To wonder how you can not bath or shower kids every day?

[Kalitall]

I know this ones been done, and I don't think anyone is dirty for not bathing every day and I understand about skin conditions.

I just don't know how everyone gets away with not bathing children each day. Especially little ones.

My two boys seem to get filthy. They both play outside every day and end up muddy. The toddler gets really mucky eating meals, usually ends up with food everywhere even in his hair. Also often ends up with paint over him from nursery. He poos in his nappy every day and even though he's clean up is usually still a bit smelly. In the Summer they both get quite sticky.

I find it easier to run a bath or put him under the shower than to top and tail to clean all the muck off.

Like I said I'm not accusing anyone of being dirty, as an adult I could probably get away with not showering each day as I don't sweat much and don't get mucky.

Do other children just not get in a mess?

It's the same with washing clothes. I reuse my own clothes but I could never not wash the dcs clothes, because they're always covered in food or mud.

It's not 'dressed up' peony, I'm following the advice I was given. I should have been clear that parents who bath their children daily might also be doing that too though. Obviously there are a range of skin conditions and types.

Still equal parts perturbed and amused at some of these moral high ground attempts though...

SomethingBorrowed, I'm Northern Spanish. The weather is not as hot there as in the South, but washing habits are the same.

What I'm saying is that, in my experience, most Spanish parents would be horrified by the idea of sending their children to bed after a long day with just a quick wipedown with a wet wipe. Or by anyone who washed themselves with a wet wipe (other than when your camping or on a ship or similar).

Of course there are, erm, people with higher tolerance for dirt everywhere. But on average, I do stand by that.

I'd say how often kids get bathed in Italy is fairly seasonally dependent (well based on me and my cousins as children) tended to be 2 a week in winter when it was cold and then daily or sometimes even twice daily in the hot summers.

We seem to do a lot more flannel/sink washing rather than just babywiping though. I don't really like using baby wipes on DS face if I can help it, they seem a bit chemically.

I bathe my kids every day but they don't need it. I don't think they've ever gotten so muddy that they've needed their body cleaning and they've never come home from preschool/school covered in paint. They got food in their hair a few times but that's it?
I guess I just take them to parks instead of letting them play in mud and I get them to wash their hands and wet wipe their face a lot...

Why is everyone so interested on MN about how often people wash?

I've never had a convo about this in RL with anyone other than my own DC.

The top two active convos are about washing

DS hated getting dirty as a toddler and was usually pretty immaculate. Never had to change his clothes umpteen times a day as a baby either. It's only now age 8 he comes home filthy and needs a good dunk in the bath most nights. But when he was little he just didn't need a bath every day.

But it's not just about body odour and being able to " get away" with not washing older children ( between todlers and puberty kicking in). They use school toilets and get hot and sweaty during PE and other activities. Feet smell if they aren't washed daily - even children's feet. I think children need to shower/ bath daily if it is possible for them to do so.

I also agree about clean pjs. They are indeed against children's bodies for 12 hours every night as a pp said. If they are worn for several nights don't they get smelly?

I do "shower" her more often in the summer just to get the suncream and sand off. After a few days the pool water is too mucky to count

BakeOff - I guess it's because we probably all regard what we go as " normal" so it is interesting/ suprising to hear what others admit to!

Re the eczema - horses for courses, but whatever the official recommendations, our 3yo DD is guaranteed to be up half the night itching herself to bits the night after she's had a bath. Even with tepid water she comes out bright red and itching all over. We have to dose her with sedating antihistamines to enable her to get any rest at all. So we bath her as little as possible -every 4 days or so. Flannel for in between, luckily she's a pretty neat eater and not overly keen on mud.

I think its sort of a virtue signally thing bakeoffbiscuits. Like, I'm so clean I can't even sully my head with the thought of people doing things differently to me. It's like whenever there's a thread about how often adults wash, someone invariably claims they can always tell if someone doesn't shower daily, despite the obvious fact that you won't know if you cant tell.

Now don't get me wrong, a lot of people would pong without a daily shower. You'd certainly be able to smell me coming. But every single person on the planet?

Distanccall.....Do you understand the difference between a wet wipe and a flannel? I would never use a wetwipe to wipe my child with all over, at any age.... I don't think many people on this thread have said that? For a start they are full of chemicals....But a flannel with warm water, yes I would. I think people generally stop buying wetwipes when their kids get to a certain age.
And I don't think you can talk on behalf of "most Spanish children", any more than I can talk for most British people. Neither of us have any idea what percentage of people in our country bath their child every day, that's just your perception.

I have family in Spain and agree the kids are bathed daily. Because they are smothered in sunscreen, most of their skin is exposed all day, their feet are dirty from wearing sandals, and a bath can help cool them down. It is in stark contrast to the cold weather in the U.K. where kids are covered in at least two layers of clothes inside with another layer for outside and where these layers take the brunt of the rough and tumble. Citing cultural differences cannot be limited to one particular area without taking circumstances into account.

We might as well discuss why people in the U.K. don't swim in the ocean every day without mentioning the climate. It is not comparable.

peony I've just had a quick google re your advice re daily baths for eczema, and it doesn't seem as clear-cut as you suggest. This recent bbc article for e.g. www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-36652282 summarises recent research saying daily baths are 'probably ok' but the jury is still out, and that parents should use their judgement if (as in our case) it looks like baths are making things worse.

Nah I'm with you on this. DS has been bathed every night (give or take) since he was 8 weeks old, because he is absolutely filthy by the end of the day. When he was tiny he would get black muck and dribble in his skin folds, when he was weaning he'd get food everywhere, and now he's a toddler he is muddy, sticky, and just generally gross. I change his bed sheets every ten days, but it'd be far more often if he wasn't clean into bed every night.

Actually, there are statistics:

www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/02/how-often-people-in-various-countries-shower/385470/

Why faff about with emollients in the bath, washing moisture away then trying to falsely add it back...just wash them less often

Honestly a lot of people with eczema benefit from daily baths, without them my skin is really painful and I can see how sore dd2s skin gets. Bathing less often does not help.

However, can I just say to the people talking about minging kids getting picked on, and teachers being able to smell how stale you are....please, please just think for one second how upsetting it is to read this sort of thing if you have a child who is seriously distressed by having a bath, to the extent they will only get into the bath with clothes on, and even then they shake and cry afterwards. Every day I wash ds as gently as I can, as he doesn't really like this either, but baths are hellish. I don't want him to smell, he is already different - he is disabled, he cannot speak properly, he wears nappies - I do everything I can to make sure he is as clean as he can be, including a traumatising bath as often as we can manage. But it is not easy, and I am not lazy and ds is not 'minging'. Please just think for one second how hard it might be.

A no brainier for me. Showers are essential daily in our household irrespective of whether anyone is visibly dirty or smelly. Don't need to wait for that to be hygienic. We will even push for showers twice a day when hot or depending on what has happened during the day. Also can't understand why so many people bath rather than shower. Showers can be really quick- in and out in 5 mins. Baths tend to be a treat but actually are known to be not very hygienic as you are basically sitting in your dirt.

Distanccall..Not even going to bother creasing that. So called statistics which are often stated as fact are often created by asking say a thousand parents, they don't know the full facts and often people don't tell the truth.

Not creasing....Reading.... Sorry

I think it's a realistic possibility that children in Spain genuinely are bathed more, but because they're actually dirty, for all the reasons described. Rather than because all Spanish parents are so dense that they presume all children find baths relaxing rather than exciting.

We seriously don't have time for daily baths! Work, dinner, music practise x3, reading, homework, time to play and relax make it difficult to fit in.

Wow. I thought not washing or just using a flannel went out pre-World War 2. Amazing that it is still alive and kicking in the UK. Even more amazing are the 'eczema excuses' considering that all the eczema websites recommend bathing.

How can you not have time to get washed daily? Isn't it basic hygiene and on a par with daily food and daily getting dressed?

I grew up with a bi weekly bath, if we were lucky. I suspect we were disgustingly smelly and grimy.
My own loved baths and they were always the signal that the day was coming to a close and it was time to quieten down the house.
I'm sure it doesn't really matter one way or another but I think children are calmer and sleep better for a bath.
Actually, I believe baths are the go to solution for many of life's problems (adult and child) tantrums, period pain, aches and pains, stress, bad backs, marital discord, general feeling sorry for yourself, insomnia.