to not bathe my toddler every, single night?

[fishnugget]

Some of my friends do this and I just think 'WHY?'

AIBU?

I don't understand parents who stick to it like glue. My own sister had to get an early taxi home on Christmas Day because the kids couldn't possibly go a day without a bath.
BIL carries DN's pyjamas to every family party and makes a big fuss about bathing her before they go home. Leaving the party host to clear up the sodden bathroom.

I loathed bathtime, I much preferred hosing them down in the shower. Thankfully we're now in a bath free house.

I think bath time was just such an easy way of spending time before bed, my DS would happily play in the bath for 20 mins or so, It gave me a chance to take it easy too by just watching him, can’t really understand what there is to ‘loathe’ about bath time but I guess we are all different .

Depends on the day but every other night as a minimum. I can't imagine ever going two weeks! There have been days when 1 year old DS has turned the water grey with the muck on him from being outdoors, I couldn't possibly let him sleep in that.

We did until he was about 2. Then my mum was visiting and asked why we were making life so hard for ourselves. Now it gets done every 2nd night with a hairwash every 2nd bath (unless he’s bogging)

Yip, I agree they don't need it every night. Now can someone have a word with my dh 😂 I'd defo skip it sometimes but he has palpitations if I suggest it! She'll be out her routine yada yada yada. She's 2, I'm sure it's fine not to bath her every night sometimes. There's no way I can see us doing it every night when our second is born later this year.

I’m still astounded by the poster who said on the first page that their child could go two weeks without bathing 😮 that’s verging on negligence IMO.

I just dont get why people think its hard ?
What else would you be doing just before bed time ?
Somewhere I had a bit of research from last year which showed that daily bathing DC and a daily change of clothes reduced colds,flu and Noro/D&V significantly .
Will try to find it.
I think its basic hygiene to bathe/shower before bed .

My DD 14 months likes to come in the shower with me. It's much quicker, though probably not as thorough

We bathe DS every night and have done since he was about 3 months old. It's just part of our routine now and it's my favourite part of the day.

He gets grubby. He enjoys playing in the bath. It’s part of his routine. It’s low effort. He sleeps 12 hours every night.

Why would I want to sabotage that?!

I do because my child is always filthy by the end of the day , we visit the park or beach most days so he always has pretty grim finger nails and his favourite food is pesto pasta so unless I want a green child I have to bath him !
To be honest I don't find it a hassle at all ( but i only have him rather than lots of kids to get in the bath ) , he enjoys it and it's a pretty fun activity

Dd hates bathes. Some kids fine them
Relaxing. For us it was just something that rules her up. Plus daily baths are not great for skin. We bathed her when she needed it and that was rarely every day.

Children don't need daily bathing until they hit puberty imo. It's a waste of water.

Not every day for my ds. Probably 3 times a week here. They don't sweat like grown ups. I shower every morning on the other hand!

YANBU.
Mine used to bounce off the walls after a bath. They got into the water maybe twice a week, in the afternoon.

Once they got old enough to stand in the shower and not prance around (4ish) they showered maybe 2-3 times a week. At age 9-10 they started taking daily showers at night.

I just dont get why people think its hard ?
What else would you be doing just before bed time ?

Washing their hands and faces, brushing their teeth, decamping upstairs for a bedtime story after changing into PJs, the entire business taking maybe 15 minutes.

I suspect that frequent handwashing can reduce the probability of catching colds and noro too, Sockworkshop.

Mine washed hands before and after eating and always after coming in from shopping or a trip to the playground, and of course once toilet training got started they washed hands after each trip to the loo.

YANBU
our 20 month old gets 3 baths per week (unless covered in paint after nursery!)

I cared for people that were incontinent and hadn't had a bath or shower for years. I mean like 5 years. No, they don't smell because they're wiped/changed/washed as needed.
You don't always need full immersion in water, you can keep clean with hot water, soap and a flannel
Fair enough for food in hair etc but the "OMG you need to shower every single day or you will smell" is ridiculous

I’m neither routiney nor a hygiene obsessive, but my 15mo has a bath every night. It’s about ten mins total to do her teeth/bath/oil/nappy and vest on, and another ten mins to feed her and get her to sleep, which feels to me both quick and pleasant. Also she seems to spend most of her waking day either running and climbing around outside, or eating, so she’s pretty sticky and grotty by evening. She’s always loved the water.

DC1 at this age was every other night. He was less keen on the whole thing and I don’t particularly remember putting him to bed still grubby, so maybe he was a cleaner child or maybe I’ve just wiped that neglect from my memory. I think I switched him to daily baths at 3ish once he was no longer feeding to sleep, because that seemed a good time to make A Routine, and was also when he was potty training so sometimes not brilliantly wiped. At 7 I’ve started playing it a bit more by ear and sometimes skipping a night if he’s not particularly dirty.

Definitely no judgment from me either way, but also no grumbling.

Oh god the flannel/strip wash brigade are here ! its 1950
Ive looked after lots of patients Yes and Ive had people cry when they were able to actually have a shower , they felt so miserable without it.

Why dont you wash their genitals and bums math?
I cant imagine putting mine to bed without doing that , by the time youve washed hands,faces and bum area you might as well just pop them in the bath.

@yesqueen I broadly agree with you (and this will horrify many posters, but I only bathe myself every other day I wash my face, under my arms and sometimes my feet in between times), but toddlers tend IME to get a much greater proportion of their bodies dirty, compared with adults (whether or not mobile, continent etc). Any grot on my toddler’s hands is invariably also right up her forearms, she catches crumbs and dribbles of food in her chins etc. It tends to feel, to me, easier and gentler to just slosh her around in a plain water bath (soap every 2-3 days), rather than doing a thorough flannel without being in the bath.

One of the bathe every night brigade. Dd (20 months) gets utterly filthy at nursery. Utterly utterly disgustingly filthy. But she's having fun so who am I to complain?

However, she does have bad eczema and I am not sure whether or not the bathing every day might contribute to it. But what can I do? She gets home from nursery happy as a pig in mud, so what am I to do? Any advice appreciated, by the way

@bobbybella do you use emollient or oil to wash her instead of soap?
I bath ds every night but hardly ever use soap on him (except hands).
I use either plain water (with some drops of lavender oil) emollient or grape seed oil to wash him.

I don’t and I believe it’s better for their immune systems not to be totally clean all the time.

YANBU.