to be shocked at how many parents don't....

[formerbabe]

bath their children every day!

Following on from the thread about a poster not changing her children into pyjamas, I was surprised reading the responses how many people say they only bath their kids a couple of times a week.

I bath mine every night before bed and always have done, bar illness or something catastrophic happening in my day. On the rare occasion they have had to miss their bath, I have done a quick wipe down with a flannel, but they never seem clean after it. My kids seem to get filthy during the day, mud/food etc.

I know those kids who have excema cannot always have a bath everyday, but for anyone else it just seems like pure laziness to me.

See I can't get my teen and tween out the bloody bathrooms! DS1 is 14 and DD is 12. They go straight into the shower when they wake up every morning but usually have a bath (DS) or shower (DD) at night too. DD can spend hours in a bath and always has DH banging on the loo door as she'd do the same with showers.

In the forties we had a tin bath hanging on the wall outside,it was dragged into the house once a week for our baths,the water had to be heated in a boiler and we were dunked one at a time,we came to no harm.When we were first married DH used to drag the tin bath in whenever we wanted to bathe,one night he had got it all set up in front of the fire after boiling many kettles when an old farmer neighbour called for a chat,Oh "" are you just going to have a bath" says farmer"oh no" says DH we've just finished and proceded to drag the bath outside to empty it,farmer stayed talking until 1.30 p.m. so we didn't get our baths

everyone has different hobbies - yours is bathing kids daily and putting make up on before your DH gets home

whispers I don't bathe my boys every night, actually, I don't even bathe myself every night!

I am a terrible person :(

I don't bath my kids every day. I view it as very wasteful to bath children every day. Same for cleaning the house or making beds.

When the kids need or want a bath. And they do not need a bath every day.

Mine have a bath pretty much every day. The baby is doing BLW and so it a terrible mess after dinner and needs one. DS is almost 7 and I don't want him to be the "smelly kid" in class as I was, so I'm a bit precious about it.

Plus by 6:30 or so I am frankly at the end of my rope and just want peace and twitter and mumsnet a book and a cup of tea. I've sort of had it with the DC by then. So it's nice to just let them play in the tub for awhile, winding down for bed.

I don't care what other people do, though. I'm sure I wouldn't notice unless the child had obviously not been bathed in a very long time and looked neglected.

The bedtime bath routine always seemed hassly to me. As soon as my kids could stand up, we switched to a morning shower and a bath only on Sunday evenings, as they see it as a bit of a novelty now.

A daily wash in any form is a must, but how it happens? Who cares?

I put on makeup before DH gets home sometimes. but I also throw on clothes and tidy the house quickly to make it look like I haven't been sitting in the same sweatpants I slept in, mumsnetting all day.

I don't give two hoots what you think op.

Mine bath when they need it.

Is that such a difficult concept?

Ffs, children are dying over the world for lack of clean drinking water.

at antimatter.

A health visitor told me you shouldn't bathe them every day, you should do it every other day or it drys out their skin?

Anyhows, it's surprising just how much dirt will wear off in bed overnight

My kids bath once a week usually :O

They have a bath on a Wednesday night and a shower ('proper' shower with body wash and hair shampooed) at the pool, after Sunday morning swimming!

Now that football season has started, they'll start showering on a Friday night too, because they get covered in mud head to toe on the pitch.

They get a flannel wash morning and night. They are 6 and 3, they don't get smelly. They do get dirty, being active boys, but nothing a flannel doesn't usually sort.

Cheerfulyank...I do that too! Usually try to change my top to something that the kids haven't smeared food on!

Thatbloodywoman... Your argument about children dying because they don't have drinking water is ridiculous. There's also children dying from hunger, I still feed my children three times a day.

Ds had a bath more or less every night until he was 11 and decided to switch to showers. He had bubbles and everything and it didn't dry his skin out remotely it was a nice way for him to unwind and I think young kids are pretty grimy creatures naturally and I wouldn't have considered a flannel wash enough.

It was also noticeable that he didn't seem to suffer all the endless colds/coughs/chest infections etc that other kids did through the winter.

Hmm

Well you are obviously a better mother than me OP...DD (one year) only has a bath once / twice a week. She has lovely skin and hair and I am a stickler for following nhs guidelines but nope, must be laziness

On the other hand, my husband loves my actual face so I don't need to reapply it before he comes home...so I must be a better wife!

Looks like we're even.

It was also noticeable that he didn't seem to suffer all the endless colds/coughs/chest infections etc that other kids did through the winter

Eh? Because of baths?

I once didn't have any hot water for 18 months, we had to heat water in pans & carry them through the house to the bathroom if we wanted a bath, v dangerous & tiresome so we tended not to bath too often. I have a number of friends with the kind of "alternative" lifestyle that means any hot water at all is a massive hassle. Their kids don't bath every day. They are generally healthy, happy children imo.

Feeding your children is a neccesity, bathing them everyday sometimes twice a day in the case of one poster is not

Did you buy a new pair of judgey pants today OP?

I will never understand the arrogance logic which allows some people to think that what applies to their family life should apply to all others.

DS is just one. He is bathed 2/3 times a week as needed with his hair washed once a week. Anything more and his skin is horrendously dry and itchy to the point of him scratching it open.

He is flannel washed every morning and night with his teeth cleaning, has his bum wiped kissably clean after every nappy, has a good face and hand wash before and after every meal, and generally smells delicious.

and I'm really annoyed that I feel like I have to defend myself on this thread

Oh also, pjs (with clean pants underneath), bedding, and individual towels are all changed weekly!!

Report me to SS now

I am amazed that some people think plain water and soap everyday on a child's skin is damaging yet cleaning them every night with baby wipes is fine.

I bathed mine every night when they were little, in nappies. I found it didn't help with dry skin though so we dropped down to every other night and now at 7 and 9 they have 2 baths a week plus a shower after swimming.