Day 42 South Korea Summer School Journal: A Baby Jjimjilbang and Our First Mukbang | 아기 찜질방과 우리 첫 맘방

After today, my mouth hurts from smiling too much. I’ve been grinning ear to ear ever since Molasses and I spent our Mommy and Me activity for the afternoon at the Baby Jjimjilbang. Between finding Bingsu, Korean Shaved Ice, yesterday, and the Baby Jjimjilbang today, I could live here quite happily for some time. The only thing missing in South Korea is a comfortable bed and reasonably priced produce.

Day 42 South Korea Family Travel Journal
A Baby Jjimjilbang & Our First Mukbang
아기 찜질방과 우리 첫 맘방

We discovered the Baby Jjimjibang when the kids checked out the second Champion Sports Kids Play Area near our apartment. We call this Kid Cafe Row. The entire backside of the shopping mall is comprised of Kid Cafes. There is a Champion Sports Play Area, a Lego Cafe, an Art Cafe, and Baby Angels: A Baby Jjimjilbang. We had to reserve an appointment, so we set Molasses up for 4:30pm and decided to try our hand at a mukbang in the meantime.

A few days ago we came across a mukbang on YouTube, entirely by accident. Well, more likely it found us through spyware and techware . A mukbang is a Korean fad that started a few years ago where people eat a crap ton of food on camera and chat about nothing. Some people are crying, some are fighting, some are being ridiculous by putting onion rings in a blue white chocolate fountain. From what I can tell, most people are either eating ramen noodles or chicken nuggets, or both, for their mukbang.

Since we are in Korea we decided we had no other choice but to participate in this trend.

Really, it’s no different than what we always do when we get a babysitter. Except, this time we were going to buy a ton of food we don’t want to share with the kids and then film us eating it. Isn’t that what all parents do on their date nights?

We loaded up.

We got garlic bread filled with cream cheese, plus an extra garlic bread in case the first garlic bread had sugar on it. Turns out they both had sugar on them.

We got a few cheesecake bites. We didn’t get a chance to eat these in the video, but we can tell you now with authority to make a hard pass.

We ordered 7 pot stickers.

And, we got three plates of Chinese Food.

While we did the mukbang, we tried out a new Korean Babysitter. This time we sent the kids to play at Imaginary Block.

상상블럭
Imaginary Block
Home Plus Mall Techopark
Hours: Sunday thru Saturday 10:30am – 8:30pm
Price: ₩10,000 per hour

Basically, this kids cafe was a Lego Cafe. There are tons of differing sizes of legos available to play with and an eco friendly wood pit with more legos, plus the entire back of the cafe was filled with Lego Building Sets complete with instructions.

It was a little more expensive since the admission was only for one hour instead of two hours. We opted for the multiple entry membership and paid ₩70,000 for 10 hours total. We used six hours total today, (two per child) and they loved it. It was Widmore’s favorite. He spent the entire time building Lego sets in the back of the cafe, and now we know exactly what to get him for Christmas.

Finally, it was time for the Baby Jjimjilbang and Molasses and I’s Mommy and me activity in Korea. This place is amazing.

아기 천사들
Baby Angels
Home Plus Mall Techopark
Hours: Sunday thru Saturday 10:30am – 8:30pm
Price: ₩12,000 1 hour playtime | ₩25,000 1 hour playtime + 1 hour swimming
Only babies 36 months and under

I cannot fathom anything more precious than a baby jjimjilbang. Molasses had the entire place to herself, and was pampered to her heart’s content at this spa for babies in Korea! This is an incredible Mommy and Me activity in Korea!

The only thing you need to bring is a fresh diaper for your baby. Everything else is taken care of.

A baby jjimjilbang follows the same customs as a traditional Korean jjimjilbang bathhouse. First, the babies go into a changing room to remove all outside clothing. Babies who are not potty trained are required to wear the provided swimwear. It has a spandex waistband and bands for the legs that close securely around the legs. Babies do not wear swim diapers.

After changing, the babies take a pre-spa cleansing bath. The large plastic tub is filled with a few inches of water that don’t even cover the legs. The pool is also filled with gads of toys and water play begins. Melodic nursery rhymes play in the background.

Two attendants assist Mommy in playing with the baby and keeping baby entertained for the duration of the swimming time from pre bath to swimming to post cleansing shower.

After the cleansing bath, baby moves into the whirlpool tub. Babies can be held, or use a raft. First we started with a standard pool raft that the baby can sit in.

Then they put a swimming cap on her!

She didn’t love that raft, so we switched her to a baby floating air mattress that she laid in on her tummy. Her attendants blew bubbles for her while singing her songs.

The whirlpool bath is kept a constant perfect temperature of 98°F to match body temperature. It is jetted and a constant stream of water keeps the circulation moving while pushing the baby around the tub in a circle. It too, is filled with toys to keep baby entertained and provide endless entertainment.

 

Babies are excluded from all water activities in Korea, with the baby jjimjilbang being the only exception. It fills a much needed void in this otherwise very baby friendly society, and the Korean culture has outdone themselves with Baby Angels. This was an incredibly enriching and rewarding experience to have with Molasses and we both loved our Mommy and Me playgroup in Korea at the baby jjimjilbang.

45 minutes in the baby whirlpool tub being treated like a princess.

Now Molasses was ready for her cleansing bath. We moved to the shallower tubs on the far wall to bathe. Her swimsuit was removed in one very impressive fail swoop over a drain and we placed her in the tub that was filled to the perfect depth so as not to cover her face while laying down. The baby jjimjilbang provided soap and we washed her hair and body before rinsing.

When this was complete we went back into the changing rooms and put on a fresh diaper and her clothes. Now that she was clean it was time to play!

We had almost as much fun in the play area as we did in the baby jjimjibang. Almost! The play area had everything a little tiny human could possibly desire.

A baby piano…

…inside an entire music room.

Plus a floor piano the likes of FAO Schwarz!

A ball pit!

A Rolls-Royce!

And so much more!

This is definitely the best Mommy and Me playgroup in Korea!