how often do you bathe your baby?

[SilverFish]

is more than once a day weird? my one month old LOVES a bath full of hot water. she has been very fussy lately, and without fail, getting to float around in the tub for 10-15 minutes is the only thing that keeps us going in the morning, since she nurses beautifully right after and then promptly conks out for at least 2 hours, often for as long as 4. i want to change the bath to night time so we can have a nice calm late evening stretch (it would be awesome to bathe her at 10 or 11 pm, and get 4 hours of sleep before she wakes up again). but i don't know if i'd survive without the morning bath. would there be anything wrong with doing a bath twice? i wouldn't use baby wash every time... it would be more like just soaking.

does anyone else's babies love water like mine? it's so funny, but it's the only thing that keeps her calm, and gets her to nurse without a fight first.

[tracymom1]

I just had to laugh because my DD is the exact OPPOSITE of yours!! For the last 8 months I have been trying everything I know of to get her used to the bath but she just shrieks and cries EVERY time she comes close to the water!

So, to answer the question, I never bathe my baby!!

I do give her a sponge bath every so often... probably not as often as I should

[Alisse]

I don't think it would be so wrong to do it twice as long as you are good about moisturization.

I washed my son's but every time he had a BM even when he was newborn. But i applied baby oil or lotion after every wash even if i only rinsed with water.

Aveeno makes a moisturizing oatmeal bath soaking thing that might be a good idea to use -- great for baby's skin and is indicated for use when baby's skin is irritated.

[jeminijad]

I only bathe her 2x/week! She is 13 months, though.

It is a hassle to dry, rediaper and dress her, thrashing around like she does.

[JessieBird]

Twice a week here too. More often if he's really filthy, feeling sick, or if we just feel like it, but we're way too lazy for daily baths.

But if your child loves the bath so much and her skin can tolerate it then I think there's no harm in as often as you find fun!

[marinak1977]

I usually rinse my LO's heiny every time he poops, but don't use soap, and watch for dryness. We're in a pretty humid area though so dryness is not a huge issue. We do full baths whenever we feel like it couple of times a week usually without soap. DS loves them and enjoyed them since he was born. We usually splash him, talk and play a little. baths are really fun at our house.

[Storm Bride]

DH does the baths. DD2 usually gets one every four days. (DD1 and ds2 get one every two days, and dd2 goes in before them every other bath.) If she's really mucky for some reason, she'll get an extra rinse or an extra bath. And, sometimes, she follows them upstairs, and screams until he puts her in the tub.

[jimblejamble]

Twice a week and if he needs it, a quick wipe-down in between.

[cheryllynn]

Saturday night bath.

However lately she's had a cold with stuffy nose, so she's been getting in the bath every other day or so, mostly for the steam.

She loves loves loves the bath. Splashes, tries to move around, loves to float, fascinated with sucking on the washtub and gives ver yfunny faces after sipping at the water.

Doesn't help one lick with sleeping though.

[blessed.mommy]

I bathe him when ever he needs it...which is usually 2-3x a week.

[skybluepink02]

I avoided bath time with my twins because they hated it so much, but I would think that as long as you were vigilant with the moisturizer, you'd be fine bathing her twice a day.

[coldandsleepy]

My little guy loves being bathed, but we don't have a bath tub and the baby tub on the kitchen counter got really old really fast so we just shower him instead. He has SO much fun in the shower that we don't do it right before bed... gets him too worked up. We usually wash him 2 or 3 times a week, with bonus showers here and there when he does something like vomit all over himself. :P

I have definitely heard of people who bathe the baby every night as part of the night time pre-bed routine! It's awesome that your little water baby has found something that makes her happy already.

If it seems like her skin is drying out from bathing a lot, you could either moisturize her, or as an alternative, don't use soap for one (or both) of her baths. I think it's mainly soap that dries babies out, not exposure to the water itself.

[Novus]

My baby loves the water too, and he gets *really* icky after dinner, so he gets nightly baths. Sometimes, if he seems bored or fussy in the middle of the day, we'll get in the tub together, so probably about once a week, he gets two baths on the same day. I was starting to see some dry skin this winter, so we started adding oil to his bath water and it cleared it right up.

[miami mommy]

My 4.5 mo loves his baths! I give him a bath every night to relax him for bed, then he falls asleep nursing and often sleeps for about 5.5 hrs. I bathe him in a Tummy Tub and he's constantly trying to contort himself so that he's completely submerged. He also loves to taste the water and he gets upset when I take him out. I guess he feels like he's back in the womb and every night he gets birthed out of the water.

Since I mainly use the baths for relaxation, I just wash his hair and his skin folds...especially his neck cause it gets so gross! But I don't use soap everyday, so his skin doesn't get dry and I don't need to use lotion.

The nighttime baths saved my sanity since my DS is somewhat high-needs and we used to have to walk him or bounce him to sleep every night.

[SilverFish]

thanks for all the helpful replies! i think we will start to work a bath into our nights, at least sometimes. i'm usually pretty tired by the end of the day, which is why it hasn't happened yet, but i'm guessing that if it does work to wind her down for a long sleep, i wouldn't be so tired anymore!

i'm not too worried about dry skin... i only use a very gentle wash on her in the mornings, and she gets rubbed down with jojoba or sweet almond oil nearly every day.

[Xavismom]

DS gets a bath almost everyday, mainly because he loves it so much. He gets that instant happiness/calmness from a bath too. Sometimes he'll stop fussing before he even gets in the tub, just from being in the bathroom and hearing the tub filling up.

We usually do our bath at bedtime, but sometimes we'll do it earlier if he is having a really hard/fussy day. There are for sure some days we do two baths. He likes to spend the first half splashing and kicking, then he mellows out and likes to float/nurse. By the time we are done, he is ready to go to bed for the night, or take a good nap.

We never use soap, except sometimes in his armpits. He makes his own baby-cheese in those things...! I've never had an issue with his skin or scalp getting dry. We dont use lotion either, but sometimes I do give him a massage with some sweet almond oil.

[jenniferadurham]

Since DS was born, every day...or every other day...but more likely everyday.. With soap. He LOVES "bas" as he calls them. But even when he didnt love them, he still got washed everyday.

I don't think that would be a problem to bathe them twice a day, maybe that's her 'coffee' in the morning..hahaha! I agree with you that you should try and give your LO a bath at night...and they have all sorts of lavendar calming type stuff to aid her sleep.

GL!

[Bellabaz]

Dd1 gets a bath 3-4 times a week. But she is 3 and goes to preschool. Dd2 i 6 months and gets bathed max 2 times a week. I wipes her off with a wash cloth when needed though. I think 2 baths a day is fine just watch for dry skin and excema. maybe don't use soap, just water.

[octobermoon]

my baby loves bath time too. we don't have a set routine or anything sometimes we may bathe 3-4 times per week sometimes more, sometimes less. but if he is fussy in the evenings i head in the tub with him it always helps.

[paradoxia13]

My older son is 3 and gets a nightly bath as part of his bedtime routine and because he's usually filthy - he loooooooves having his 5 month old brother in the tub with him and generally requests him to come in every night. Sometimes the baby is snoozing then, so he misses out, but, I'd say it's anywhere from 4 nights a week to nightly.