Just one comment as moderator, then I'll have some advice as nurse and mom of a child with a disability. I know the thread that is being referred to on the Cruise Board. Please no more comments about that situation - I'd rather not have a negative situation migrating from one board to another.
I've some suggestions in case you are not able to get a room with a tub.
Comfort Bath:I hope this
link works. It's a product called Sage Comfort Bath and many hospitals have actually switched to them for patients who can't use a shower. They are kind of expensive for every day use, but they do the job really well for vacations. I used them on our last trip to Florida for bathing DD. We were at OKW, so we had a microwave to warm it, but you can also warm them with a heating pad or just use them at room temperature. For a small child, you probably would not need all 8 washcloths for one bath, the 4 cloth size might do just fine. I had some samples from a convention and I also got some at Walgreens drug stores.
Here's a link to the product from Amazon with some reviews. Another company called Aloe Vesta makes a similar product.
They also have a
rinse free shampoo cap. I've never tried that one on my DD (her hair is almost waist length), but they do use it in the hospital system where I work and patients say it feels really good. Again, it would be expensive for daily use, but might be helpful on vacation.
Make you own bag bath. Before these packaged varieties were available, hospitals made their own and called them "Bag Baths". For each bath, you would need 6-8 washcloths (get those from Housekeeping. If you can't get a tub, they should be able to supply you with extra washcloths as an accomidation), a one gallon zip lock bag, about 2-3 cups of warm tap water and about 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of rinse free cleanser (you can get that from medical supply places and I've seen some marketed for use with babies.) Put it all in the zip lock bag and mix it together. Make your daughter comfortable on the bed, covered with a waterproof sheet or use the inflateable kid's pool idea on the bed if you want a bit of water and can't use the pool on the floor. Then use each washcloth on one area, get a clean one to wash the next area. Because you have a small quantity of water that is mostly contained in the washcloths, it doesn't get messy. Also, it's better than using a basin for a bed bath because you are never rinsing a washcloth out to get it clean; when it's soiled, you just get another one out of the clean bag.
Think outside the box. Just brainstorm and think of any possible way to get your DD clean. Some of the things might be silly, but a silly idea might lead to a reasonable one. One of our silly ideas was DH and I putting on swim suits and taking DD in the shower with us at OKW. It sounded silly, but it actually worked quite well (and made DD laugh a lot). One of our other silly ideas at home was leaving her in the wheelchair and tipping it backward over the tub to wash her hair. We tried it - the wheelchair gets a bit wet, so this is a before bed activity, but it's actually her favorite way to get her hair washed.
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