How often do you bathe your toddler?

[PlumpShady]

A conversation with a friend has left me wondering if I'm really gross!

My 2 year old has a bath twice a week - usually one weekend one where she will have her hair washed, nails cut, ears cleaned etc and one shorter midweek one. That's it, unless we've been doing something like painting.

Friend said her toddler has a bath every night. Is this normal?

I wash her face every morning and evening and frequently her hands, is it enough?!?

To anyone suggesting it’s disgusting to not bathe their child daily you really need to grow up. We had a nightly bath time routine until our child’s skin started to crack and bleed and we were told by the dermatologist to bath them weekly. I can assure you undressing, moistening and redressing your child five times a day to stay on top of their eczema for two years is definitely not what a lazy parent would do

Every night, he’s so grubby 🤣 if he’s unwell and we’ve not left the house/he’s not done any activities I don’t force him though. But yeah he’s normally filthy with food, crafts, mud, bogies, you get me.

Up until the age of around 18 months, it used to be almost every night as part of the bedtime routine. Then she decided that the bath was the worst thing ever and acted like we were bathing her in acid (not quite the calming wind down to bedtime vibe we were going for!).

No amount of toys / playing in the bathtub without water / practicing how to wash hair helped so we decided to only put her (and ourselves) through the trauma once a week. We regularly wash hands, face and bum so the really dirty bits get cleaned often.

She is 3 now and she always looks / smells clean and nursery have never raised concerns. Added bonus is her eczema is tonnes better.

Most days, I get in the bath with him, he splashes, we laugh, and sing, instead of we fight to wash his hands and face.

I'd like to say every night, but there are nights that just become too late sometimes.

Twice a week sometimes 3.

I think many of the people who only need to bathe their toddler once or twice a week probably don’t entirely appreciate the mucky little urchins some of us are dealing with.

You might think: oh it’s just not necessary. But all three of my sons were just determined to get as dirty as possible all the time. It was/is easier to chuck them in the bath than mess around with strip washes and such like.

About twice a week

@UnremarkableBeasts - I don’t really understand how all skin gets filthy daily? I mean Ds is at forest nursery, but he has rain or snow gear on now. So it’s only his hands and face that could get muddy at skin level, the rest is covered by clothing.

If we bake cakes or paint it’s just hands and face, your back or legs don’t get dirty.

It doesn’t have to be every inch of skin to be easier to chuck them in a bath.

And my DS can get filthy through his clothing. He has an impressive ability to get dirty. Noticeably more than other children.

I'm curious how all those who think not bathing daily is filthy will cope with the inevitable water shortages the future will bring. Let's hope they're more adaptable than they seem.

My toddler and baby are both bathed everyday. Toddler always has been. It’s easier to bath him than faff around washing him down. I genuinely feel he needs bathed daily and it’s part of his routine.

Same as you. Completely agree that these comments are blowing my mind 😬 each to their own I suppose ...

It was once a week because we needed family therapy after each bathtime. DD was nicknamed ‘swampy’ for this reason.

now it is three times a week.

Every evening before bed without fail.

I can't imagine not bathing her at the end of the day- she's always covered in food and general grubbiness haha.

I love making her all clean and dry and snuggled up in fresh pajamas. It feels cosy and homely.

I bathe mine pretty much every night. She's still in nappies and poos every day and she her poos are really smelly, even after using lots of baby wipes, she still has a smell. So daily. She does naturally have quite dry skin though so I probably shouldn't.

We did every evening as part of bedtime routine. Very sensitive skin/severe eczema aside, I wouldn’t want to go to bed after having a poopy or even a wet nappy on throughout the day without properly washing my bum - not with wipes. If my toddler missed one due to illness or something, I’d still do a proper top and tail with warm, soapy water and a flannel.

But it’s ok for a child to be in a nappy and only wiped with baby wipes and properly washed twice a week??? No. It’s not ok.

100%

When he’s dirty but also not too often. We wash him in coconut oil a few days a week also. He’s got dry skin and is mixed race though so ideally as little as possible but wash face/neck/bum etc daily

Every other day or every third day if she isn't grubby.

She also has dry skin so we use moisturiser after the bath which helps a lot.

Everyday but hair washed only twice a week

Long time since I had a toddler but we all used to bathe/shower every day, sometimes twice. It was nice.

Every day at bedtime!
Couldn't imagine doing it any less tbh but each to their own??

Every day, knew it was soon bedtime then

5 times a week, do try for every night but sometimes we get home later and he's falling asleep so it's not possible

Bath every day. He gets filthy at nursery. I also shower every day, whether I'm filthy or not 😀