and more, but all of those result in a very stressful shower time. At least this way I get 5-10 minutes to shower in peace and relax

Good luck xx