baths - how often?

[mamajoy]

My sister recently criticized my practice of not giving dd a bath every day. She's one yo (dd, not my sister). I was wondering what other people are doing with baths. I usually bathe her and wash her hair every other day or once every three days. I wipe/rinse off her face, hands and feet as they need it or as I get to it.

Am I being too casual? I'm wondering if I should be doing more. I'm not real happy about the chemicals in L.A. tap water, which I think enter her system through the skin when she bathes, and so I haven't made a bath part of her daily routine, such as it is.

[Elphaba]

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[maxismama]

I don't bathe my ds every day either. He usually gets a bath every three to four days. I do wash his face, hands and diaper area with water and soap every day of course, but I really think that it's not good for their sensitive skin to be submerged in water every day. I think it dries up the skin and unless my ds rolls around in dirt, he doesn't get really dirty enough to give him a bath.

[peggy]

The only time we do daily baths is when Grace (9mos.) is having a cranky spell! The bath calms her so much. But for getting her clean? Once every couple of days seems fine.

peggy

[sleepies]

i give my baby a bath and wash his head (no hair on it) every single morning of the world.

i like to take two baths per day myself. baths make me feel awesome. i just always assume they make babies feel good too.

my baby seems to love his bath. he splashes and laughs.

i love baths though.

my doctor said every 3 days is ok. he also said daily is ok.

i think it is up to the mom.

i have LOTS of time on my hands.

and baths are so much fun.

the only dry skin my baby has is on his face, and we dont even wash that in the tub. i wash his face with plain water when he is on the dressing table/before the bath. his dry face is from him rubbing it ( i think i posted that)

do it however often you want/ or they need it.

as they get older they need more.

[Seawen]

We are an every other night family. I agree with Sleepies that bath's are lots of fun but we can't seem to get it together on time every night. And, I worry about DD's skin getting too dry now that it's getting colder and drier. Sometimes we go every three nights.

[Dancinmom]

we give our 15 month old a bath every other day or every 3 days. The only time we do it every day is if he is really dirty, has a bad diaper rash, or is in a bad mood. I don't think it is necessary at this point for him to get one every day, but I know some people do. When he gets older I know it might be a different story as he is getting dirtier.

[DirtyHippie]

My Gaige has a bath every 2-3 days. He is 7 months. Our bodies are not made to be bathed everyday. BUT my 5 year old is a "dirt merchant" and she gets a bath almost every day.

[Bella's Mama]

We usually give our dd a bath once or twice a week. I wash her face and hands every day (even though she doesn't like it). I like to use Burt's Bees soap. It doesn't seem to be drying to her skin. It is a buttermilk soap with a vegetable soap base. It has honey, buttermilk, oatmeal flour, and smells so good. I like the Baby Bee diaper ointment too, although we hardly ever use it. I use plain water and unbleached cotton wipes to clean her when I change her diaper, and she hardly ever has a diaper rash.

[Kiddoson]

We give one every other or every 3 days, unless of course one of us is trying to get a bath & she catches us :D then of course she must come in too! She loves her baths, we now have to spell the word or she will go running into the bathroom & expect one :)

[Mamax3]

We bathe our 3 little ones every other or every 3 days, depending on if they played outside. We bathe them all 3 together to conserve water. They love their bath but they all have sensitive skin and become very chapped easily. We only wash their hair sparingly, they have thick dry hair.

In the summer we usually bathe them every day, just because they spend so much time outside sweating.

I think that it is totally up to you, how often you bathe your child. As long as they don't smell and aren't having health problems from not bathing I think every other to every 3rd day is fine.

[peacemama]

I don't think they need daily baths either. I tend to give them because it's part of our routine, though, and in the summer i really have to bathe/shampoo dd every night because of the sunscreen, sweat, sand, ice pop drippings or whatever goo she has on her! In wintertime I'll skip days, when she was in diapers I used to stand her in the tub and wash her bottom. I didn't like the idea of her sitting in poop and just being wiped clean, and then not bathed that day.

[pear]

I give ds a bathe every day. it is a part of his routine. And fun! Also it's one of the babycare tasks that his dad LOVES.

With my dd , when she was little I gave her a bath every 2 to 3 days.

[Sahara]

DS gets a bath 4 or 5 times a week. He's SUCH a messy eater, he will smear banana all over himself and totally enjoy it. Then we hop in the tub together, which is also a blast. I wouldn't do it as much if he didn't love to play in the water.
We use Burt's Bees baby soap and lotion, too. It smells wonderful and he never feels too dry afterwards.

[bebe luna]

Talin( 10.5 mo) gets a bath 1-2x a week. But honestly, sometimes it's once every 2 weeks. I wipe his hands, face and diaper area daily. He just doesn't seem dirty. He doesn't get all sweaty and stinky like adults, so I try to limit the bathing. He does love a bath though... and swimming. I've taken him in a shower and he hated it. I also took him in our jacuzzi tub and he hated the jets. He likes to share a jet-free bath though...

[Gigi]

Our dds get a bath about 2x a week - I just don't have the energy in the evening for more than that, besides it's usually dh who gets in the bath with them and they all just splash about and make a big mess and have great fun. Otherwise I try to be pretty diligent about hand-washing during the day.

[kama'aina mama]

Bronwyn loves to bathe or shower. The challenge here is to get a shower without bringing her in! So, playing in the water and rinsing a bit almost every day but serious washing maybe a couple of times a week. I have all but given up on shampooing her though.

[chai]

I'm glad I'm not the only one bathing DS only every 1-2 weeks. I wipe him with a wet washchoth in areas that seem to need it (like his diaper area and feet), and we wash hands frequently, but he also just doesn't generally seem dirty to me. Bathing infrequently is also a great way to avoid the chemicals in bath/hygene products.

[ann_of_loxley]

Its up to you hun!
There is nothing wrong with what you are doing!

We do have baths everynight - but we only have the one, we have the time, and baths are a lot of fun!

We do sometimes skip a bath - and thats no big deal either! My dh gets home late and if hes been playing with our ds for too long and hes too tired and just wants to go to bed, we dont bother with a bath!

I myself have a shower every morning and my boy is typical little boy - by the end of the day he is just so grubby he needs the bath usually! haha (hes also not one for me taking a warm wet cloth to him either - hes rather get in a small tub and have a scrub down ! hehe...no bubbles though! - he freaks out if you have bubbles! lmao)

[Alyantavid]

My kids must be dirty little things then.

We do baths every night. We will once in a while skip the bath but its such a part of our bedtime routine that we try to stick to it. Besides that my 17 month old's hair is usually standing on end, stuck together with God knows what. We do almost always have a bubble bath on Fridays.

My kids love baths.

[angelpie545]

I do baths for my 4&7 yr. old daughters every other day.

[DevaMajka]

um, once a week. Should be more often...I'll work on that.

[KBecks]

Our pediatrician said a couple times a week is enough.

We actually bathe our kids less than that, our babe hates the water. We'll usually go once a week. Our toddler likes the water though. We're trying to up our frequency but sometimes it comes down to when they're smelly.

[LeahC]

We started bathing our son every day once he was all about feeding himself. That was around 10 months, I think. He would (and still does!) just get filthy, especially during dinnertime, so it has been necessary to give him a bath every night before bed.

He is 19 months old now and just loves his bath every night. He plays and has grand ole' time, but he also knows that it is part of his bedtime routine and it calms him down as well.

[Zach'smom]

Every day or every other day. Ds is a dirt magnet and a swimmer. So he usually needs a shower or bath daily to remove chlorine, dirt, food, markers, etc. If he is clean and chlorine free we skip it.

If your child is clean then you are bathing him/her enough.

[Elastagirl]

My kids get a bath once a week, whether they need it or not!:wink

[mamazee]

In warm weather, dd gets filthy and sweaty from running around outside all day, and therefore needs a bath every day. But now that it's approaching winter, we'll be on the twice-a-week-unless-unexpected-messiness-happens schedule.

[karina5]

In summer, every day.

This time of year, every 2-3 days.

[sdm1024]

especially in the winter, the kids skin dries out horribly otherwise.

Although.....I had to get DD7 her first stick of deodorant, so she might need to start showing more often :wink

[WuWei]

Only when ds wants a bath, never when he doesn't.


Pat

[SusannahM]

About every week here for DS (9 months). Mostly, it's when I notice he's dirty somewhere that I have trouble cleaning other than with a bath (like, all over from eating something messy or under his nails). Or, sometimes when I think it's probably been a while so I put him in the bath with me. It ends up being about once a week.

DD (3) takes them about every other day. She asks for them, so of course I let her.

[macca]

I usually bath my kids every second day, sometimes more often if they get particularly dirty. DS hates baths, not going to subject him to them more often than that!

[ledzepplon]

We bathe as needed. Sometimes that's every day. Sometimes it means a couple times a week. It depends. My kids love bath time, though, so sometimes I stick them in the bath at the end of a long day when I just want them contained and happy for a good half hour.

[crazydiamond]

Anyone else notice that this thread is SIX years old??!? :lol

[wonderwahine]

you bathe more than I do :lol ds doesnt like baths, so whenever he gets stinky we bathe ( which sometimes takes 3weeks)

[floydmom]

You're not alone! DD gets a bath 1-2 times/week, more often in summer. All other days we just top and tail.

[primjillie]

I bathed mine at least every other day. Mine were spitty when they were tiny and got dirty with food, crawling, playing outside, etc. as they got older. I don't wait until I'm stinky to bathe, so I didn't wait with them either. I love sweet smelling babies! Also, I think bathing them often may prevent fear of baths - they get used to it. We always made it fun, instead of a chore, so they never seemed to mind.

[wonderwahine]

I bathed mine at least every other day. Mine were spitty when they were tiny and got dirty with food, crawling, playing outside, etc. as they got older. I don't wait until I'm stinky to bathe, so I didn't wait with them either. I love sweet smelling babies! Also, I think bathing them often may prevent fear of baths - they get used to it. We always made it fun, instead of a chore, so they never seemed to mind.

thats a nice idea..... but it didnt work with ds, he used to bathe often, absolutly loooooooooooooved baths, then one day *poof!* now he wont get wet without a total freakout.

[ShadowMoon]

DS gets a full bath 1-2/week. He is 10 months old.

[Jessy1019]

We give one every other or every 3 days, unless of course one of us is trying to get a bath & she catches us :D then of course she must come in too! She loves her baths, we now have to spell the word or she will go running into the bathroom & expect one :)

Don't be surprised if it's the first word she learns to spell. My dd caught on to that one REALLY fast.

OP: I bathed my babies anywhere from every couple days to once a week . . . whatever we had time for and felt like doing. Now that dd is five and ds is 21 months, they are in the bath together every morning. Their choice . . . I would still be happy with every couple days.

[grumpybear]

DS gets a bath everyday as part of his bedtime routine.
Truth be told, he really doesn't need it every single day. So sometimes we skip days unless he decided he wants to pour juice, milk, sauce all over his head.

[iris0110]

Ds2 gets a bath every day (he's almost 2) but that is only because he takes a shower with me. It's the only way I can have my daily shower, so in we go. I do not wash him though, I never use shampoo in his hair. Ds1 who is 6 gets his hair washed once a week and gets 3 soaks a week in epsom salt, but it is therapy more than for bathing purposes.

[JamesMama]

In the summer James gets a bath every day. For one we play outside a lot and he gets filthy and sweaty. And he likes to get in the shower with me. In the winter I discourage it/don't allow him in with me very often because he gets REALLY dry skin.

Anyway, no babies do not need bathed every day. Two or three times a week is fine, IMO. IMO, bathing every day just dries out their skin, I only do it to James in the summer because he likes taking showers with me.

James is 33 months old

[Imogen]

When we're due to go to work/nursery the next day, my beloved boy has a bath. But when we're due to have the day off, or a few days, I don't bath him. He suffers from really dry skin at times, so not bathing him for a day or a couple of days rests his skin (There is a term for his condition, it begins with E, but I have totally forgotten how to spell it :lol)



Peace

[boigrrrlwonder]

You're doing fine. I think I bathe my daughter too much, but then again, I tend to put her in the shower with me and *I* like showering daily.

[soonerorlater]

DS (3.5) gets a bath 5-6 days a week, but that's mostly because he gets filthy at preschool and I need to get some of the sand off. :wink I just put him in a bubble bath (the California Baby stuff -- very mild) and let him play. No other soap and I only "wipe" his face in the tub: no scrubbing. If his skin seems dry, I put a few drops of jojoba oil in the bath too. Like others, I've basically given up on shampooing. I just dump some water over his head. :p

[mistymama]

You're fine.

We did nightly baths from the time my son was a small baby through toddlerhood because the warm water soothed him, and it became part of our evening bedtime routine. Often I would just put him in the water, no soap.

Now he's 5 and takes a bath or shower almost everyday because he gets filthy at school. :lol Plus he loves to play in the water and it will entertain him for a good 30-40 mins! :)

[Tanlines]

My 2 DDs get baths about every other day--unless they get really dirty one day or something

[graceomalley]

Every day - it's one of our favourite times. We both hop in together. I play with the baby in the bath while we snuggle and nurse. Lots of skin to skin contact and loving.

[treemom2]

I shower my kids Sunday night with a hair washing and Thursday night with no hair washing. I will also bathe them if they ask for it, shower them if they are dirty, or if I am taking a bath and they want to join me. Where I live we always shower for cleaning and bathe for soaking/relaxing. . .we never get into the bathtub dirty (we have a shower completely separate from the bath. . .but in the same room, just different areas).

[taylor]

I bathe my boys every other day, usually. Unless we've had a particularly dirty day on a day that would normally be skipped. If they didnt get baths that night, we wash face, ears, hands, feet with a warm cloth before putting on pajamas.

[ABrez]

I didn't read all the replies but I don't think toddlers need daily baths unless they are outside playing in the dirt. That being said, Katie gets a bath every day, sometimes two but she only get soaped up once a week or every ten days. She just loves a bath! It's calming and relaxing to her. Just a couple of inches of warm water to splash in. I usually take a comb and wet down her hair because she has super frizzy, curly hair.

After her bath in the evening we put her jammies on her and she walks over and pats the chair where I sit to nurse her to sleep. It's adorable.

[mammal_mama]

Only when ds wants a bath, never when he doesn't.


Pat

Yeah, that! We don't have a bath-schedule, we just do it as desired, works fine for us.

I bathe, shower, or wash daily, but my children don't seem to get the same odors I do.

[katheek77]

My DD gets a bath nearly every night, but only because she loves it so much. Since she was born, she's loved it. And I get to soak and read. Her hair gets washed about once a week (we do NOT love that :lol)

Growing up, until puberty, we bathed usually once a week, and then again if we were particularly dirty.

[macca]

Anyone else notice that this thread is SIX years old??!? :lol

:lol

I missed that!

[Kidzaplenty]

Funny! :lol I love old threads.

My children bath on their own now. I insist on at least once a week but prefer twice and will make them take one if they have played hard or gotten especially dirty (where a quick rag can not make them smell good). My children have a unique ability to smell like wet dogs when they go outside to play. I have no idea why, but I can't stand the smell and will make them bathe.

[merrijayne]

the litle guy 3 mo is every other day. my 22 mo is whenever anyone else is in the bath LOL

[AlwaysByMySide]

My 2yo needs a bath daily, or she will smell. Her hair holds onto smell like it's unreal. She LOVES to be in the tub (once she's in, it takes an hour to get her back out!), so it's a happy part of our routine.

[fuller2]

Six years old! That kid is probably scheduling their own baths now...

I, um, give my kid a bath 1-2 times a week unless he obviously needs more, wants to play in the water, needs the chilling out, etc. Baths dry out your skin, and water is expensive. He doesn't usually get that dirty during the day.

[bobica]

dd is 4 and showers a couple of times a week. we wash her hair maybe once a week usually but now more often b/c i'm spraying leave in conditioner (lice-repellent) in her hair for school so it needs washing a bit more often.

she NEVER got a bath every day. she just wasn't that dirty. my friends' kids get baths/showers just about every day. they get FILTHY every day :lol

[gwerydd]

usually ever couple of days, although it's been a while. i also bathe with her if she's cranky and nothing seems to work to cheer her up. we just get in the bath together and the splashing of water and the unlimited access to both boobs:lol usually works to better her mood for a while.

[lovingmommyhood]

Every other day. :)

[Hoopin' Mama]

Every 2-3 days, unless he's covered in sunscreen or bug spray.

I only use soap about once every two weeks.

We wash hands about 100 times a day.

[BrandiRhoades]

I'm glad I'm not the only one bathing DS only every 1-2 weeks.

Me, too! Hubby and I were just saying how terrible we are at it. It just seems unnecessary, and DS has developed a hatred of the bath tub.

[mamasgroovin]

Ds1 we gave a bath every day b/c that's what we thought we were supposed to do. So ds2 we did the same. He had a lot of dry flaky skin, so I asked the ped about it and she say NOT to bathe a baby daily! She suggested every other day, with good wipings before bed.

Admittedly, now that we're at our 4th, we find even more days are going between baths. Oops. :lol

Sounds to me like you're just about perfect!

[mamasgroovin]

i'm spraying leave in conditioner (lice-repellent) in her hair for school.
:lol
Does this really work?!?!