Where is your baby when you are in the toilet?

[DaddyTenbob]

Hi there,

First ever post from this very proud Dad to be (do I have to shorten that to D2B or whatever?)

Anyhow, I know this is pretty strange for a first post but my wife and I were just chatting babystuff, as you do. My wife asked me, what do you do with the baby when you go to the toilet? Now, I know before the baby is a toddler we can just arm ourselves with the baby monitor but what about when the baby is a toddler? My wife says you would just have the baby in the bathroom with you when you have to go. Personally I think it would be cruel to have our baby in there when I'm lightening the load, so to speak.

So, what do, or did you guys do? Oh, and we're 6 months pregnant at this stage. Yay!

Before they get mobile they're fine wherever you leave them, I leave DD2 on the playmat, bouncy chair or bumbo. With DD1, once she could crawl we put a gate over the stairs, shut the doors of rooms we didn't want her to go in and baby-proofed the rest so she could be left to wander. We also had a playpen which I used occasionally but not much.

Oh and she did go through a phase of wanting to be in the bathroom with me every time, so it was a choice of
a) shut the door quickly and have her hammering on it and wailing the whole time
or b) let her come in and stand there watching and tugging my sleeve.

I usually went for b).

Cogito-I def leave dd on playmat or similar for short jobs as you describe-assuming ds isn't around. And loo? Occasionally in sling when out and about . Otherwise with me or just outside the door.

I had one of those babies that's made out of Kryptonite or lead or something. If I'd hoofed him around in a sling I would have ended up in traction. :)

ATruth does your baby lie on a changing table when you're showering? How does he/she not roll off?

OP, I just used to leave the baby in cot/bouncy chair/baby gym until they could walk, then it was bye bye to the private pee. On some particularly noisy days I have been known to lock them out and sit there while they hammer on the door (ds is 4, dd nearly 2)

He's only 10 weeks headfairy so still doesn't roll. He has started a backwards bum shuffle though so now I put change mat on the floor while I'm in the shower. He loves it & I don't need to remember to give him nappy free time during the rest of the day

Phew! I was worried there. You don't want to find out he can roll by hearing him thump on the floor :( They like to surprise you with their new tricks. I'll never forget the day ds showed me how clever he was at rolling off the bed.

Ooops, sorry to have worried you! Your poor DS! (Actually, poor you, I bet you were more worried than he was)

My toddler usually follows me in and then watches what I do and asks questions;

"mummy, why you do that?"
"mummy whats that noise?"
"mummy, where water go to?"
"mummy, I need some tissues too. I have to choo (i.e. sneeze)!"

You get the general idea!

Atruth He did yell for a bit but he calmed down long before my heart stopped pounding. Mind you since then he's thrown himself down several flights of stairs, fallen out of trees, off walls and various slides/climbing frames in the park. I dont' think I needed to worry that much, apparently he's made of steel :o

I think for these situations, plus when you are doing certain things during cooking like getting hot stuff out of the oven, a baby pen is just such a blessing. My dc did not like a baby pen, so I only used it if I really needed to and always had some special toys in there (ie. only to be played with in the baby pen). Also helps when doorbell rings and you don't want to take your child with you because too cold/ill etc.

We have a downstairs loo as well as an upstairs bathroom so I'd either pop DD in the cot upstairs with some books or pop her in the playpen downstairs and use the downstairs loo. Now she's 2yo, she's okay for a few mins just in the lounge (especially if she's engrosed in the TV or an activity). So can wee in peace or indeed do things like cooking dinner!!