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Original poster

When do you find time to shower with a newborn?!

113 replies

Poppy2421 · 08/02/2025 11:49

My second baby is 4 weeks old and overall I'm finding it much easier than last time but the thing I'm struggling with is when I can wash and get ready for the day!? I feel so much better if I'm able to have a quick shower in the morning but baby is only really awake to feed and then wants to be held while napping all the time. I've put him in a sling so I can eat, use the toilet etc but I'm often still in PJs by midday. When I tried putting him in the sleepyhead in the bathroom so I could wash he just stayed awake for hours and got gradually more agitated, so didn't seem a good solution. What does everyone else do?

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LiquoriceAllsorts2 · 08/02/2025 20:12

You need a bouncer in the bathroom. You can shower whilst the baby is in it

Overthebow · 08/02/2025 20:13

With my second I’d get up and shower before DH started work so he’d have the baby whilst I got ready. I had a toddler at nursery though so we all needed to be up and ready for the day.

Everythingisnumbersnow · 08/02/2025 20:13

It's not going to kill him if you just put him in a cot and have a shower

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Parker231 · 08/02/2025 20:14

Poppy2421 · 08/02/2025 15:21

Thanks for the replies! Ok maybe I just need to accept him being cross and awake a while so I can make sure I'm clean and ready for the day.
The baby is not yet in enough of a routine for me to be able to get up and ready before husband leaves taking our older child with him - wake up can be anything from 7-10am. I guess in another few months he will be on more of an early morning schedule like most kids!

I had a shower each morning - I put DT’s in their cot or playpen. I washed my hair in the evenings after going to the gym.

Missionimprobable · 08/02/2025 20:14

I'm watching for tips as I'm going to dds early in the morning so she can shower and wash her hair, I'll be entertaining dgs, 9 months old

PiastriThePastry · 08/02/2025 20:16

I used to put DS in his bouncy chair and he’d either snooze or just keep an eye on what I was up to while I showered. He was always pretty chilled about it, it was when he started moving that it was a bit trickier but then I think i used to put him in his cot and leave the doors open/take the monitor so I could keep an ear out!

Wingingitnancy · 08/02/2025 20:25

I'd either pop them in the bouncer in the bathroom. Or put the monitor on them while they napped and watched while I showed (a few naked runs lol) or i just washed in the bath with them.

Waffle19 · 08/02/2025 20:31

Put them in the Moses basket / crib in your room and have a shower. They’re not going to go anywhere. Bouncy chair in bathroom if not comfortable leaving them in another room. Newborn phase is the easiest time to have a shower, gets harder once they’re on the move and hard still when they’re walking in to ask you ridiculous questions.

Original poster
Poppy2421 · 08/02/2025 20:37

theleafandnotthetree · 08/02/2025 19:59

I am utterly perplexed by this, don't you ever put your baby down, ever? Having a shower is just one of several times during the day when mine were put down awake. In fact that was the default position. In sight - unless put down awake for a nap- and with frequent interaction but kicking away on a soft mat on the floor or in the moses basket or bouncer. In my arms to be breastfed and sometimes for cuddles but not glued to me all day.

He's basically not awake yet - he is awake to feed and have nappy changed and then back to sleep, he is only 3 weeks. Also quite sicky so have to hold him upright after a feed for 20-30mins which maxes out his awake time!

OP posts:
Lndnmummy · 08/02/2025 20:39

With my eldest this was really difficult. I honestly dont think I showered much when he was a baby. He had reflux and screamed for 4 months non stop. Awful

With my second he used to wake for a feed around 4-5am, and then go back down. I used to take that time for me. Coffee with candles and then a lovely shower and some super quick makeup. Just tinted moisturiser, blusher and lipbalm. After this I felt I could face anything the day threw at me. That hour betweern 5-6am was what got me through those early months. My dh was great too. If ds woke before my hour was up he would take him until 6am.

I had a pretty big age gap between my two as it was so incredibly hard first time around. Second was so much better but I 'demanded' more of dh. I remember going to bed with my 6 year old at 7.30 to get some block sleep. Dh would take the baby until 12-1am and then we'd swap so he got block sleep from 12.00 to 6am ish.

My eldest just never slept in chunks so it was much much tougher.

Pineapplewaves · 08/02/2025 20:42

Feed baby, change nappy if required, place baby in bouncy seat, place bouncy seat on bathroom floor, switch on shower. The shower used to make both my DS fall asleep, sometimes I would leave it on after I got out just for some peace (DS 2 would wake up the minute I turned it off). If my DS did wake up, the hair dryer would send both of them to sleep again.

Lndnmummy · 08/02/2025 20:46

theleafandnotthetree · 08/02/2025 19:59

I am utterly perplexed by this, don't you ever put your baby down, ever? Having a shower is just one of several times during the day when mine were put down awake. In fact that was the default position. In sight - unless put down awake for a nap- and with frequent interaction but kicking away on a soft mat on the floor or in the moses basket or bouncer. In my arms to be breastfed and sometimes for cuddles but not glued to me all day.

In my experience, no I never put mine down. They were glued to me (literally) for months. I always envied mums who could pop their babies on a blanket and get on with stuff. It just wasn't my experience. I have thousands of photos of me with my youngest sat in the exact same spot on the sofa. I spent my entire mat leave on that sofa holding him
😅

Pinkdreams · 08/02/2025 20:47

I found it easiest when DD was that age, bouncy chair. Now she's 10 months I struggle

thehorsesareallidiots · 08/02/2025 20:51

theleafandnotthetree · 08/02/2025 19:59

I am utterly perplexed by this, don't you ever put your baby down, ever? Having a shower is just one of several times during the day when mine were put down awake. In fact that was the default position. In sight - unless put down awake for a nap- and with frequent interaction but kicking away on a soft mat on the floor or in the moses basket or bouncer. In my arms to be breastfed and sometimes for cuddles but not glued to me all day.

My first cried literally every single minute I was not holding him. There was no such thing as "not on me". Not sleeping, not awake; if he was sleeping and I put him down or rolled out of bed, he'd wake and cry, and if I put him down awake he'd cry. He had two states; on me, and crying.

PheasantPluckers · 08/02/2025 20:51

Moses basket in the bathroom when newborn and bouncer when she was bigger. I kept talking and opened the shower door every now and then to look at her or play peekaboo

A daily shower and hairwash was non negotiable for me, even the briefest one. I can function on very little sleep, I can go hungry but I'd fall apart without a shower 😂

CandiedPrincess · 08/02/2025 21:00

thehorsesareallidiots · 08/02/2025 20:51

My first cried literally every single minute I was not holding him. There was no such thing as "not on me". Not sleeping, not awake; if he was sleeping and I put him down or rolled out of bed, he'd wake and cry, and if I put him down awake he'd cry. He had two states; on me, and crying.

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Mine did too. But I still put him down. Crying or not. No harm came to him.

CestLaVie123 · 08/02/2025 21:11

No time to do ANYTHING with a newborn! Bring whatever basket or seat you use for baby into the bathroom so you can shower and watch them at the same time?

oustedbymymate · 08/02/2025 21:18

Shower before DH leaves
Baby in bouncer in bathrooms
Baby in cot monitor over and monitor in the bathroom

All things that I did

thehorsesareallidiots · 08/02/2025 21:26

CandiedPrincess · 08/02/2025 21:00

Mine did too. But I still put him down. Crying or not. No harm came to him.

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So did I. I needed my shower. I'm just responding to the idea that you can just put your baby down and they will lie there kicking contentedly.

Phonicshaskilledmeoff · 08/02/2025 21:30

I mean this with kindness. They don’t move, nothing bad will happen if you put the baby down for 10 minutes.

Just choose a time when they are reasonably happy and put them in their cot with a mobile or at nap time.

alternatively just stick them on a mat in the bathroom, but I think that’s unnecessary personally.

The best advice I was given as a new mum was to ‘put the baby down’.

Disturbia81 · 08/02/2025 21:35

Put in bouncy chair infront of shower

Bloodybrambles · 09/02/2025 14:53

Cattery · 08/02/2025 12:39

Exactly. This was late 80s but I remember the health visitor telling me to make sure the baby was safe and just let him cry. They soon get used to not being picked up immediately and learn to settle themselves

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Now they believe that it’s not necessary the baby believing that the baby is self settling it’s more that the baby learns to not to cry as there’s no point as nobody comes.

Romanian orphanages was an example of a room full of silent babies.

minipie · 09/02/2025 14:58

I was about to reply with the bouncy chair or musical mobile suggestions both of which I used.

But then I remembered that this was actually at more like 6-7 weeks plus. Not the very early newborn stage where as a pp describes she was either on me or crying.

I actually have no idea when I showered in those weeks.

minipie · 09/02/2025 14:59

Bloodybrambles · 09/02/2025 14:53

Now they believe that it’s not necessary the baby believing that the baby is self settling it’s more that the baby learns to not to cry as there’s no point as nobody comes.

Romanian orphanages was an example of a room full of silent babies.

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There is a HUGE difference between letting your baby cry for a few minutes while you shower, and letting them cry without response for days, weeks, months on end as per Romanian orphanages. Please don’t guilt mothers into thinking they must immediately respond to every cry from their baby.

theleafandnotthetree · 09/02/2025 14:59

Bloodybrambles · 09/02/2025 14:53

Now they believe that it’s not necessary the baby believing that the baby is self settling it’s more that the baby learns to not to cry as there’s no point as nobody comes.

Romanian orphanages was an example of a room full of silent babies.

Show quote history

Again with the Romanian orphanages. It should go without saying that a baby being left down in a cot for 5 or 10 minutes occasionally by a loving parent and being not very happy with that sometimes bears zero relationship to the whst happened in Romanian orphanages. That is not only ridiculous, it is an insult to the babies who genuinely suffered in those conditions.