Toddler Bathing Safety Tips

It seems just like yesterday that my son still needed sponge baths because his belly button could not be submerged in water, but obviously at 20 months those first couple of weeks were not very recent at all. In the last 20 months my son has had many baths and many different kinds of baths, from when he used a baby bath, to the time that he could take a bath in the kitchen sink, to using a toddler bath and now taking baths in the bathtub. Once he started to take baths in the bathtub I knew that there was going to have to be some new safety rules and practices to keep bath time free of boo boos. I thought I would pass on some of the safety tips for toddlers that I use.

There is absolutely no standing up by yourself and obviously no walking around. A toddler can slip in the bath just from scooting around on their bottom, clearly walking is out of the question because if they were to fall and hit the side of the bathtub that would really hurt. The only time that my toddler stands is when I am washing him and I need him to, but I always have one hand on him though. You can get an inflatable bath liner if you have a particular slippery bath and that will add safety to bath time as well. You can see an example of an inflatable bath liner here.

When it comes to the amount of water that is in the bath I find that just above my son's bottom when he is sitting up is enough that he can play in it but is also safe. Another good safety thing to do when you are giving your toddler a bath is to wash their hands first and then rinse them off before you wash any other part of them. Some times your toddler may want to rub their eyes and with out warning they could lift their soapy hands to their eyes and that would really hurt.

When it comes to getting out of the bath there is no climbing out of the bathtub, I just lift my son out of the bathtub and stand him on a towel or bath mat and proceed to dry him off. I find that if he stands directly on to the floor that he could very easily slip. Once he is dried off, he is usually eager to get out of the bathroom and so I set him on the carpet just outside the bathroom, so if he decides to bolt he will not slip on the bathroom floor. I hope that these tips will help you have safer bath for your toddler.