Seems like a stupid question but I need tips!

[Dove88]

I need tips/suggestions on what to do with DD whilst I shower. She’s 8 months old and up until recently I’ve put her in her bumbo seat on a towel on the bathroom floor (when she was really little I used her bouncer) but now her chubby little thighs are too big for it.
The problem is that she screams whenever I leave the room and only ever contact naps. My DH works really long hours so I prefer to have a shower in the day so that we can spend what little time he has as a family.
Do I just pop her somewhere safe and let her cry while I have a quick shower? Not keen on that but maybe that’s what she needs to help the separation anxiety, I don’t know.
Any suggestions are much appreciated!

Forgot to say, we have to get up early and do farm jobs so I can’t slip out before she wakes either

Can you fit a travel cot in the bathroom?

What’s your shower set up? Could she go in with you?

At that age, I'd stick mine in the high chair in the bathroom with a snack and just chat to her while I showered

Cot with some toys. She will get used to a little independent play

Yep cot and shower, i would try it around nap time as well and see if you can get her napping in her cot instead of on you as well.

At that age I’d put DD in her cot with some toys. Can she sit up securely? If so could you just put her on the bathroom floor with some toys?

@PuttingDownRoots thats a possibility I hadn’t considered! It might be tight but I can give it a go

@TheSausageKingofChicago we have a shower over the bath as well as a walk in shower. I’m worried about the temp of the water though, it’s abit unpredictable

Do I just pop her somewhere safe and let her cry while I have a quick shower?

Yep.
Try and be quick obviously. But you can’t just neglect your own hygiene because your baby doesn’t want to be away from you for 5 mins. It’s ok for to cry a little while when you need to get yourself clean! Plenty of people have bathrooms that are too small to accommodate a baby while you bath/shower/go to the toilet. I’ve never taken mine in, no space. So you’re not obliged to.

my baby is quite similar (now nearly 1). If I need to keep her occupied to do something quickly I pop something on YouTube for her like coco melon or Miss Rachel and pop her in her rocking chair. She’s perfectly content for 10 - 15 minutes.

If you're desperate, TV. Have you tried a jumparoo? Can pick them up secondhand for dirt cheap and most love them at that age.

Small fold up stroller and strap her in with several toys clipped to it and chat to her or playpen/cot in another room with radio playing or nursery tape playing in background. Or wait until she naps.

Playpen/travel cot with toys.
Sing song-y voice "you stay there Mummy is going for a shower"
When you come back "Mummy is back. All nice and clean".
That way she will get used to being popped in the playpen and she knows she is safe and she knows you are coming back.

I used to stick DS on the floor of the bathroom with some (waterproof) toys while I showered. The room was baby proofed. Or sometimes a travel cot with toys that I'd put in the hallway and shower with the door open.

Get one of the ikea high chairs and some suction toys?

She'll be up off the ground and more at your level, you can talk to her round the shower curtain. They don't take up much space and are waterproof. They're £19 and well worth it.

my DD is a similar age. I tend to pop her in her little seat (that she can’t get out of) and stick her in front of baby tv. She loves it so I usually have time to shower and stick a face on 🤣

Thank you so much everyone for your suggestions. I will see how it goes!

My eldest was like this, I used to take her in the shower with me. She loved sitting and splashing about while I had a shower. Sometimes I would run a bath for us both which she loved even more! The younger one was better about being left laid on the bath mat or in her cot when I popped out for a shower, but you have my sympathy because my eldest would scream like a banshee if I so much as opened a cupboard in the kitchen and 'disappeared'.

Please don’t leave her to cry. Babies don’t understand yhat you’re coming back and at 8 months separation anxiety has kicked in which is why she cries whenever you leave the room, but it’ll pass!

i was in the exact same position as you, contact naps and crying whenever I left the room. I either popped him in his cot while he watched dancing fruit on YouTube for 5 minutes or I just let him play on the bathroom floor with some toys (obviously made sure everything was out of reach) and played boo from behind the shower curtain.

(oh and avoid a jumparoo - they’re really bad for babies joints which is why they’re banned in certain countries!)

I used a bouncy chair up until she was about 8 months and realised she could launch herself out of it.
Now we have a routine of up, play, breakfast, play, bottle and down for a nap in her cot. I make sure her nap is like bedtime so into her sleep bag, white noise of etc.
I give her 10mins to settle then jump in the shower.
She normally has a 1.5hour nap in the morning so i get a shower and time to do chores etc.

It doesnt always go to plan. She woke the other norning when i had a hair full of shampoo so i had to dash out of the shower in a towel and try to resettle her, which didnt work, consequently she had to sit in her cot and protest until i was dressed.

Do the bath taps up super tight and put her in the bath on a towel with some toys. You'll be able to see her and talk to her and make a joke about baths without water!