Saturday, March 13, 2010

Skin to Skin

It's something I never did with Griffin, and I'm not sure why, because I'm totally LOVING it.

I'm talking about bath time - Mama and baby bath time.

Lets be honest here - when you bathe a baby, you're gonna get wet no matter what. On the counter, in the sink, in a big tub, in a little tub, it's uncomfortable and usually no fun for anyone.

Unless...unless everyone gets in the tub together!

There have been a million studies showing the importance of skin to skin contact immediately after birth, and that hour or so that we snuggled after Corben was born was glorious to say the least. But it's something that I quickly forgot about shortly thereafter. It's been so bloody cold outside, and everyone is always wrapped up in layer upon layer here. It's easy to forget about all that glorious baby skin underneath those little onesies, not to mention the chubby little thighs and all the extra rolls everywhere you look!

So when Corben and I strip down and head to the tub together, it's kind of like experiencing those moments right after he was born, all over again.

Corben lays in the water, gazes up at me, smiles. (A far cry from the one screamy bath he had in the plastic baby tub.) He kicks his little feet, smiles some more. I give him a gentle scrub down. He nurses, his body still mostly submerged in the warm water. We're both in heaven. When it's time for us to get out, I wrap us both in the same towel, and we sit on the bed and nurse some more while our temperatures regulate. Nobody gets cold. We take a little break from the nursing to get Corben diapered and dressed...I kiss all that baby skin goodbye for a few more days, as Corben struggles, and subsequently fails, to keep his eyes open.

And then he sleeps the sleep of the content.

And me? Well, of course, I blog about it. And then I head to bed myself, to sleep my very own contented sleep. Right next to my contented baby, my contented (and snoring) husband, and contented (also snoring) dog.

Aside from all the snoring, it's like some kinda heaven!

G'night!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love mama baby bath time. When I tell people about it, they think I'm weird. But I love it, baby loves it, and daddy loves everything about it too. Today I bought some bath toys for us, I can't wait to try them out tonight!

gretel said...

Yes, yes, yes! I always loved it too! Only way to do it! Thanks for articulating the best about the experience!

Laura Lee said...

that is something I would have not thought about! sounds divine, a very connected experience! Your babies are going to grow up very satisfied and confident, I can tell...