How often do you bathe your baby?

[PotatoBread]

DD (first born) is 14 weeks and currently we give her a bath twice a week. I also go swimming with her once a week and have a quick shower in the changing rooms afterwards with her - mainly just to warm her up, I don't wash her in the shower.

Is twice a week enough or am I being lazy?

She isn't at the stage yet where she loves baths but seems to have gotten past the stage where she hated them and cried the roof off.

Nappy changes are cleaned with wet wipes rather than water.

Would be interested to know what the norm is.

Thanks :)

[Heirhelp]

As long as you top and tail her daily that is fine. At that time I used to bath DD every other day which often went to threw days or more. Now she is 5 months and like baths I normally bath her every day.

[JohnLapsleyParlabane]

Before weaning we bathed her whenever we remembered: usually between 1 and 3 times per week. Since weaning it's almost every night and sometimes a quick morning shower if breakfast was porridge!

[PotatoBread]

I don't tend to top and tail her with water every single day tbh - will start doing that. Bum normally cleaned with wet wipes though I give face & neck a wipe with wet cotton wool most days

Need to get more organised. The days seem to fly by at the mo and I feel I'd struggle trying to fit a daily bath in!

[PotatoBread]

Ah yes, never thought about weaning! Am sure I'll have to make the time then!

Stupid question but how do you shower a baby at home? Do you sit them in bath with shower on or stand in shower with them?

DD can't sit yet - have a quick shower after swimming but don't wash her properly as am half scared of dropping her!

[melibu84]

We try to do it on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, but we usually fail once during the week. Our DS is 14 weeks old too.

To be honest, I don't always remember to top and tail every day, either, and I don't think this is really necessary, unless you're going out every day.

[ByeByeLilSebastian]

I bathed my second baby once a week or so at that age. He had horrendous eczema and bathing made him worse.

I cleaned his little neck crease where milk would gather every day but didn't top and tail each day. He wasn't doing anything to get mucky so why would I?
HVs were fine with what I was doing.

[WindInThePussyWillows]

I bath my twins 2/3 times a week, I get in and then DH passes me a baby at a time and we spend a good 20 mins per baby having a deep clean!
They have just turned 6 months and we are on week 1 of weaning and I'm probably now bathing them 3/4 times a week instead.

I didn't top n tail religiously but tried too most days. It was tricky with two tiny babies after DH went back to work FT.

Don't worry too much about it all, as long as they are clean and you water/wet wipe the dribble from their neck/chin folds so they don't get sore.

[PotatoBread]

Thanks - think I will currently stick with what I'm doing with maybe a bit of additional face/neck washing thrown in.

[MotherofPearl]

My DD is 5 months old and I've given her a daily bath since she was a couple of weeks old. I know she doesn't need this, but I do it as part of establishing an evening routine. I did this with my other 2 DC. DD loves her bath, and it acts as a cue for winding down for bedtime at 7pm. Works well for us.

[Rollonbedtime7pm]

I am the same Mother - bath every night to help establish a routine (DD2 nearly 6 months).

I also like to bath every day when they are little and having those pasty, up the back poos all the time - nice to have a fresh bum every day when it's always in a nappy!

[DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen]

I used to bath ds every day before bed.

[TheHubblesWindscreenWipers]

Daily. He's always got seriously grotty by tea time and loves a bath. Takes five minutes. Takes me longer to flannel him as he hates that.

Maybe give her a good wash after swimming - chlorine and pool water isn't the best for their skin.

Someone asked this question on a FB group I'm on and the answers were some washing their school age kids once or twice a MONTH. Poor kids. The wetter the better I say!

Dermatologists no longer recommend infrequent washing for eczema by the way before anyone brings that up - a lukewarm quick bath daily is the current recommendation

[Littleelffriend]

Every night since 2 weeks old.

[Elles01]

I bath my little one (also 14 weeks) every other day. Just give him a quick face and neck wash etc on the other days.

[mouldycheesefan]

Once a week. Mine were tiny premature babies so didn't get bathed much.

[Mamatallica]

Mine is 8 weeks old and only has a bath once or twice a week. I don't like doing it because he hates it so much and screams like I'm torturing him. I'd like to get into a nice calming routine of bath and massage before bedtime but it does the opposite of soothing him at the moment.

[GizmoFrisby]

I have always bathed mine every night before bed. Now 7 and 1 they will get in together. Obvs I watch them. Wouldn't leave them alone

[Sixisthemagicnumber]

When my ds was that age I was bathing him every other day as he has eczema and I didn't want to bath him too often. Then the specialist eczema nurse said I needed to bath him every day as his eczema was yeast affected and we needed to keep his skin squeaky clean. She advised is to bath him twice a day of he has a particularly bad flare up so that is what we do and his skin looks much better.

[Bubbinsmakesthree]

Only once or twice a week at that age. As got older and could sit up and play with toys more independently it's become a nightly part of the bedtime routine, but still skip occasionally if we're running late, he's overtired etc.

[PotatoBread]

Mamatallica - DD was the same at 8 weeks. It was about 12 weeks when she seemed to start tolerating baths and not scream. She doesn't particularly seem to enjoy them and looks at mixture of stunned and bored but at least she no longer turns purple with fury Hopefully your little one will be the same soon!

[passingthrough1]

Same age and almost every nights (only don't when too busy). Just use water though, nothing in it. He loves the bath and gets really excited so I like doing it, also after bath I put him in sleepsuit and gro bag and it's night time. I'm sure he has no idea that bath means end of the day, but it helps me.

[JohnLapsleyParlabane]

Before she could sit I would either hold her and shower us both or lay her down and aim the shower at her tummy and lean into the bath to wash her. When she was tiny I would put a towel down first. Now I just plonk her in and hose her down!

[PotatoBread]

Thanks JLP - will put her in the shower briefly with DP when he has one shortly

[welshweasel]

Until 10 weeks once or twice a week then every night from 10 weeks when we started doing a bedtime routine. He loves the bath though, always has done so it's not a chore.

I shower him with me after swimming and if I've had to shower him when we've been away I used to lie him on a towel in the shower tray and gently aim the water over his tummy. Washed him in a kitchen sink in holiday too!

[gonetoseeamanaboutadog]

Nightly. Unless I was cutting corners.

Very hard to get completely clean with a wipe and sudacreme/vaseline is meant to be washed off.