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.

You were doing so well until the putting make up on for your DH coming home , then you over egged the pudding .

You were doing so well until the putting make up on for your DH coming home , then you over egged the pudding .

We do bath ours every night. The 3 month old gets dunked at the same time as the 2 year old - saves time :)

They probably don't need it but they enjoy it and they smell yummy afterwards. It's just part of the routine here, but what other folk do doesn't bother me.

I'm a bit of a fusser though. It can dry out some skin but on the other hand they have so many wee crevices and folds I prefer them to have a wash every day in case they get irritated.

Three of mine hate the bath. Am I going to go through that every day when they don't need bathing every day? no I am not.

My kids smell fine. Anyone who judges not bathing kids every day is an idiot.

I love the mumsnet thing where when someone does something trivial differently to you, it suddenly becomes 'won't someone think of the children?!' and dressed up as concern and worry when it seems much more likely that it's just plain old bossiness. 'I do it this way, so you should too'.

In real life I have no idea how often my friends bath or shower their kids. Or themselves for that matter. None of them smell, they all look clean and tidy. Therefore I assume that they are capable of making the correct judgement on the matter. All the kids in DDs class at school look perfectly clean and well looked after to me, and she has never mentioned any of them looking dirty or smelling bad, so I assume they're all clean enough too. I'd be amazed if every single one of them was bathed every day though.

My 3yo doesn't get bathed every night because it winds her up instead of having a calming effect. Plus, it dries her skin.
Face, hands, bum area: always cleaned before bed.
It never ceases to amaze me how many people assume their way is the only way. Whatever works for your family, I say. Sheesh.

op you are a considerably better parent than me

poor stinky ds :( :(

My kids are now teens, but the health visitor and doctor both told me kids only need a bath two or three times a week when ds was a baby. It is hardly some new, novelidea that this is the NHS advice.

I remember being surprised reading that thread but not shocked because I know people with older children who don't bathe them everyday.

I didn't bathe DS everyday when he was small but once he started crawling and eating I did. He likes the routine before bed and asks when he's finished eating. He feeds himself so is filthy. Also is one and still in nappies so I think their bottoms need a daily air and clean.

I am careful about his skin as he has eczema. But I put a lot of stock in what Dr Sears says and he recommends 'Luke warm baths – hot water can dry the skin. Let your child play and soak in the bath. Do not let him soak in soapy water. It used to be felt that frequent bathing made eczema worse. Now we know that lukewarm baths allow water to soak into the skin.' All his other advice regarding eczema has worked a charm for us so I follow this too.

DH and I are both twice a day shower people. We don't like idea of taking dirt of the day into our bed. I can't imagine using a toilet at work or somewhere and not showering that night. Also DH comes from a culture where people wash after using the bathroom and I'm quite inclined to myself.

I did assume most adults washed daily but I'm not shocked that people wouldn't. I can see arguments for and against.

I wasn't going to get involved in this thread because it is purely an individual choice...But I do LOVE babies and children fresh from the bath. It was a lovely cuddly playful time when mine were younger...A nice end to a hectic day. I had a drying song which I've used for my own kids and all my charges. A cuddle with a child wrapped in a towel, clean pjs, nappy etc...Oh how I wish I could go back to that time... But to be 'shocked'...that's silly.

My kids would smell if they did not have a bath or shower every night.

Koalaface

Surely it just depends in your kid, how old they are, what they do during the day. DD is 14m and gets a nightly bath at the moment because she likes it, she's BLW and not at the tidiest stage either and we eat a lot of hearty stews so she is normally covered in food after dinner. I find if she's a bit rashy around the nappy area a nightly bath actually helps, whereas for some kids I imagine it could make it worse. We use a little bit of non-fragranced emollient baby wash and wash her hair about twice a week (normally if it's got too much yoghurt in it/is a bit greasy).

Whereas when she was tiny we hardly bathed her at all - tbh we topped and tailed for months without giving her a proper bath (but I had a really bad birth and was absolutely exhausted for months. So shoot me!) When she stops getting food everywhere bath frequency will probably change again. My mum was scandalised that we only topped and tailed and hardly bathed her as a baby (cue texts telling me "give that baby a bath" - why, she wasn't doing anything to get dirty!) and now she's scandalised that DD has a nightly bath. You can't win with some people!

I never bath my children unless they ask, which is about twice a year.

They do have a quick shower every day though, but that's because they're teenagers and they'd stink if they didn't.

DS didn't use soap or shampoo until he was about 9... he always smelt lovely.

I reserve my outrage for folk who don't encourage their children to brush their teeth, as that can impact on health, self esteem and cause pain. plus their breath melts my face in the mornings at school

Redo my makeup in preparation for DH coming home?

Am I odd to find this odd?

Tbh I only really started doing it recently when we started solids. Didn't seem much point before as she was one of those wonderful rare breastfed types that only poos once a fortnight :D

Now she's pooing every few hours and getting porridge banana tomato sauce.mince etc in her hair / on her face/ in every crevice I couldn't imagine not bathing her.

I do remember only having a bath on a sunday when I was a kid and that was with my brother, so my mother must have been incredibly lazy

Seriously she is wonderwoman. She makes me look lazy. Just because she didn't bath us every day... I mean come on. Each to his own , just let people do what works for them.

Oh tooth brushing is non negotiable

I should confess that when I say "we" bath the children every night I really mean my husband does it.

I just get them presented to me all clean in their grobags for supper time

What do you imagine they'd smell of doshusallie?

Dosh, why do your kids smell if you don't bath them everyday. Is it diet or a medical condition or something?

I am a lazy, rubbish mother, I confess.

DC only have a bath once or twice a week. Strip washes in between. They're 7, 6, 5 and 4 and it is a sodding nightmare bathing them all, far too stressful to do it every single night.

They don't smell. At all. Flannel/sponge and soap is all they need for a good wash down.

Lol at the OP calling others boastful.

marylou That's exactly why I love bathing my DS every day, also reminds me when I was younger my DM used to sing different songs to me and my DSis :) I do love the smell of baby shampoo too!

My two DCs don't bathe daily, only 2-3 times a week on the doctor's orders due to eczema so bad that some days my DC1 can't hold a pencil properly at school.

And yet my ILs judge me for not bathing her, and insist on bathing her daily in bubble bath they know makes it worse when she visits them which is less and less often.

I believe I know which is the better option for my child. Judge away.

I love how many posters are shocked about the most random and mundane things on this site, to the point they have to post about it.

I am delighted that there's nothing else in their lives for them to ponder/dwell on/be shocked about - wish I were them!