slightly embarrassed to ask but does everyone bathe their children every day??

[Fluffylox]

I have a 3yo and a baby but only really bath them about 2/3 times a week, baby I'm not so concerned about as currently still too little to get into a mess but should I really be bathing eldest every evening?sometimes I just seem to run out of time of an evening! And if not how do you mommies of daughters make sure the girly bits are cleaned every day I try chasing her around in the morning with a sponge but not really sure if that's sufficient really!

Every evening without fail. They love it. Same age as your two. Whilst they are in the bath, I clean the toilet, wipe round the basin, tidy the towels, so it works for us all.

No and not through laziness but for the sake of their skin!

Smelly teens do shower every day.

Plus, I get a lovely feeling when they are both washed and in clean pjs.

I used to when they were younger...mainly to fill the long gap between tea and bedtime. Now, it is 3 or 4 times a week due to DS1's football practice twice a week which doesn't finish till late so we don't have time. Also, in the holidays, we switch and have baths in the morning

sweeping statement & a half there Back2

my DD also has eczema, we were advised to bathe her once a week as bathing dries out the skin & makes it worse - or as sounds in your case they become too reliant on skin creams.

We sussed out the root cause of DDs eczema & dealt with that rather than mask symptoms with cream, she has odd flare ups of course but we dont need daily baths thick with lotions, potions & creams, which IME often make the problem worse.

& my house is messy when the DCs make it so, because they are playing, being arty/baking or generally having a good time - other than that it is clean & tidy, so you can go hoik your judgey-pants up the crack of your backside elsewhere :-P

DS gets a shower once a week after swimming lesson and a bath once a week, other nights it's a quick wash with a flannel. He has bad eczema and bathing really doesn't help his skin.

Wish I could add bath to the nightly routine as he has autism and loves a routine but it wouldn't be good for his skin in his case and as he would end up itchy and painful it doesn't seem to be in his best interests.

2 to 3 Times a week here, they get dry skin if I do it more often.

15 month old twins - twice (sometimes three) times a week. Wash hair once a week.

I come into contact with over a hundred dc under 5 daily. You really can tell the daily bathed ones and the ones that are not.

Funny how people always use eczema and sensitive skin as a reason my dr said daily baths no more ten ten minutes is best as they don't go to bed full of whatever's been on their skin all day making it worse. And my dd would need lotions and potions whether she has bad skin or not as shes mixed and would turn grey otherwise.

each to their own.

I come into close contact with loads of under 5s too, and - you really can't tell how often they're bathed How on earth would you check your guess is correct anyway? Do you interrogate every parent?

Ours are bathed most nights- it'd probably work out that they have a bath 13 nights out of 14. It's part of their bed time routine but every so often we'll pop them straight into bed without their bath- if we've had a busy day and they're tired or they've stayed up later than usual, or whatever.

Tbh it usually ends up being quicker to chuck them both in the bath than it is to get them cleaned up and calm ready for bed without a bath, but it's nice for me and dh to have a night off the routine now and again!

Ours are 2 and 3.9, so they do often get food in their hair, pen all over their arms etc

Twice a week ish.

I have tried the every day bath as some say that is best for eczema, but as with eczema creams different things work for different people and daily baths were making their skin worse.

Ds has 2 long and 3 short days at the CM. on the long days he's shattered so we skip the bath or it ends in meltdown. Weekends it depends what he's been doing and how dirty he gets. Sometimes it's just a wash with a flannel. He's 3. When he was younger we bathed him most nights as it was part of his routine which he enjoyed.

My dd is 14 mo and always covered in food! So bath everyday as part of wind down routine before bed. She loves her bath! Only use soap once or twice a week though, just water most nights and she's only in there for 5 mins really so skin doesn't get too dry and I put moisturiser on her every night.

Nope, at 23 months she's showered twice a week at most unless needed like last night when she decided to up end a large pot of yoghurt over her head.

I think it's more how active and sweaty your DCs get, the ones (like DS) who run around and get sweaty a lot, are more stinky, and dirt sticks to the sweat more (don't get me started on the grubbiness from suntan lotion + dirt in the summer).

Some children are just grubby at the end of the day, and do need a bath/shower, and a strip wash to get them clean would take so long, a bath is often quicker/easier.

Back2, you do realise that's complete crap?

I can't see how people can tell if a child has been bathed. Surely all they can see if which are clean and which are not and make the giant leap assumption that this correlates to those who were bathed last night rather than those who were cleaner at the breakfast table or cleaned after breakfast

I teach teenagers and can't tell which of them bathe nightly. Weekly, maybe.

Do you go around sniffing them?

I am around loads of kids (and adults) a lot and wouldn't have a clue who baths daily!!!

A kid could be showered daily but put on clothes that aren't washed daily and stink. A kid could be showered twice weekly and put on fresh clothes daily and not stink. A child could shower daily and do sport daily and be sweaty and stink by the afternoon (got one of those myself!!!) or not do any sport or be too young to sweat, and not shower very often and not stink.

God, I am even muddling myself up. But in my view it is nonsense to make a sweeping statement that you can tell.

One of my kids showers most days. Another twice weekly. Neither smell - they just shower/bath dependent on their individual needs - not to some pre arranged pattern!!! I shower at least once a day, sometimes twice, but I sweat and smell more than them!!!

Used to bathe my 8yo and 4 yo every day but found it too much of a rush. I get in from work at 6. By the time we've done homework and eaten, they're ready for some quiet time reading in bed.

These days they have a bath 2 or 3 times a week with a flannel wash between.

Utter crap to suggest you can "smell the difference"!

Have a 9 and 7yr old, haves given them a bath or shower every day since babies. Have only skipped if we have been travelling, or visiting someone, etc.
They love it and it's part of their bedtime routine. I think that even if they don't need it, it helps them develop a good habit for the teenage years.

Any more than every other day and I agree you can tell. It's not offensive but you can tell.

Tbh I think those that say its bad for skin, except obviously in cases of skin conditions and that you can't tell how often a child is bathed etc just want to justify not bathing their dc very often. You CAN tell especially with small babies and toddlers they get very grubby and can smell of old food and milk etc.

I don't want my dc to smell grubby and feel sticky etc so they were bathed every day. They are older now so it's bath and hair wash every other day.

I don't think you would be able to tell if a baby was only bathed once a week unless they weren't top and tailed in between. Got to wipe the neck folds frequently to prevent old milk festering there but other than that i don't think you'd know as you can pretty much always smell the wee anyway. Disposable nappies stink when wet.