To wash my kids once a week?

[HuckleberryBlackcurrant]

I have 3 DC, DS 6, DS 4 and DD 4 mths.

When my first child was born, he had eczema and sensitive skin, we live in an extremely dry climate with weather extremes, so our Dr recommended bathing once a week.

We do not have a bathtub, only a baby one we put in the shower for our daughter now. The boys have of course outgrown it.

As our other children have come along we have kind of stuck to this schedule.

We of course wash them any time it is needed, for nappy blowouts, when they are ill, if they get extremely dirty or sweaty, or if they request a shower.

But barring any of these, a weekly bath it is.

Recently I was spending some time with my sister, she commented that she needed to bath her daughter. I said oh really, I thought you only bathed her yesterday! My sister said she bathes her at least every other day.

My sister lives in a different climate than I do, we were at my parents' for a visit.

My sister was shocked when I said we only bath/shower our children weekly, and brought up that they wouldn't be used to regular showers when they hit puberty. I replied that that is a conversation we will have at that time, but for right now they aren't producing BO and there is a lot of research to suggest that excessive washing dries out the skin and depletes natural oils.

Myself and my husband shower every other day unless we have been sweating a lot.

My sister said that she thinks this is a bit 'grimy'. I'm feeling terrible now that maybe we are bringing our children up with bad hygiene habits?! I never notice them smelling bad, apart from my 6yo who is learning how to wipe, and if this occurs of course we have him shower.

We of course wash hands and face daily, as necessary.

My younger kids bath or shower 3 times a week, washing their hair twice a week, my older one (in puberty) showers every day. I tried twice a week for a short time but didn’t feel they were clean enough on the third day

Yeah that's a bit gross tbh. At least twice a week would be minimum for baths or showers with a daily wash at the sink of face, hands and bits.

Kids don't stink of wee if they only wash once a week as someone has suggested! But I think that as they grow the number of baths/showers should increase just for them to get into the habit little by little. We used to wash our DD once a week too for the same issues, she had skin problems that resolved by washing just once a week and we got into that routine. Now that she does not have skin issues we are getting into washing more often as I don't think it is realistic going from washing once a week to every other day or daily at once, so we are doing it little by little. She is now 6 and a half and having a weekly bath, and has a couple of showers twice a week (in the evening in her PE days), those are literally 2 minute showers.

You won't smell your own family of course, but others will.

Seems very poor hygiene to me - wherever you live.

Sounds fine to me. Unless they're very grubby I can't see the point.

I think that is a bit gross and not sufficient tbh.

(You can use soap just on the areas that really need it and avoid too much washing of areas that get eczema.)

They should wash more often. They probably smell a little bit already, and they’ll absolutely stink when they hit puberty. And the problem is, if you haven’t got them into a routine of washing daily, then when they’re stroppy smelly teenagers, you’ll have a nightmare nagging them to shower.

I bathed my kids every night, including newborn as part of the going to bed routine. I'd say your older kids need a bath/shower more than once a week, especially in a hot. climate. It's not just visible dirt that needs cleaning off.

It's not just skin. It's your immune system.

I tell you what is gross and it’s that fabric padded loo seat that keeps coming up in the ads from Temu! Yuk.

My kids have baths/showers twice a week in the winter. Unless they've gotten sweaty or muddy. They wash their faces every morning and night.
They've got lovely, thick, shiny hair that takes hours to dry naturally. I wouldn't wash it more than twice a week. And their skin is lovely too. I think bathing too much dries the skin out and strips the natural oils/barriers away. There seems to be a massive amount of products available now for dry/irritated skin, it could certainly be linked to the relatively modern practice of bathing kids too much.

2-3 baths a week here in winter, summer every day.
Hair wash twice a week regardless of time of year.

You aren't really teaching your children about good hygiene though. You are going to have bath dodging smelly teenagers

If they truly don't smell and aren't dirty, then it's a total non-issue. Before baths/showers were a common low-effort thing, lots of people washed with soap and water in a bowl every day - face, underarms, genitals and bum every day, the whole shebang once a week.

I'd suggest washing genitals/bum with soap (or emollient for eczema-prone DC) water and a wash cloth rather than wipes, but other than that I'd not worry at all.

MN swings towards hyper-clean OCD types, so your responses here will be skewed.

I didn’t do a bath/wash every day before my DC were potty trained. But I do now. Can’t trust their wiping skills and don’t think it ever gets properly clean anyway without a wash. It’s not always a shower or bath, sometimes just pits and bits with soap and water. Hair is 1-2 times a week.
Pre- potty training it was usually 3 times a week.

I was brought up in the 80s and all throughout my childhood it was twice a week in our family and that was it. My DH was once a week. Did we smell? Maybe. Maybe we all did and so we didn’t notice? It didn’t do us any harm but I do look back now and think it was a bit grim.

My first DD had eczema too and was told not to bath her daily so it was usually once or twice a week and like you we’ve carried this on with our 2yr old DD. As my first has got older she has a daily wash (face, pits, bits) but now prefers more regular showers as she’s got older. The 2yr old has wipes in between or a proper wash if she gets grubby/paint/pen etc. We shower prob once/twice a week also, or more of nec. but again have proper washes in between. With our work schedules it would be too late to bath every day anyway by the time we’ve had dinner etc. It works for us

It’s not the weather that’s of concern, it’s their grubby way of wipe their bottoms after doing number one or two. Risk of infection on their genitals and rash rises significantly with poor hygiene.

It is normal.

I’m stood next to him and I can guarantee he doesn’t. 😎 HTH?

Yeah, probably before combi boilers and plentiful hot water. We don't really have that excuse nowadays.

I think once a week is actually pretty bad. Mine definitely need washing at least every other day. Wee, sun cream, general grime.

People didn't used to brush their teeth or use deodorant either, I'm not sure that historical lack of bathing is an argument against it these days. Part of looking after your kids is washing them properly. It must be tough when you don't have a bath tub though.

I honestly have no family or friends who shower/bath just once a week. It’s not the norm in my area and I believe it’s recommend 2-3 times a week for health reasons not once a week. There has to be a balance.

1-2 showers a week seems normal to me for pre-pubescent kids. I also had one with bad eczema and was advised not to bath him too often, but that's not the only reason. Too much washing is awful for their skin, hair and immune systems. Why do people think kids get sick so often these days!? Not to mention the cost of water, and the gas to heat it. It's wasteful and unnecessary. I'm not surprised by most of the reactions on here though. Mumsnet is the home of the 'I wash towels after every use and change my bedding 3 times a week' types, and then they complain about the cost of living or how tired they are from all this extra work they make for themselves.
For the record, my 15 year old was rarely bathed more than twice a week as a young child. This naturally increased as he got older and more smelly and now he showers every morning without a fuss. I usually shower every other day as I work from home and am not particularly sweaty. When I worked in Central London I showered daily. You just adapt to the situation as necessary.

My three year old gets bathed only once a week. Much more often in summer though due to sun screen, sand, general outside grubbiness.

However - she gets eczema from too much bathing and has very dry skin. Due to her being allergic to wet wipes (as am I) we still use cheeky wipes / little flannels with warm water every morning and night and after every poo. We’re also very diligent on hands and face. So she’s properly clean.

We used to do bathtime very regularly but it was very drying for her skin and caused issues. Children don’t need their hair washing regularly unless they’ve got stuff in it from pre school, chlorine, or a load of sunscreen.