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I bathe my two weeks old baby boy every evening. Very often he will urinate as soon as he touch the water, obviously because of the temperature change.

So far I just ignored it, letting him pee into the water and hoping it's sterile enough.

What should I be doing? I considered using a towel to absorb the urine but is it really necessary?

Any tips and/or ideas are welcome.

Shadow Wizard Love Zelda
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    I don't see an actual problem. Is he drinking the bath water? Even then, it's probably so diluted that it wouldn't be harmful. What I'm saying is that the solution is to do nothing and not worry. – Dave Clarke Feb 14 '13 at 15:20
  • @Dave thanks that's was my initial impression as well. The water does not reach his mouth, it's just the idea that he bathe in his own pee that I find unpleasant. – Shadow Wizard Love Zelda Feb 14 '13 at 15:22
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    If it were 100% pee, then you could start to worry. But I'm sure a tiny bit of baby pee in a whole bath of water is nothing. – Dave Clarke Feb 14 '13 at 15:26
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    As others have stated, a little pee in the bath is hardly a problem. You'll soon have the opportunity to experience a much bigger and browner problem in the tub. As they say, "**it happens", and it's not a big deal. – Peter Feb 25 '13 at 21:50
  • Thanks @Peter you're right... didn't happen just yet but I'm always keeping open eye on both exits, lol! – Shadow Wizard Love Zelda Feb 25 '13 at 22:14
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    Trivia: Boys will pee in the shower their entire life. ;) As for the baby, just keep it in the tub and you'll be fine. Pee is sterile. – DA01 Jul 11 '13 at 04:21
  • On another note: I thought you where not supposed to bath your newborn every day? – bjarkef Sep 25 '14 at 14:45
  • @bjarkef where did you see that? Never heard something like that. – Shadow Wizard Love Zelda Sep 25 '14 at 17:58
  • @ShadowWizard: From the accepted answer here: http://parenting.stackexchange.com/questions/1812/how-often-should-i-bathe-my-newborn – bjarkef Sep 29 '14 at 06:21
  • @bjarkef weird, in my country all doctors encourage daily bath. Guess each country and its own habits. – Shadow Wizard Love Zelda Sep 29 '14 at 06:37
  • @DA01 see edit, now your comment became more relevant, but what concerns me is that it's a bath, not shower - while of course he's not drinking the water, he's still inside the water with his own urine so not sure how sterile that is. – Shadow Wizard Love Zelda May 27 '15 at 14:28
  • @Joe forgot it might be relevant, added now to the post. Thanks! (in short, still 100% diapers) – Shadow Wizard Love Zelda May 27 '15 at 14:35
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    It's generally a good idea to ask a new question, instead of editing to radically change the question and thereby invalidating existing answers. A question about a newborn peeing in the tub is radically different than a toddler doing the same. My suggestion is to roll back the edit, and post a new question. You can flag a moderator and see if you can get the bounty refunded. –  May 29 '15 at 19:41
  • @Beofett in my opinion it's too similar and would be closed as duplicate. I didn't change the question, just added an update - existing answers are still relevant, and new answers will be welcome. If anything, maybe expanded the question. – Shadow Wizard Love Zelda May 29 '15 at 19:46
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    @ShadowWizard There are plenty of examples of questions that are duplicates except for the age range, because the developmental level of the child is such a game-changer that it radically changes the question. You're welcome to disagree, but I find it extremely difficult to imaging a scenario where "why is my newborn doing x" would be a duplicate of "why is my toddler doing x". –  May 29 '15 at 19:52
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    @ShadowWizard is your core question still "is it a problem for my child to urinate in the bath"? If so, take out anything about age and specify that you're less interested in cause/prevention than in whether you should even care. Right now it sounds quite a bit like two completely different questions. – Acire May 30 '15 at 01:58
  • OK guys you win, I'm out. – Shadow Wizard Love Zelda May 30 '15 at 15:46

4 Answers4

15

As you mentioned, it is the temperature change that causes urination.

What may work for you is this: Immediately prior to the bath, get a warm washcloth. Open his diaper, and clean his diaper area with the washcloth. Be careful with this! If it works, he may start to urinate while you are cleaning him, so you must be ready to quickly put the diaper back into place! Immediately replace the diaper.

After waiting a minute or two, transfer him to the bath. With luck, he'll be done, and won't urinate during the actual bath.

A variation on this may work for babies who tend to urinate while their diapers are being changed: open the front of the diaper, let in the cool air, wait a minute, and be ready to immediately close the diaper back up if they start to urinate. Once they're done, it should be safe to proceed.

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What's worked well for us is to put our child into the bath while it's still empty, and let the water run for a minute or so.

This way they'll feel the water, and if they need to go, it'll be while the plug is still out. Then you can rinse out the tub and start the bath without worrying about it.

Krease
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  • Interesting idea, but isn't the empty bath too cold? – Shadow Wizard Love Zelda Feb 20 '13 at 08:02
  • It might be cold at first before the water warms up - if it's a concern because of a young infant, you can always start the water first to warm it up... – Krease Feb 20 '13 at 16:10
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    This is dangerous advice in some countries. You must always run the bath, then check the temperature, before allowing the child to get in. Scalds in the home are a significant cause of sometimes severe injury. – DanBeale May 29 '15 at 10:29
  • @DanBeale - common sense safety advice (like making sure the bathwater is appropriate temperature, never leaving your infant alone in the bath, etc) should ALWAYS apply. Nowhere in my answer did I advocate against this. Also, none of the other answers specifically call out "don't forget to make sure the bath won't scald your child" either, but it doesn't make them dangerous answers because of it. – Krease May 29 '15 at 20:15
  • Your answer says to put children in an empty bath and run the water with the child in the bath. While it might be safe for you it is dangerous advice. Exactly that behavior causes many scalds each year. EG in the US 2 children die each day and 300 are treated at ER because of burns, and hot bath water is the leading cause of those injuries - about 50% of burns injuries are from too hot bathwater. – DanBeale May 29 '15 at 20:27
  • I'll reiterate my point - you should always make sure the water is an ok temperature for your child. Always. Whether you're running the water with your child in the bath, or putting your child in afterwards. The unfortunate fact that some people fail to do this doesn't make this method of giving a bath inherently more dangerous than filling it up beforehand - if you fail to make sure the water is an ok temperature, you risk injuring your child. – Krease May 29 '15 at 20:39
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    @Chris I believe that DanBeale's point is that the water coming out of the tap can change temperature quickly: e.g., someone flushes the toilet, the bath tap flow is suddenly much hotter because cold water flow is being diverted to a different resource. – Acire May 30 '15 at 15:22
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My children pee in the bathtub every time they get in. Urine is sterile enough that it won't cause any problems...unless there is a urinary tract infection, it's nothing to worry about. I usually just throw a washcloth over the genitals (if it's a boy - so far I have had two boys) so that they don't end up spraying themselves in the face, because that is disgusting. I honestly wouldn't worry about it.

user4532
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  • Thanks, my boy is six months old by now and do it only rarely, maybe because the water are in right temperature. However what I do to prevent face wash when it does happen is aim the pipe "south" so it reach only the water. :) – Shadow Wizard Love Zelda Jul 10 '13 at 06:13
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For a child who is potty trained, or at least is physically ready for potty training (often happens around two, but it varies significantly), this is approachable in a very simple way: ask him to use the toilet prior to the bath.

At some point, often around potty training, this will become voluntary for many chlidren - like our three year old - who is very nearly frightened of urinating in the bath now. He goes every time and will even leave the bath if he thinks he has to pee.

But for those children who are not cleanliness-obsessed, it can simply be made a requirement pre-bath: urinate and you get your bath toys, urinate and we'll put bubbles in the bath, whatever works. Of course, you can also just not worry about it - the urine is not particularly harmful and will not be in sufficient concentration to smell badly.

Physical readiness for potty training is primarily awareness of the need to pee, awareness of how to do so on command, and ability to hold it in. Once these three elements are present, a child can be fairly easily potty trained, assuming he or she is willing. (Pee and poop are basically separate in this regards, both have the same basic elements though.)

If he's goofing around peeing on purpose in the bath, that may well be an excellent way to start potty training - because it means that he at least is aware of how to do so. I would use it as a transitional device.

First, the next time he pees in the bath, congratulate him. "Wow, nice job, you know how to pee! You're almost ready for potty training!" Then, after a few days of this, instead of going to the bath, go to the potty, and let him know that he can do that on the potty, too! Make a game out of it. Rewards are great for this - M&Ms, for example; stickers; coloring sheets; or in our case, we managed to get in an online garage sale a bag of old Matchbox-type cars - something like 100 for $5. Enough that we used them for potty training our first child, and now have plenty left for our second! I would give him that reward once for going in the bath, and then tell him that if he does it on the potty he can have more rewards. (Yes, I sound like a drug dealer... sigh.)

He may resist doing it on the toilet at first, in which case don't push too hard - but remind him of the reward if he does. When he pees in the bath each time, remind him he can pee on the potty for a reward. Eventually this can become a very effective way to get him into the habit of peeing on the potty.

Joe
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  • I will add that my two year old (26 months) is basically at this stage: he knows how to urinate on purpose, and tends to urinate infrequently (so he probably is able to hold it). He loves going potty, but is still at the 'sometimes' stage of actually doing it - and we're fine with that, 26 months is very early for a boy. He hasn't had a habit of urinating in the bath that we've noticed (And his older brother almost certainly would), but we'll see if that continues! – Joe May 27 '15 at 16:21
  • Thanks, good advice. We (i.e. wife and me) considered starting potty training when he first did it, but consulting with his daycare staff decided he's not ready yet since he shows no other signs. But when we will, what you describe with prizes and all sounds just fine. :) – Shadow Wizard Love Zelda May 27 '15 at 22:47
  • What we're doing with my 2 year old right now is probably not really "potty training" per se - we're just taking a real laid back approach, thinking that it will help him not be as stressed by it in the later stages (maybe six months from now, who knows). Potty familiarization, perhaps. My real hope is that at some point the rewards cause him to decide to push on his own... i've heard enough stories about parents whose children told them they were ready to potty train I'd reaaaaaaaaally enjoy that as a change :) – Joe May 27 '15 at 23:28
  • Sorry, I shouldn't have edited the question - the answer isn't relevant anymore. – Shadow Wizard Love Zelda May 30 '15 at 15:46