Bath Time With The Kids: Our Must Haves (+ giveaway)

I’m going to let you all in on a deep, dark, and—eek—dirty secret: our kids only take a bath maybe once or twice a week. It’s not that we’re anti-tub time (we all actually love it), it’s that we get busy, or dinner runs late, or we’re too tired to factor bath time with the kids into our daily routine. I mean, if ragu sauce is smeared across their faces and they have yogurt and banana nestled in their hair, or if the toddler ran around a lot and also jumped in puddles and then rolled around in dirt, then we break the norm and give them a bath. But usually? Tub time happens on Sundays and/or Wednesdays.

With two kids now sharing the space in our tub, I wanted to give you a peek at some of favorite things during bath time with the kids. These are all well-loved in our home from the time they’re itty-bitty until at least the toddler stage. Oh, and make sure you keep on reading, because I’m giving away one of my favorites below!

Here are our favorite things for bath time with the kids:

+ A (Safe) Place for the Baby
The little baby stage is scary enough, but add in a vessel full of water and a slippery tiny human who can’t do anything on its own, and bath time can be downright terrifying! Fear not, mama, because these two items are perfect for babies. The Blooming Bath Baby Bath  was wonderful for the newborn stage. It fit right into our kitchen sink, and the petals were high enough that we didn’t worry about her head hitting any part of our sink. We’d trickle the water to the desired temp, fill up her side of the sink (with the Blooming Bath already in it) with an inch or two of warm water, and then we’d use the hose/sprayer to bathe her. And let me tell you—that thing was soft. So soft that I wish they made it in adult sizes. It can also be washed and dried, which is pretty convenient. We transitioned to the First Years Sure Comfort Deluxe Newborn to Toddler Tub once she started sitting up on her own. The girls take a bath together, so having the baby still contained to her own “tub,” but still actually in the big bathtub with her sister was a nice way to transition things and keep her from going all over the place.

+ A Comfy Spot for Mama and Papa
When you have little kids taking a bath, you want to be as close to them as possible, especially when you have bodies to clean and their hair to tackle (because squirm around they will). But for mom and dad, sitting and kneeling on the cold, hard, floor (even if you have a bath mat) will hurt after about five minutes. Enter the step stool and a kneeling pad—essentials for bath time. You can use either of these on their own, or you can combine them for extra comfort. Unless you have a super comfy bath mat, you’ll thank us later for getting one or both of these.

+ Toys for Tub Time
Having fun is what bath time with the kids is all about, right? These Crayola Bath Dropz are a hit with our toddler. She likes picking out a single color or mixing them up to make “new” colors. Along the same lines of adding some pop of color to tub time, she loves coloring on the tile and the tub itself with these Munchkins Bath Crayons. We have other random toys in there that I usually pick up from Target when I notice them on sale with Cartwheel. (You are using Cartwheel, right? It’s basically coupons you can get right from your phone! Get Cartwheel for Apple or Android here) (And since we’re on the subject of Target, please tell m you’re already using their RedCard. That thing is AMAZING and saves so much money. They ask you every time you visit if you want one, so just get one already!)

+ Lather, Rinse, Repeat!
If your toddler is anything like mine, the hair-washing portion of bath time is sometimes a struggle. I get it—water rushing down on your face can be a scary thing for a kid—but when you have a good product backing you up, it makes the whole process a little easier. The name alone of our shampoo, Shampoozle + Conditioner by Milk & Co., makes my daughter laugh. Laughter from your babes, my friends, is gold. Seriously, say it out loud right now: “Shampoozle!” I love it.

Before I lather it all up I let her get a whiff of the shampoozle (while I try desperately hard not to just sit there and sniff it right from the bottle, because it smells so gosh darn delicious—like sweet berries, but not overpowering, just enough to make you want to keep using it over and over and over again), and then comes the fun part: styling her hair. I waited a long time for her hair to be long enough to play with in the tub, and now that it’s finally here, we take full advantage of silly hairdos.

I love that this Milk Baby shampoozle (I just can’t stop saying that word!) has the conditioner built right in, because now we only have to rinse out her hair once. It’s also tear free and made from all natural ingredients. They’re 100% made down under (in Australia), but you can buy them on Amazon—woohoo for two-day shipping!

If the Shampoozle + Conditioner wasn’t enough, Milk & Co, created by Australian Olympic Swimmer Michael Klim and his wife Lindy, also has a Moisturizing Qweam (also not a typo, and also ridiculously fun to say), that is wonderful post tub time. It’s not greasy and is made with lovely natural oils like geranium oil, olive oil, sunflower oil, and avocado oil. It’s also lightly scented with rose geranium oil, and it contains one of my favorite things in the world: shea butter, leaving your skin super soft.

The kind folks from Milk & Co. are giving away a Shampoozle + Conditioner and a Moisturizing Qweam to one of my lucky readers. Keep reading and then enter below for your chance to win! (And don’t say I didn’t warn you when you start walking around saying “shampoozle” and “qweam,” because once you start, it’s really hard to stop!)

+ Adorable Towels
I’m pretty sure adorable hooded towels were one of the first items I added to my baby registry the first time around. I mean, you can’t get much cuter than your clean, naked baby wrapped up warm and tight in a little bunny towel. I like that these grow with them—use them when they’re babies, all the way up to the toddler stage—and they’re super, ridiculously soft. My babies always seem so vulnerable when they get out of the tub, so I love that these wrap them up from head to toe.

Enter below to win a Milk & Co.’s Shampoozle + Conditioner AND a Moisturizing Qweam

*Only open to residents with a United States/APO/FPO address

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*Thank you to Milk&Co. for sponsoring today’s post, and for becoming our new favorite shampoo(zle) and conditioner to use during tub time!

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What are your favorite products to use during bath time with your kids?