To not bath my kids every day?

[Roxetta]

I have a 2 year old and an almost 5 year old. DH works away a lot and I'm finding the whole daily schedule so tough on my own. I bath them both every day at the moment, but I'm wondering, would it be wrong of me to skip the odd bath now & then? DD1 is an exceptionally clean kid, DD2 not so much. But DD2 gets baby wiped within an inch of her life after every meal because of all the mess she makes.

How often do you bath your kids? Would not bathing them daily be wrong of me?

I bath my kids everyday. However, if hubby worked away and I was finding the bath routine tough, I wouldn’t hesitate to reduce frequency of bath times.

Just came on to say that if your DH is away, there really is nobody to perform motherly perfection to , so just go ahead and make up ALL the rules as you go! To suit you. Bath twice a week, you can always top and tail with a flannel in between if desperate. Meals and bedtime when it suits you. Seriously, you will feel so much better if you sail the good ship Motherhood according to your own chart...

Couldn't agree more, adult human female!

My 3 year old insists on a bath, if I try to skip it she has a tantrum.

My boys were bathed every day. Every class has a smelly kid, but it was never mine.

We had a bath twice a week and it didn't harm us, my dm was bathed once a week, she's a beautifully groomed 80 year old now. Again, no harm came to her.

My DC's were bathed every day.... because DH did bath duties 😂. If it'd been me I wouldn't have. And I'd say, after a knackering day, "leave it", but he just had that routine and kept to it.

Every class has a smelly kid, but it was never mine.

A few people have said something along these lines and it does make me sad.

The 'smelly kid', I assure you, is almost never a kid from an otherwise clean and loving home who has gone a day or two without a bath. They're usually kids whose homes are filthy, haven't had a basic wash in days that run into the double digits and often have intensive social care involvement. They are sometimes on a child protection plan due to neglect.

There very much is a wide range between daily bathing and being the 'smelly kid' in school, and posters who suggest otherwise have completely lost perspective and any common sense approach to hygiene.

5seconds - well said

Seems a bit cruel for an adult to laugh at "the smelly kid"

About once every week, or less, here, with washing in between. I will sometimes give their hair a wash with water over the sink. We used to bath them every single day until I started reading about the microbiome on the skin and it's importance for health.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3686918/

5SecondsFromWilding I agree, have another 'well said' from me too.

OP, as you've probably gathered by now, just do what works for you.

Unless they have eczema where regular bathing is now recommended then no not everyday.

Really? The opposite worked with DS. I stopped bathing him every day as a baby and his eczema improved dramatically. He's only started bathing every day now that he's a teenager and does smell if he doesn't wash properly.

If my DD gets 2 baths a week I am happy. She gets a quick shower (no hair wash) if she has been particularly sweaty or covered in muck but she generally gets by otherwise.

My (nearly) 3 yo likes to join me in the shower some mornings (which also means I know where she is while I shower!). She probably has a bath 2/3 times a week (evenings, with DS (6mo)) and joins me in the shower maybe 2 mornings a week. That seems plenty!

On the whole, every other day. Wash face and bottom every morning and evening.

I bathe my daughter every night, but simply because she enjoys it and it's part of the routine, not because she desperately needs it!

I bath mine a couple of times per week unless she is particularly grubby (suncream in the summer required more frequent washing).

I wash her hair twice per week unless there is something nasty stuck in it!

Dunno how people get away with not bathing their kids every night. Mine are filthy from playing out, even the baby is grubby and has a cheesy milk neck! Much quicker to bung them all in the bath together then wipe each once over with a flannel/wipes!

Steelesauce it takes a few days for DS to even appear vaguely grubby.

His hands and face get wiped after each meal, which needs to happen whether he'll be bathed or not otherwise he wipes food all over everything he touches. And his bum/groin is wiped at each nappy change. The rest of him rarely gets dirty.

I use cheeky wipes for all wiping which I think are more effective than normal baby wipes, so that helps.

When mine were little they definitely needed a bath every night. They looked grubby if not. It was just part of the bedtime routine, bath, story and bed.

Every other night. Sometimes less. It just seems to dry out my DS skin bathing every day

Once a week, like me. Used to be twice if I could manage (as recommended here by midwives), but since I got pregnant again and couldn't do anything without heaving, it reduced to once a week.

She gets wiped with a cloth after every meal, her face, neck and behind her ears gets washed with a flannel every night and morning and her teeth get cleaned ever evening and morning. Bottom gets wiped ever change. What else could possibly get grubby in a 1-year-old who isn't walking?

Deffo not unreasonable!! Mine are stinky grub pots before they get a bath. I really drag it out. Maybe once a week or longer. Obvs wash hands and faces religiously

Why would you let them be "stinky grubpots" before giving them a bath Catstick? Not nice for them or their teachers.

5seconds ... Well said! The most sensible post on this thread 👏👏👏