Do I bathe my child enough?

I was told by a nanny with 30 years experience never to rinse hair with the bath water but to always use fresh water. She said none of the babies she ever looked after got cradle cap.

I followed this religiously when DD was a baby and she never got cradle cap. When she was about 18 months I started to get lazy and just rinsed her head with the bath water. Lo and behold she got cradle cap!! So I swear by it now. And if the logic is true then bathing them more will only make cradle cap worse! So it has nothing to do with cleanliness.

Next time she is in the bath and her head is wet, put on a pair of exfoliating gloves and give her a nice head massage to free up the cradle cap! Then always rinse with fresh water, or I have one of those shower hoses that attached to the bath taps.

No, you’re right.

Who's got time to bath multiple kids every night. Fair enough if you have 1 or 2. I have 4. They bath a few times a week. Then when they are able to do it themselves they judge how often they need a shower. When they get to the age where their sweat smells, daily will be encouraged.

It's not good for young children's skin to be bathed daily. Some of mine had severe eczema and a daily bath made it worse.

Bathing and hair-washing are different things. I would bathe children quickly every day but it’s about their bodies, not their hair, and if they have a good wash a bath is not always necessary. Hair-washing once or twice or three times a week, or even every day, has absolutely nothing to do with getting or not getting cradle cap.

Mine had a bath every night. It was part of their getting ready for bed routine and they loved it. It was more about playing and relaxing in warm water than being scrubbed clean.

I’ve always given my son a full bath three times a week, and cleaned his face, hands, and bottom daily with warm water and cotton wool when he’s not getting a bath. This is plenty in my opinion. It’s not good for their skin to bathe them too often as it can dry it out.

I have a 2.5yr old and she has a bath every day. She also has cradle cap.

Dd skin gets very dry if bathed too much. Gp advised twice a week no more unless she rolled in mud. I said surely you meant to bathe every day and was told no, not for dd age. Sounds perfect op.

I bathed daily but I don't think cradlecap is related to bathing. Am I wrong?

3x a week is fine. All of my babies had cradle cap when tiny. With DS, I found gently massaging the shampoo into it and then rinsing throughly helped.

You're going to regret asking this OP , some people get very worked up about it.

We bathe ours two or three times a week. No they're not stinky or dirty or anything else. If you look up the official guidance there's no need to bathe them every day or anything. Some people prefer to (often because they used a bath as part of the baby bedtime routine and so it works for them), and that's fine too.

I think 3 times is plenty. They never advise daily baths anymore, and as long as you’re washing them down with a flannel inbetween it’s fine. Kids don’t get sweaty like teens. It all changes as they get older and then need daily showers

Twice a week for my 2 year old. Monday and Friday. Works well for us and she doesn't need to be bathed more than that.

It's entirely child-dependent. The cradle cap has nothing to do with the number of baths! t that age we did ours nightly because it was a nice routine, and they were very sweaty, generally messy children. But for another kid 3 times a week is probably fine.

@Scallopp i PERSONALLY find 3 nights a week for a 2.5 year old disgusting and tbh a bit lazy.

Yeah we all only bathe once a month, we have shit everywhere. Oh grow up ffs, it's not "disgusting" if a child misses a bath one night for gods sake.

Shitty arses, sweaty heads and dirty feet might run in your house, not mine 😁@Scallopp

@Scallopp you sound dirty x my grip is clean x

Get a grip

We do every other night (unless we’ve done something messy/it’s super hot and she’s suncreamy and sweaty) and works for us. Her eczema gets out of hand if we do everyday

I think every night is nicer. They're mostly sweaty little things & in nappies I think it's nice to have their bums properly bathed rather than just wiped,

it's a nice relaxing routine & most enjoy a play in the bath water.

but I don't think it has anything to do with cradle cap

Every night ! Kids get dirty !
I wasn’t bathed every day as child and I remember feeling dirty at school .

A baby every few days ok, but a 2.5 year old who goes to nursery needs a daily bath.

We bathe our 5 and one year old every other night. If they need it more frequently then of course that’s what we do.

Try leaving coconut oil on your child’s scalp overnight for the cradle cap. You should be able to gently comb it off using a fine comb the next morning.

All my kids have always had a shower or bath every day and still do. I don't think it is necessary as such but at least every two days. Any less than that is too much for me. So you could do 4 days one week, 3 days the other maybe if it were to be every other day? But I think at least 4 days a week honestly, if not 5