A silly question I know !! But really how do you get a shower if you are at home alone with your LO.

I find it very difficult to get a shower unless Katie is asleep and that doesn't always coincide with when I need to get ready to go somewhere. I have tried putting her in her high chair or closing the bathroom door and keeping her in with me but she cries really hard when I get in the shower!

How do you do it? I will soon have 2 and be home alone a lot. I don't know how I will ever get a shower!

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I usually have a shower at night after the kids are in bed but if I do have one in the morning, the kids just play in the living room while I do it. They stairs up and down are blocked off and the kitchen, living and dinning rooms are baby proofed. Put on a good TV show and they just chill for 10 minutes or so.

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Heres some ideas...
1) before she gets up
2) put her in her crib with some toys and a drink
3) while shes asleep
4) at night when your DH is home.

Ive always just showered when I needed to. When my oldest was little I did it when he was asleep but if that didnt work I used the excersaucer outside the bathroom door, leaving the door open. As he got older (my dh was overseas as well) I just let him watch cartoons and id shower, our house was child proofed.

Now, i will put all 3 boys at the table for breakfast and ill shower. if they need something my oldest (6) will come tell me. I used to let them play and watch cartoons but since Caleb got stitches last week Ive been leavng him in his PNP while I shower. its just safer right now.

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I totally know what you mean! When I was home on maternity leave, it was always after lunch before I could manage to get a shower. Forget getting out of the house before 2pm. It was frustrating!

As a newborn, I would bring his bouncy seat into the bathroom and talk to him. He was pretty patient for 10 mins.

Before Chase was crawling good, we could put him in the 8 panel superyard play fence thing set up in our living room. He was content and with safe toys.

But we took that down when he was mobile because he would just stand at the edge and cry to be let out.

Now, on the weekends, I take turns with hubby watching him. If that isn't possible for that day, I end up waiting for his naptime or first thing in the morning before he wakes for the day. (ugh!!!) During the week, DH gets up first and showers then he gets Chase up.

This weekend I put him in the shower with me. He wasn't a fan. But we were both wet from our waterslide and needed to change out of our suits so that was my only way to take care of both of us. I picked him up on my hip and he clung to me nicely. I tried that when he was younger and he wouldn't grip me enough...made for a slippery and scary moment here and there.

I dunno if I have any answers, but I can see why you are thinking ahead about it!

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Stacey (38)
DH Steve (38)
DS Chase 2-13-07

I just take Kian into the bathroom with me and close the door. Sometimes he does cry, for some reason he hates it when I put shampoo on my hair or when I dunk my head under the water (I take baths) but it doesn't hurt him to cry a little and I don't take too long. And sometimes he just takes a bath with me.

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Mary Beth - 31
DH - 30
Baby Kian - 3/24/07
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It depends. Sometimes I just let her chill in the living room with her toys & the tv on while I take a quick shower. Other times I take her in the shower with me. She's perfectly content crawling from the front and back. I just have to make sure not to step on her Those are two situations when I have to go somewhere, otherwise I wait until the evening or after she's in bed to take a bath.

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I think I have done just about everything with this...getting a shower everyday has been very important to me, otherwise I just feel worthless. For the most art I do it when Annalee is down for her first nap, but there have been times when I had to get ready while she was up. As a newborn I would put her on the bathroom floor in her boppy with a blanket and a paci, and I would just keep looking out to check on her, she didn't mind it at all, and even fell asleep a few times, I've also used the exersaucer, and the johnny jump up...but all when she was smaller.

Now, I still try to do it when she's asleep, but I can just shut the door and she will stay right with me, if I take a bathe she stands there and plays in the water, mainly just splashing, she ends up wet, but I don't usually dress her until right before we leave...she's also fine if I take a shower that way, but plays peeka boo with the curtain and ends up soaked then as well...But I know I could do the crib or pac-n play thing as well, but I do think she'd get bored and start crying before I got done...Hope something here helps you out!!

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Amy

Amy you sound like me, if I dont shower i dont leave the house. even showing the night before, i feel grungy come morning time.

Im also one that needs shower time to be MY time. the boys know to not tattle while Im showering. they can come talk to me but they arent allowed to ask for 2nds, juice, tattle, or anything else while Im showering. may sound mean but i feel as a mother its my right to have 15 minutes TO MY SELF every morning. the boys are okay with that. When DH is home i shut our bedroom door (we dont have a bathroom door in our room) and not even he interrupts.