Kneeling over the tub / bending over the tub

I've often read about "golden age" enemas that they were given with the young patient "kneeling over the tub"

I just cannot see what "kneeling over the tub" can mean - if one kneels on the floor it does not work.

Can somebody who experienced this position tell me what is exactly meant? If necessary, by a drawing. 😉

I would better understand "bent over the tub" but, again, I'd like confirmation by somebody who experienced it.

Kneeling over the tub is akin to being on hands and knees with the added benefit of raising the buttocks and lowering the torso using the tub edge as pelvic support.

When we grew too large to fit over the lap for our bag enemas this position afforded our mothers a way to access our bottoms and keep us from trying to escape our fate. Supposedly this posture also facilitated the filling our colons via gravity. It would be my guess that by the time this position was used the recipient was getting a full two quarts of solution.

Another aspect to this position was practical. Bathrooms in the 50s were tiny, there wasn’t much room to employ other positions.

@UncleO I don't think it's possible for me to kneel on the floor and be bottom up over the rim, the rim is too high. If I do what you describe, the rim rests uncomfortably on my chest and my bottom is quite low, thus leading to a vertical injection in the bottom. Could there be this works for tubs far less high that mine?

From the time I was too big to go over my mother's lap all my enemas were given with me bent over the tub rim. I am not a tall person and was smaller as a 12 year old but I could bend over the tub with my hands on the tub bottom and my chest/torso resting on the tub rim.

I believe your tub rim must have been higher than ours - something like a free-standing bathtub.

@jekyll_doctor I'm now trying to remember the height of the bathtubs that I used to shower in when I was living or staying in the US.

As kids, mom gave me and my siblings enemas laying across a bed together. But our aunts on the other hand, gave us enemas laying across their lap. Then, when I was around nine, our RN grandmother had the girls switch us to the knee chest position. She had a big downstairs bathroom with a large dual head walk-in shower. There wasn’t a bathtub in the room, and I personally have never heard of anyone leaning over a bathtub for an enema. The knee chest position is, when you get on your knees and lean forward, folding your arms on the floor. Then you rest your head in your arms, placing your torso at an angle with your butt sticking up in the air.

When the girls switch us at grandmas, mom switched us at home as well. Moving us from the bedroom to the bathroom. Tho, the bathroom had a bathtub, it wasn’t involved when mom gave us enemas in the knee chest position on the bathroom floor.

I don't really recall it being used compared to either knee chest in the bathroom or predominantly simms on my bed.

@Jacana In the US bathtubs are about 36cm high from bathroom floor.

The old bathtubs from the 50’s were very high and had a rim around the top! It was very convenient for mom to kind of through us over the rim! Your hands were on the floor of the tub and your butt was directly over the rim where mom could land it right in! I know! I lived it many times!

Kneeling or bending over the tub was never an option in our house. Kneeling in the tub or being flat on my tummy was the most common. I suppose that a wet accident or blowout required the tub venue for me.

Bending over the edge of the bathtub with elbows resting on the inside of the tub was very common for children. Also, many tubs back in the 50’s were very high “claw foot” bathtubs that were raised off the floor and very deep so sometimes a stool was used to stand on to bend over the edge of the tub to get your enema. I do not recall a lot of enemas being given to adults bent over the tub and in my family big adult enemas were taken lying flat on your back in the tub with legs raised or resting on the side of the tub.

@UncleO I've just measured ours, it's 57 cm. It's impossible to bend over it while kneeling on the floor. This may be possible if using a stool, as @faultless50 says. I guess that provides the caregiver with a "target" easier to reach than if the child is directly on the floor.

@Bag_Lady You mean the child is standing and bends over the rim? Makes sense to expose the "target", though I'd be concerned about the pressure the rim imposes on the tummy.

When I started getting enemas from mom she/we did try various positions. The first were with me on my back in the tub with my butt toward the drain and my feet flat against the wall on either side of the spigot. Other positions tried were with me hands-and-knees and knee-chest on the floor of the tub. Then me bent over the side of the tub with my hips bent over the side (ledge). My knees did not reach the floor in that position, my hands kept me for tipping too far into the tub and my toes kept me from tipping back too far. Not comfortable at all. We tried me kneeling on the floor with my chest resting on ledge of the tub. Better. We abandoned using the tub at all and went with hands-and-knees and knee-chest on the floor next to the tub.

@John_Sitter You used to get one every week, right? So it seems she had time to experiment… On the back in the tub seems a good position in case of leaks, same with knee-chest in the tub. I suppose this was a motive. Were you made to retain the solution? Was the tub close to the toilet?

@Jacana,

Correct, I was getting enemas frequently at the start (2 or 3 per week initially) so there was lots of opportunity to experiment. (After about a month, the frequency reduced to roughly one/week.) Mom was worried about leaks or explosions which was why my early ones were delivered with me in the tub. Once it seemed leaks were unlikely, she was willing to explore other positions outside the tub.

We had a compartmented bathroom, the toilet was in a separate 'room' but just a few steps away.

Yes, retaining the enema was required (10 minutes was the goal). Failure meant I'd get another enema, a good motivator.

@John_Sitter If the enema is soapy or large that must be very difficult!!!

Mom always prepared 2 quarts of a soapy solution. I was expected to empty the bag, but I wasn't required to take in the full amount in one go. I'd take as much of it as I could and then mom would clamp the hose and a timer started. After I expelled that, I was given the remainder of the solution (and another 10 minute time period started.) If I didn't reach the 10 minute goal (or thereabouts) more solution was added to the bag.

My one and only enema from mom was doctors orders after discovering pinworms and making an appointment to see a doctor. i knew I needed to receive a over the bathtub enema the night before and a second lying ion the bathtub. The day before, a cute neighbor girl a few years older than me found out and asked me if I liked enemas? How would I know??? That evening, my mother had me bend over the tub and a still remember her green enema bag and the tickle on my anus of the small black enema tip. The next morning I layed naked in the bathtub and got much more water from this enema. My fascination for enemas really began years later. But mastubutory fantasies began to involved girls I knew getting enemas. Especially if I knew it to be true.