to think enforced nudity in a sauna is unnecessary?

[ikeaismylocal]

I'm English but I live in Sweden, mostly I love living in Sweden but there are some rules that I think are very silly.

Me and my ds have started to go swimming every week, the sauna has big notices on the outside saying you must be naked in the sauna. The problem with being naked is that ds still breastfeeds so when he sees my boobs he claps and says "boobie!! Bravo!" and then he wants to feed, I'm trying to limit him to one evening feed. The other problem is that ds wears a swim nappy is also not allowed so he's naked, I worry what would happen if he does a poo.

You also must shower naked before going in the pool, I understand that rule as they don't put much chlorine in the water so they rely on people being clean but I don't see how it effects anyone else if another person has a swimming costume on in the sauna, you have to sit on your own towel anyway.

It is seen as extremely unhygienic to go in the sauna with a swimming costume on, I just don't understand why, you shower after the sauna and wash your swimming costume after visiting the pool.

Aibu to think it is a daft rule?

[HazleNutt]

Back home we have the problem that people treat gym saunas like their own personal ones, doing all kinds of beauty treatments there, which can also be quite gross. But gym outfit and shoes in sauna takes the biscuit.

[Sallyingforth]

this Anglo-Saxon preoccupation with equating nudity to sexuality is very tiresome
Absolutely.
Whoever thought up this weird obsession with selected little bits of the body should have been forced to wear only gloves and a hat in public, to demonstrate just how stupid it is.

[NoArmaniNoPunani]

The arguments here have convinced me that naked is best for the sauna. I think the country club might revoke my membership if I start going in naked though.

[UptheChimney]

People hang out in there post work-out in their sweaty gym clothes (and shoes), some people wear full tracksuits deliberately to sweat more

What?!!!!

That's just wrong, and really really weird.

[CaptChaos]

Loved saunas in Germany. Loved the way no one could give even the tiniest shit about how wobbly I am. Really not keen on them in the UK. It feels less.... friendly? More stilted.

Oh! to have the money to get my own sauna!

[ForalltheSaints]

AphraBane- Aufgusses (or versement or opgieten) can be lovely if done well, though definitely not suitable for children.

[ikeaismylocal]

The children's sauna has no water in it, I think to stop it getting too hot, but dp said the men's sauna had constant spray which sounds more like a wet sauna. Dp said there were children in the men's very hot sauna, one little girl who was about 4 said to her pappa "the sauna is burning my face!" the man just said don't worry!

I do need to fully embrace the culture of nudity, I find it lots easier with strangers than with dp's family, bil has just built a new sauna which they keep encouraging us to come and try out but I don't think I'm relaxed enough to sit in the sauna with dp's 3 sisters and their husbands.

[HeartsTrumpDiamonds]

Yes this Anglo-Saxon preoccupation with equating nudity to sexuality is very tiresome. I grew up in a very "liberal" household when it came to nudity but DH is a regular old prude. We've had fights about it. For example he thinks it would be the worst thing in the world if someone saw me changing. I could not care less, they are only breasts.

[AphraBane]

After many years living in Germany and doing the naked sauna thing I would no longer be able to use a sauna in the UK with a swimming costume. It just feels massively unhygenic to be sweating into this fabric and then going swimming with the sweaty costume on, yuck.

Of course it's more hygenic to wear nothing, and just to put a towel under your bum or any part touching the wood. You have a shower before you go in the sauna so you're clean at the start, you have a shower (preferably a cold one!) as soon as you come out to wash away the sweat, then you go for a lie down to get your blood pressure sorted, then you start the whole process again. The whole sauna culture is really funny when they do this thing once an hour of putting water on the stove to raise the temperature - the sauna workers put on a huge show of whirling the towel round their heads and everyone claps them afterwards. Does that happen in Sweden too? It's called Aufguss in German.

The ones that are a bit weird are the 'wet' steam saunas. There's always a hosepipe with cold water for washing down the seat before you sit on it (because obviously you can't take your towel in there) and I never know if you're supposed to wash your seat down after the sauna before you leave, or when you arrive.

[Florabeebaby]

Oh and yes...both my kids have been washed in the sauna when in Finland. It't hot but they don't stay there very long and they usually sit in a bucket of water :)

[Florabeebaby]

waves MOI to Velve
I am a Finn living in the UK and the rules around nudity feel so strict to me...I'm used to wandering around naked. When I visit Finland in the summer and stay at my parents summerhouse I think nothing of walking from the sauna to the main house naked. There are hardly any neighbours though but still...wouldn't do it here.
Clothes in sauna is just weird!

[HazleNutt]

yes it's because of the chemicals from the pool water in your swim suit, it reacts with sweat and produces toxic gasses. And that people often go back into the pool after sauna, you can't get the sweat out of swim suit when showering briefly in it. Embrace your new culture and get naked!

As for babies in sauna, I'm from Northern Europe and everybody would find the idea that you can't take them utterly bizarre. Or that you can't go to sauna when pregnant, which is a massive no-no in many countries.

[landrover]

Don't go in the sauna?

[Rainbunny]

I live in the US too and the sauna at my gym is the most un-relaxing place I've ever been. People hang out in there post work-out in their sweaty gym clothes (and shoes), some people wear full tracksuits deliberately to sweat more. I feel like people are missing the point of the sauna here, they're just using it to sweat out water weight and make their muscles look bigger. I would happily take people hanging out in swimsuits over this!

[ikeaismylocal]

Thanks foe your explanation elovena, that makes sense, I don't mind useful sensible rules.

Ds seems to be fine after his visit to the sauna, maybe his Scandinavian genes somehow protect him from the heat.

[UptheChimney]

It is unhygienic and weird to wear a swimsuit in the sauna. I have to here, but I much prefer saunas in Finland, Sweden,Germany where they're sensible about nudity.

[ElleBellyBeeblebrox]

boobie bravo!

[Elovena]

It's because when the chlorine on your swimming costume vaporizes, it's quite dangerous to breathe, especially for asthmatics. You can keep the towel wrapped on if you so wish.

And of course you can take the toddler to the sauna!!

[ikeaismylocal]

The Swedes don't tend to breastfeed after 1 so maybe they have all stopped by the time they start going into saunas. It's not that I think the breastfeeding will offend others, I'm sure it wouldn't! I am trying to cut down ds's breastfeeds as I'm pregnant so it's more that I just don't want to be feeding him, it feels mean saying no to him when he can see my breasts, but the towel tip saltakattan was good :)

[LizLimone]

Had the same experience in Germany and got used to it after a while. Germans maintain it is more hygienic to be naked than to bring in artificial fibers that, no matter how clean they are, will harbour germs anyway. I never really got this argument because surely skin harbors the same germs as clothes?? Anyway I just adapted.

Now I am in the US and when I go to the gym sauna here I have to say I find it a little gross when people come in wearing their full swim costumes. Wearing a clean towel is one thing but swim gear is a bit ick to me now. One woman came in in her gym gear, sat on the bench and started rubbing some cream into her skin! Germans would have had a fit.

If there is a childrens sauna, how do local Swedes manage their bf babies? Do they just wait until they're older or not care if they bf in the sauna? I'd just follow whatever locals do... when in Rome etc etc...

[ikeaismylocal]

That's a good point areyoufeelinglucky it does change things if some people are clothed and some naked.

My dp's family say that even tiny babies can go in the sauna if they are low down and it's not too hot, I have read children can go in the sauna from 1 year, I waited until ds was almost 18 months and it's a very mild sauna, I have been hotter just walking around on a hot day when living in Australia.

I have seen other toddlers in the sauna, always naked but non have ever done a poo, maybe they know it's not a good idea!

[mousmous]

yabu
sauna with clothes on is just yuck
and dc should only go if a bit older anyway

[DoJo]

I suppose it's actually quite like the UK, only the other way round in that there is absolutely no point to wearing a swimming costume - any bodily secretions (sorry - vom face!) will still swirl around in the water, wee can and will seep out of swim nappies, nobody really feels as though they are covered and yet we all cling to the scrap of fabric because it's the difference between being 'not quite naked' and 'completely starkers' and therefore vital to us not feeling exposed. Who's got it right? I'd tend to say the Swedes (although you wouldn't catch me DEAD swimming naked )!

[AreYouFeelingLucky]

It just changes things.

Everyone has to be naked = everyone is naked, it's normal and fine, there are no expectations of clothes. If you don't want to be naked, you don't go in.

Most people are naked, someone is clothes = it's a bit weird. Nobody knows whether to be naked. Naked people are a bit more aware that they are naked, newcomers don't know whether to strip off or stay dressed. It's a bit weird all round, and nobody is entirely happy.

[ForalltheSaints]

I wish it was the rule here- sauna with anything on/around other than a towel is unpleasant. I don't like the idea of a baby in the sauna though.