Mom Defends Having Her Infant Sleep in the Shower: 'Everyone Has Their Own Parenting Style' (Exclusive)

Chloe Molina is giving the phrase "baby shower" a new meaning.

The first-time mom, 25, went viral on TikTok for sharing a "travel hack" with her followers that involves having her 5-month-old baby sleep in the shower when they are on vacation.

In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, Molina opened up about "the philosophy" behind the unconventional sleeping arrangement for her son Ezra, and how the idea came to be in the first place.

Molina and her husband, David, turned to the shower for the first time during their trip to Mexico in August after Ezra "was up all night long" when his crib was situated to the side of their bed in their rental property.

"They know if you're two feet away from them so they're going to constantly wake up and see you sleeping right next to them and want milk," Molina explained of her little one. "Especially if you're breastfeeding, they can smell your milk, they can smell you."

After taking inspiration from her sister-in-law, who's a mom of four kids, Molina turned to the bathroom as a Plan B. "The thought is that they're in their own room," she said — though in her case, space was an issue.

"We couldn't fit the crib in the bathroom. The only place it fit was the shower, so we put the crib into the shower," she admitted. However, "he slept through the whole night."

Molina, who said she's let Ezra sleep in the shower four times to date, makes clear that she uses the bathroom as a bedroom "only" when they travel. However, she'll turn to her closet if guests sleep over at her house and need to sleep in their son's room.

"We'll put the pack and play in our closet because he can fit ... and close the door," Molina explained. "That's another alternative to create his own room."

One of the biggest inquiries Molina gets about her shower tactic is whether Ezra knows he's sleeping in the bathroom. "That's the main question," she said. "He just knows that it's a room with a door, with blacked-out darkness. He doesn't know it's a bathroom."

The new mom added, "He doesn't even know we've put him in a closet!"

Another question Molina gets asked is whether Ezra gets disrupted should someone have to use the restroom in the middle of the night. For the new parents, they've got it all figured out!

"We would take the shower curtain and just slightly pull it so it could cover his crib and he can't see us use the bathroom — and then once we were done, we would open the curtain back up," she explained. "Then we would leave ... and he didn't wake up at all."

Molina added, "He sleeps the full night ... Literally 12 hours."

While the couple have found the shower hack helpful for their family, the first-time mom has received mixed reactions to the method in response to the TikTok video she shared. Many of the comments point out concerns like mold and the shower turning on in the middle of the night.

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"I never had those fears," Molina admitted. "I don't really live in that parenting fear mindset in the first place ... We don't sit and live in fear. My takeaway is you have to do whatever you feel is best."

"You were chosen to be this baby's parent, so if you feel that the best decision is to put them in the shower in the bathroom, it's great," Molina continued. "Everyone has their own parenting style and you're able to choose what is right based on what you believe is right for your child."

Molina said the reason for sharing the video on TikTok in the first place is to give new parents "glimmers of hope" when traveling with kids and to "actually look forward to it" rather than stressing over the chance they won't sleep.

Above all, Molina wants parents to "feel empowered to go on a trip with their kids." She added, "It works ... people don't believe me. It works."