As you know, we’re huge record keepers. We have a prompt in our journals that asks, “What is the ritual or routine you enjoy doing most with your baby?”.
Probably the most popular baby routine is bath time. This could NOT be more opposite for me as a first time mom.
I always anticipated bath time being something my first would love right off the bat, but turns out I was wrong! She screamed for seriously every bath for the first month. I bathed her on a big sponge pad that was cold so she would just scream bloody murder! We never made it long enough to fill our bathtub up to a level where she could actually get warm. We honestly bathed her like 1x a week because we were so terrified of the whole experience.
We had no idea what were were doing wrong? It honestly wasn’t until I got the Puj Tub where she really started to love it. New mom life-saver right there! It fits perfectly in the sink, it is soft and comfortable, it fits the shape of a baby (it's like a baby recliner - honest), it fills up with water just to the right level so your new babe can soak in comfort.
WHY THE BATH ROUTINE IS SO IMPORTANT
1. PHYSIOLOGICALLY CALMING
The bath routine is first off, physiologically calming. Here's a cool fact from US News...
"When parents rub their baby’s skin in or out of a bath, it stimulates the vagus nerve, which is linked to different parts of the body. “It slows down the physiology, so it slows heart rate, it slows blood pressure, it changes brain waves in the direction of relaxation,” Field says. “So it’s basically a relaxation kind of response that occurs to having pressure receptors stimulated.”
2. INCREASES PRETEND PLAY
Now that my girls are older, the bathtub is my girl's favorite place to play. They honestly could play in there for and hour and a half. They love it. And I love it because they are unplugged and using their imaginations. They make birthday cakes out of bubbles and play "hair dresser" to all the My Little Ponies.
Pretend play enhances and develops your children's thinking skills, language skills, and social and emotional skills. Can I get a "yes please" to all of those?
3. INCREASES TRUST
Did you know your kids greatly benefit from touch?
“Bath time is significant because it’s the time probably that babies get touched more than any other time during their wake time...”. US NEWS.
I had no idea of all the benefits touch brings to a child. I just found this article that talks about all of these.
- It increases greater trust between individuals
- Decreases disease and stronger immune system
- Increases stronger team dynamics
- Enhances greater learning engagement
- Helps overall wellbeing
4. CREATES LIFE CHANGING MEMORIES
These rituals and routines seem so mundane sometimes, but they are what is defining your life right now. When you have teenagers you're going to think back at bathtime and yearn for this simple time of life again. Write down your feelings of bathing your newborn. Write down the funny things your 3 year old says and does in the bath. When you write something down, it makes you appreciate it more. Give yourself a dose of contentment and write.
PUJ + PROMPTLY GIVEAWAY
It’s scary for me to look back and think how this routine might have been different if Puj didn’t come into the picture! I’m just the biggest fan of their products and think you should be too.
If you're dying to try our journal or one of Puj's awesome bath products, then you're in luck! We’ve got a giveaway going for you! Click here to follow along on Instagram to enter tonight!
Photo: Samantha Broderick
