How does a new mama get a shower?
Posted by Jennifer Fuentes on Mon, August 18th 2008 in Self-care
Jennifer Fuentes, mama of two and owner of Milagros Boutique, shares her tips for the often challenging (and yet so important) new mama shower!
How does a new mama get a shower when there isn’t another adult around?
Two things saved me: a baby bathtub & a shower sling!
When Mila was a newborn, Tony was generally working from home. But one day morning he was away at a meeting and I needed a shower…STAT! The bouncy seat outside of the tub just didn’t cut it. Somehow Mila knew that I wasn’t right there and woke up wailing. A friend had given me one of those plastic baby bathtubs so I tucked a cozy cloth diaper in it and set the whole shebang at the back of our tub (admittedly it is a nice size). I adjusted the shower to get as little water as possible on Mila, and she was so amazingly happy in there. I’ll tell ya, I think I only used that tub once to bathe her but countless times to bathe me! Until she was sitting up, in fact=)
Several months later we went to Hawaii, and I bought a water sling in preparation. There are so many variations of water slings available. A couple of types to check out are http://www.gypsymama.com/shop/proddetail.php?prod=water & http://www.kangarookorner.com/c-29-water-slings.aspx. I envisioned wading in the warm waters with her and was afraid she would be swept out of my arms! I knew the sling would quell my fears. While we used the sling quite a bit on that trip, it was also handy at the swimming pool. Her papa and I would alternate swimming laps and wearing Mila (in the shallow part of the pool). After Gael was born, I pulled our water sling out and was able to shower in the early days with him.
Both of our kids have loved the water, perhaps due to their early experiences of showering and swimming with mama! Or maybe it is just luck… But perhaps these tips will work for you! Sometimes thinking outside of the box comes in handy=) But if you don’t get a shower every day, please know you are not alone. All mamas have been there!
Jennifer Fuentes
http://www.milagrosboutique.com
