Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To bathe baby once per week?

234 replies

StarfishSandwich · 28/10/2018 21:54

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!

OP posts:
BigGreenOlives · 29/10/2018 07:17

The ante-natal classes we went to were very ‘anti’ daily baths, they felt it was not necessary.

With DC3 we could not bathe her daily as she was in a Pavlik harness and we were not allowed to remove it more than once a week, and that was only whilst drying her.

Chocolatecoffeeaddict · 29/10/2018 07:30

I don't think it's enough. Every other day is fine in the early weeks but from about 2/3 months old I bathed them every night as they enjoyed it and got them ready for sleep.

UnaOfStormhold · 29/10/2018 08:09

For all those crediting nightly baths for your baby sleeping, we started a regular routine from 6 weeks, including bath, and DS still hardly ever sleeps through just over 4 years later. So it's not a magic bullet! We use emollient rather than baby wash so it's gentler on the skin.

Using a tummy tub and then a baby bath is a good way to save both water and time.

jaseyraex · 29/10/2018 08:30

I'm the same as you OP, have never used the bath as part of our bedtime routine. DS1 is 3 now and he's had the same routine since he was about 4 months. He's bathed every other night after dinner, never right before bed. DS2 is nine weeks and gets bathed once a week generally. He does have terribly dry sensitive skin though and even plain water seems to make it worse so he's only fully bathed when it feels necessary.

ambereeree · 29/10/2018 08:34

Midwives were very anti daily washing. I wash once a week in the bath but bums, hands and face are washed daily in the sink. Also wash bums after a poo.
Once they start eating every other day in the bath.

Zbag · 29/10/2018 08:36

I bath mine once or twice a week. Shes 22 weeks and doesn't get very dirty! Face, eyes and neck cleaned daily.

silkpyjamasallday · 29/10/2018 08:49

DD hated bathing until she was about 11 months old, screaming, twisting, clawing and pulling her legs up if you tried to lower her into the bath, didn't enjoy bathing with DP or I either. So she was washed with warm wet flannels top and tail every night on her changing mat. Once she discovered she liked swimming on holiday she has loved baths, but can only have them every other day as she has suffered from eczema and I don't want it to flare up again, doctor advised this. Now at 2 it's almost impossible to get her out, I have to let all the water drain away before she will agree to be lifted out.

OutPinked · 29/10/2018 08:51

YANBU since you’re top and tailing daily, it would be a waste of water and energy to also bathe.

I used to bath mine twice a week at that age but sometimes more if they had an explosive poo.

BackInRed · 29/10/2018 08:54

I read that baths every other day until they're crawling is fine. That's what we've followed. Our daughter doesn't have reflux or anything like that though.

Livinglavidal0ca · 29/10/2018 09:02

My son smelt gross as a newborn and needed a bath! Breast milk all over him and down his chin, in his creases, smelt a bit sweaty from being under my armpit feeding all day Grin he had a wash in the baby bath pretty much daily. He's 1 now and still loves a daily bath, I just put a couple of inches of water in and he splashes about.

Bodicea · 29/10/2018 09:29

You don’t have to have a bath as part of your routine. Mine gets bath when there is an unfortunate weeing/poohing incident. This ranges from twice in a day to once every 4 days. You do get to a point when you just have to bath them as the pooh explosions are so gross.
When he was 7 weeks old it was probably less as there were less incidents.
I didn’t want bathrooms to be a night routine thing as I have two older children who do get bathed most nights and because i sometimes end up bathing him in the morning.
He has got a lovely bedtime routine now he feeds with me while I read to the middle one and lie with them both till they go to sleep.

Bodicea · 29/10/2018 09:30

*bathtime not bathrooms

00100001 · 29/10/2018 09:34

No doubt we'll get someone saying that daily baths just isn;t enough...

"I shower THREE timees day, and more if it's hot!"

HoustonBess · 29/10/2018 09:49

Once a week is absolutely fine. So long as you wipe off any crusty bits in the meantime, there's no problem.
I wish I could get DD off her nightly bath a bit, especially now it's so cold. I don't think she needs it but she loves it! As a baby she hated baths so once a week for a quick splash did the job. We also don't use any products on her, just water. Baby shampoo gives her a scaly scalp.
I could do with washing a bit less to be honest - I only wash my hair every four days or so, but might try to alternate showers with a sink wash.

ethelfleda · 29/10/2018 09:52

We did one a week at that age and top and tail every morning. It’s not good for their skin I don’t think. Even now, 1 year old has 2 baths a week as well as having a wash every morning.

Slatkater · 29/10/2018 10:20

My daughter was very overdue, she was very flakey!! I was told by the midwife to bath her as little as possible. She survived, never smelt or had nappy rash, has beautiful skin now.

NimbleKnitter · 29/10/2018 10:51

We only bath once a week. Both me and DH have terribly dry skin and eczema. Baby currently has lovely skin, so trying to avoid drying it out through bathing too much.

He also doesn’t have cradle cap, when most babies who are washed every day do.

He doesn’t smell, but even if he did I’d take a smelly baby over a rash covered baby any day of the week.

Neweternal · 29/10/2018 11:07

Surely a bath of warm water is better for a baby than baby wipes? I wouldn't use them on my own skin. You don't need to put bubble bath in, just water much better for skin conditions than baby wipes!

DeadHerring · 29/10/2018 11:20

YANBU. I used to bathe my DD every day as a baby. On a weigh-in visit, the Health Visitor noticed her skin was a little dry and asked me how often I bathed her. When I said I did it daily, she went off on a rant, that involved dragging the other 2 health visitors there into it, and they spontaneously decided to tell all the Mums there that bathing babies daily was unnecessary, damaging and served absolutely no useful purpose. AT MOST babies should only be fully bathed twice a week, as long as they were properly moisturised afterwards.

Apparently, water itself can be drying on young skin and when it's combined with sodium laureth sulphate (the foaming agent you get in all soaps, shampoos and stuff like toothpaste) it's very harsh.

But they said Mums needed to stop competing with each other and being judgy of each other's habits. Just because you're putting lots of effort into your baby, doesn't mean it's automatically the best thing to do.

Anyway, a little humiliating but it served a useful purpose. Cut bathing down to once a week, skin cleared up and no issues since then. Have had it reconfirmed with several medical professionals since. The consensus is that "daily bathing" is perpetuated by the fear of being judged and thought neglectful or lazy by some of the more competitive mums out there.

reforder · 29/10/2018 11:25

Never understood the daily baby bath thing - why bother? Strips the skin and seems like such a waste of water and energy, especially now it’s so cold. Mine are twice a week, I’ll give extra if they’re visabily mucky but otherwise it’s hands, face, neck and feet washed with a flannel before bed. They have a solid routine and sleep like angels so bathing wouldn’t make an iota of difference there.

Curious if posters also had nightly baths as children? We certainly didn’t - it was a Saturday night affair, hair plaited for church on Sunday morning!

Vonvon222 · 29/10/2018 11:35

Every 3 or 4 days I used to bath mine with a topand tail every day.
Baths used to wake them up for some reason.

Nanny0gg · 29/10/2018 11:53

I think at least 2/3 times a week.

I found top and tailing a faff to be honest, bathing was easier.

And just using a wet wipe to do it is grim.

Tawdrylocalbrouhaha · 29/10/2018 12:27

I only bathed DS once or twice a week at that age, because he hated it. As he got older and messier he got bathed more often. Actually he would now benefit from power washing three times a day, but at 7 weeks I wouldn't worry too much.

Obviously check his skin though - my friend's mum didn't bath her often as a baby, because she cried, and she developed a rash in her skin creases, so total soap dodging probably won't work.

Cutesbabasmummy · 29/10/2018 12:38

He also doesn’t have cradle cap, when most babies who are washed every day do.
Really?

We have always bath DS now nearly 4 daily and he gets a wash down in the morning. H e has beautiful skin and is the only child out of 8 NCT babies not to have eczema.

boomerang1 · 29/10/2018 13:01

I see a skin specialist and when my babies were tiny he said bathing once a week and never washing their hair is the best way. He told me not to wash their hair at all until they are much older.

They are older now and I only bath them twice a week still. To be fair, it's because of their skin but they are not dirty or smelly. Plus they both have beautiful skin whereas they both suffered bad eczema before.