To bathe baby once per week?

[StarfishSandwich]

He’s 7 weeks. I thought this was totally normal and fine. He gets top and tailed as and when needed - certainly daily! But I don’t feel like he particularly needs bathing. We always bathe him in the bath with one of us so daily would be a complete waste of water. I keep reading about people using baths as part of the bedtime routine and it’s just occurred to me that this means that lots of babies get bathed daily.

AIBU and scummy? His skin is flawless and he doesn’t smell FWIW!

Sorry, I started this thread and then DS fell asleep and I took my opportunity to do them same!

He has something that resembles a routine currently but it isn’t really a conscious effort on our part, he’s just part of our bedtime routine as we’re in bed by 8.30-9 every night anyway (early risers both by necessity and choice). He sleeps for 4-6 hours, feeds and then sleeps for another 2-3 hours usually which I’m perfectly happy with, especially for a breastfed baby. I agree with those who say he’s probably too young to fully comprehend routine.

We use cloth nappies and wipes so he’s wiped with what is essentially a flannel with warm water at every nappy change and gets a reasonable amount of nappy free time so know his genitals and bottom are perfectly clean. He doesn’t have poonamis.

I do wonder if those who are especially judgemental are formula feeders which I find a lot more smelly and can definitely understand how unpleasant it would be if it was lingering, rather than breast milk which is very inoffensive.

Sorry to sound like an old fogey... But I remember only having one bath a week all the way through my childhood (normally sharing with little sister in our older diblings' used water!)
I'm lazy so baby goes once a week and toddler twice. I'm Def in the minority compared with other parent friends but never particularly noticed them stinking.

When mine were tiny I bathed them twice a week and topped and tailed in between. They don't really get dirty at that age.

I think it depends on what you mean by “top and tail”.

If you mean bum in sink and a quick flannel all over, fine. I’d describe that as a mini-bath. If you mean “quick once-over with a wet wipe” I’m not sure you are cleaning well them enough, sorry.

I don’t think you need to use soap. DS has eczema so we used to use aqueous cream as a soap substitute in his bum to dissolve any “residue”, and just water on the rest of him.

My DS always had a bath every day, still does aged 17 , I just found it easier as part of the bedtime routine & as he is an only child & I was SAHM for years we easily had the time to give him a bath, and most importantly he seemed to enjoy it. He’s always been a really good sleeper from the day we got home from hospital but I don’t know if that is directly related to the bath routine.

Go and read the back of the bottles of shampoo and baby wash / bubble bath. All those ingredients strip natural oils from babies skin and they also absorb them.

Little cloth wipes and warm water is an excellent way to clean a baby daily. I use them all the time for when my kids get muck on them. Often for a pre-scrub to get felt tip, food, mud etc off them before a bath.

Mine get a bath twice a week, no bubble bath for babies. If the baby had done one of those bf poos that they’d saved up for a week and literally exploded into every corner of their sleep suit then I would wipe them down and then give them a bath. Likewise my oldest kids normally get extra baths in summer as they are practically filthy every night after playing outside.

Invariably a baby will always wee in warm water, so really most people are just bathing their kids In a soup of wee and bubble bath everyday. Grim.

He’s 7 weeks! Of course he doesn’t need daily baths. Wait until they are toddlers and covered in mud, sweat and food! Then I can understand it, but a newborn? They don’t need it!

I've always bathed mine every night, doesn't take long at all.

Both dc's slept through the night from when they came home from hospital so I've never done a night feed. I believe that our routine definitely helped.

Now they're 7 and 15 and still shower at least once a day, as do I.

Topping and tailing isn't much of a time saver to me, a quick dunk in the bath is better, or even a 3 minute shower.

Love how everyone says they don't smell

I bathe mine once a week too, agree with you re. Breast milk not smelling in the way formula does.

It's bad for the skin and immune system to bathe daily, it's totally unnatural and damages the microbiome. I do shower every day because I'm an adult and therefore sweat in a way children don't, and I don't want to smell. Children shouldn't smell with weekly baths if they are wearing clean clothes and being cleaned, and actually it's healthier for them too!

I did lots of topping and tailing and seem to remember the kitchen sink for baths a lot. Why on earth I did that i can't remember.

What matters is that you wash him properly and regularly. I don't think the method you employ is all that important. "Bath" and "top and tail" could both mean anything from a dunk in the bath or a cursory wipe with a flannel, to a proper clean of all the crevices. Do it however you choose, as long as you do it properly.

I've definitely come across a couple of unpleasant-smelling babies. Its not fair to leave them like that.

Mine only poos about once every 10-14 days, is breastfed and not a sicky baby. I've never needed to bath her more than about twice a week. We've just started weaning her so now we've upped the frequency.

Doctor recommended no more than once a week for my DC - any more and their excema flared up as the water strips natural oils from their skin. So, no YANBU.

At 7 weeks a weekly bath is absolutely fine. Like PPs have said their skin is pretty sensitive at this age and also there's a lot of them really don't like getting all wet and cold. By about 6 months, when he's eating and moving about and getting mucky things will be different, and he'll probably enjoy it more as he'll be able to actually play in the bath (that's when you need to think about buying a poncho )

We've done a bath every night since around two months before that his skin was very sensitive so did it three times a week.

He loves having a bath, and it's part of his bedtime routine. My husband does his bath every night I usually pop in as I like to see him splashing around but it's their time and they both love it.

Nothing to do with a lingering poo smell which I've never experienced, just part of his routine and once he started weaning absolutely essential!

If that suits you and him then fine. My son seemed to need one, messing poos etc. He had one of those small baby baths, so not so much water waste.

That's pretty much what I did. Daily top and tail and weekly bath unless poonami or sick. They've survived to adulthood and shower every other day.

Shower every other day??? 😱😱😱

We got a small baby bath so we didn't have to fill up the bath with water. Still using it now when he's 2, despite my MIL initially saying it's a waste of money

I did the same with both of mine. As I found constant bathing dryed out their skin.

Bathing daily is no linger recommend- its not good for their skin (great for baby bath and lotion industry is though).

Dd has mostly had a bath every other day since about 10 days old. Sometimes now (at 2) we'll leave her a few days at a time. I'm really pleased we never really did it as part of her night time routine as have friends who have babies who now won't settle without one. If she's especially dirty she may even get 2 baths in a day. Sometimes we do a bath in the middle of the day as a fun activity for her - it's nice to have the option of moving it around or skipping one without throwing her routine out.
Top and tailing a baby is fine and as pp have said daily baths aren't great for their skin - it's not a 'can't be arsed' to bath baby as one pp put it 🙄 it's all round better for baby and the environment.

Plus bath plus bedtime routine is a complete arse if you travel - brother in law can’t go anywhere without a bath as both kids will just scream and not sleep for hours in the evening and them are in an evil
mood all day.

I bathed my first 2 every day it was what I thought should be done and it was pita some nights as they got older. My 3rd and 4th children have eczema and the Advice was every 3rd day so as not to dry their skin out. It was fine, and I still do the same. obviously if they had a poonami or were sick over themselves they had an extra bath. But babies don't really get dirty.

We initially bathed DD every second or third day when she was that age as while it relaxed her and chilled her out, we hated the little bath tub thing, was so awkward to use. She got a horrible rash around 2 months (family.history of skin conditions) so the doctor gave us special bath stuff, shampoo, etc and told us to wash her daily to see if that helped. After a month we switched to having her in the big bath with us as allowed us to have better grip. She is 7 months now and is weaning so she comes in the shower with me after dinner most evenings (big fan of sweet potato hair treatments) and loves it.

I don't think its necessary to bath a small baby daily. Whenever I clean a baby at nappy change I use a proper flannel with warm water, so their whole bum area is fully wiped clean which with a newborn is probably 8-10 times a day minimum. I also use a clean flannel to do the same around their face, neck, hands etc at least morning and evening when they get changed. Therefore a dip in the bath as and when is fine, rather than a full routine.

As they grow, their bathing habits can be changed, it doesnt have to be the same from age 0 days- adulthood.