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.

I have some lovely pixifotos of my Dd when she was a few months old. Her skin was awful! And was as a result of eczema and being bathed daily. I learned very quickly that it is not a good idea. I know you stated eczema as an exception in your OP but yes still YABU. I'm one of those children that was bathed once a week like many on here quite a few moons ago. Your water bill must be through the roof! Children really aren't going to have dirty bottoms. Unless you haven't taught them to wipe properly.

But Need, when they're at that stage where they wipe themselves but it's a bit hit & miss, you check & "finish the job" after they've been!

Otherwise they'd be sitting in a bath with tiny particles of shit in it - & that really isn't hygienic.

Nothing to add but of all the ills of the world.... What a ridiculous non-issue.

You let your DC sit in a bath full of dirty water every night? Outrageous behavior! Any decent parent knows that your DC must be scrubbed raw with dettol then blasted with the pressure washer at least once a day.

Or maybe we can all just bath our own DC as and when we think they need it?

Disagree all you like Needaninsight I have a sense of smell and eyes to see skids! When kids have been running about they smell like puppies to me and definitely need a bath, I haven't become immune to stinks and again my 6 year old does t have pooey knickers and never has

I don't have any children yet so my opinion is invalid but I always assumed it was normal to bath every evening before bed.

I bathe my 4 year old twins every night which is right for us and i don't care what other people do, but I am about redoing makeup before DH gets home from work. Do people actually do that?

We're supposed to CLEAN them???

I missed that memo. I suppose that's what happens when you go through pregnancy without seeing a professional and give birth in the outhouse with the dog as your midwife.

Maybe I should give them all a quick dunk in the drinking barrel?

Seriously, my dc don't smell of anything other than 'child' and aren't dirty. And DS2 is a nightmare about having his hair washed - he screams and sounds like I'm murdering him.

Meh, life's too short.

And as for sorting out your make-up for when DH gets home - Stepford wife much?

Oh dear.
My name is addicted to sugar.
The kids have a bath or shower every other night (eczema, am I allowed)
Also, I haven't had a shower in 31 hours. It wasn't worth maybe waking DH to have one before I went out, and I've been to tesco, and about to take DS1 to a party.

My parents did a good amount of lazy, selfish, neglectful things. But for some reason the relatively minor thing of not being allowed to bathe is a really painful memory.

Especially when I got to be 8/9, I needed to have a wash every other day at least. Maybe in other schools in the 70s all the kids were bathed once a week and so it wasn't a big deal. But in my school I was the only one with dirty clothes, dirty body, and greasy hair.

I wasn't allowed to wash because with 8 kids my parents were worried about the water bills. Or something. I rebelled by sneaking into the bathroom and bending over the tub one night in order to wash my hair--and my dad shut off the water supply for several days.

When I was ten my teacher gave a lecture about personal hygiene to the class, saying, "Do you really want to go around looking greasy? It only takes ten minutes to wash your hair!" Everyone laughed because they knew she was talking about me.

So for the parents boasting here about how un-anal and carefree they are by letting their kids go around dirty, I'm a bit... meh.

For products - olive oil (from the supermarket aisle) is wonderful for a bedtime massage on a cranky wee one. DS has wonderful skin and I put it down to the midwife's advice NOT to use no more than the bare minimum of soap/bath product needed to get him clean and liberal use of olive oil, esp in the winter.

For those mums with bad sleeping wee ones- do try the olive oil massage (or almond if you don't like the smell). DS has a diagnosed sleep disorder and ASD, yet is very good about personal hygiene - I think in part due to those early associations of a pleasant time. He's also prone to dry skin in the winter, but not the horrid excema patches that plagued my childhood.

I don't understand all this need for rules about how often you should bathe children. Surely it depends on many things? Firstly their age: my kids as babies used to get filthy daily. They were both sicky when tiny and then when weaning they got food in their hair etc. Ds2 had sensitive skin so any residue of acidic tomatoe based sauces irritated his skin. He also suffered with nappy rash. So they were both bathed daily when babies and toddlers because it was necessary.

Moving on to slightly older, say 3-6. I would assess if they needed a bath and bath them accordingly. Eg paint on bare arms at nursery/school. Ds2 was not a good wiper of his bum so if they didn't otherwise need a bath then I would do a good clean up of his bum with a baby wipe at the end of each day to ensure it didn't get sore. Minimum of 3 times a week probably, more if they had a few days of getting grubby.

Now they are 10 and 7. They get bathed twice a week in winter, a bit more in summer because they get sticky and also sun cream needs to be washed off if revue had it on that day. They get bathed if they've been swimming. It's certainly not daily cos there is no need at this age. There will be a need for more regular baths when DS1 starts to smell of BO in a couple of years but for the moment there is no need so why do it?

dog as your midwife

Mathildasquared...that is really sad. I do find there is a boastful element to this...oh, look at me, I'm so easy going and laid back, I never bath them!

Why on earth would you bath them everyday, they don't need it.
Twice or 3 times a week is fine. When they reach puberty they will need a daily shower, but before then why?

"Its the sticky hands and faces for me! A flannel wouldn't take that away."

So they need a bath every time their hands get dirty? Eh?

On and the next time somebody talks about a child having a dirty bum, or washing bums I think I might do something desperate. And as for "sitting in their own muck".........words fail me!

I can't believe the OP and other are judging parents for this.

Yeah I brought into the whole "daily bath essential part of bedtime routine" thing too.

And then one day they went to bed without a bath and the world didn't fall down and they still went to sleep - just the same.

And then I realised that actually not having a bath didn't make one iota of difference to them going to bed. No difference at all.

So now they have 2 baths during the week (and one or 2 in the weekend) and the other nights we get to spend a little more time together.

It's really no big deal and you should get off your high horse.

AS for feeling extra special because your kinds wear clean PJ's every day ........ you really wanna get out more!

I think people are talking about younger kids Matilda if a child wants/needs a bath not allowing them too is cruel,

Matilda - what are you going to do when they are bigger than you and perfectly capable of along their own decisions - as much as your childhood sounds horrendous, I don't think anybody here is saying they let their kids go dirty.

I do, but not out of choice - my 6'2" 12 year old hadn't shown me his naked body in well over 3 years. Personal hygiene is none of my business, no matter how greasy or smelly he gets.

I live in hope that he will become interested in girls soon ...

I am shocked at other people getting worked up about this , a few times a week is fine as is every night children are not filthy if they are not bathed twice a day yabu

Matilda - what tosh. No-one is boasting about their kids being dirty. They are saying children don't need to bathe everyday to be clean. Not bathing at all and being prevented from bathing is completely different to saying you don't follow a stupid rule that children must have a bath everyday and just clean children when they are dirty because you have a life and better things to do than obsessively bathe a clean child.

Matilda that is really sad

There is a world of difference between not sticking to a rigid daily bathing routine and being neglected and dirty though. My DS is perfectly clean (as much as a 5 year old boy is) but if he was asking me to bathe more often or I was worried about his hygiene he could wash as often as he liked.

FWIW I have two showers a day.

My two 6 year olds have a shower every night... they have been taught to clean themselves, takes less than 10 minutes. This is mainly due to after school activities where they can get a bit grubby.

That's just what we do, but wouldn't judge those who did it less, why would I?

Mine's 9 but needs a daily bath at the moment - he's a mud roller (unlike the dog who picks her way daintily ). On the other hand we had a week when he worked on his electronic project indoors during the storms and stayed so clean he wore the same top 2 days in a row lol!

Common sense is all that's needed methinks.

And it's a bit low to use someone else's childhood trauma to try and boost your lame argument op