I partnered with The Motherhood/JOHNSON’S® to bring you this information about the Johnson’s Bath Time Report. All opinions are my own.
Bath time is my favorite time of day with my baby. The fun that we share during a bath is so enriching, educational, and rewarding! Here are some ways that you can enrich bath time with baby too!
Ways to Enrich Bath Time with Baby
Make bath time fun, educational, and rewarding with these tips!
When I first brought Miss Jellybean home from the hospital I was completely and utterly terrified of bath time! I was so afraid that she was going to hate it and scream her little head off! And I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to do bath time right. Even though I have been through it all with Little Man it’s been so long since I bathed a newborn that I was petrified. Well, Miss Jellybean LOVES bath time and I had absolutely NOTHING to worry about!
I should have known she was going to love bath time….I mean her brother is a total bath time addict! He’ll spend forever playing in the bathtub…even when he was an infant. That’s because we make bath time a fun and enriching experience for them. We try to incorporate their senses with singing, colorful toys, massage, delicious scents, etc…which are the same findings that were reported as enhancing the bath time experience in the Johnson’s Global Bath Report.
Johnson’s Global Bath Time Report found that bath time is a multi-sensorial playground for infants and it’s a great opportunity for us to stimulate their senses. By evoking these senses we, as parents, are encouraging happy and healthy development.
So, what are some great ways to enrich bath time with baby?
Here are the ways that I enrich bath time with baby….
1. Singing
Miss Jellybean and Little Man LOVE music! Little Man now sings regularly in the shower…and that’s because we used to sing in the bathtub. Now I sing to Miss Jellybean while I bathe her…usually just making up songs but sticking with a melody. I love seeing her smile and hearing her coo along.
2. Bubbles
Bubbles are so much fun! I mean they are the basis for a bubble bath…right?! Little Man loves having bubbles in his bath….he loves blowing them and making them stick to the wall! Did you know that adding bubbles to the bath has shown to help babies with hand eye coordination. Bubbles help babies realize that objects can still be found even when they can’t be seen. It’s actually very enriching to place toys in the bubbles and let your little one search for them. Little Man loves to play the game “Find the _______”. We have a set of sea animal bath toys and I’ll tell him to find the whale…he’ll feel through the bubbles until he finds the whale. Now, when he was younger we played an easier version of this game and he would just find any toy.
3. Toys
Toys are a blast to have in the bath. We pretend that we’re in another world and make believe that all the toys can talk. Imagination is a great way to enrich bath time and make it play time.
4. Colors
Some days I’ll make all of the toys one color and we’ll have Blue Bath Day or Green Bath Day. This is a great way to incorporate learning colors with the fun of imaginative play and through the fun you’ll be bonding with your youngster.
5. Fragrance Soap
I love using Johnson’s Bedtime Bath Soap because it has this intoxicating lavender scent….I just can’t get enough snuggles when Little Man or Miss Jellybean have just bathed in it! But, it’s not just me who benefits from the fragrance….according to studies performed, babies who experienced scented bath times were 30% more engaged with their parents after the bath and spent 25% less time crying before falling to sleep.
6. Massage
After bath is one of my favorite times of all. It’s when Miss Jellybean and I really get to connect without many distractions. The bath is all fun and games but the massage is just me and her….I mean….wouldn’t you love staring into those gorgeous eyes as well?! After bath I like to give Miss Jellybean a massage…I’ll start out with some lotion and start with her toes. We’ll coo and giggle with each other….smiling, making faces, just enjoying the time together. I’ll slowly work up her legs, back, shoulders. and so on.
“Research shows that infants who experienced routine touch and massage (a big part of the after bath routine) were 50% more likely to make eye contact and 3 times more likely to have an overall positive expression.”
So there you have it….my ways to enrich bath time with baby.