To only bath my baby once or twice a week

[newmum234]

He’s 5.5 months - is once or twice a week enough or should he be having daily baths?

YANBU. They don't generally get properly dirty at that age and top and tailing daily is sufficient. Me health visitor said don't bath daily unless they actually need it because it dries out their skin.

*My

Always found a daily bath a good way of creating structure = probably more for my benefit than a baby too young to understand. Same way I liked to get myself dressed every morning, even if I just stayed in bed breastfeeding. Also felt more of a faff to do a top and tail wash than just dunk them wholly in a bath.

I never bath DS3 (8 weeks old). I do take him in the shower with me (just at the end) because it’s an activity and he finds it enjoyable.

I’m loathe to get into a rigid bath-related bedtime regime. I’ve already dealt with years of eczema in my older 2 (my ex was a bath routine fanatic and it was annoying).

DP is weirdly rigid about washing the DSC - he genuinely thinks DSD requires a shower daily at 6, and a quick wash won’t do (OTOH I had to persuade him that it was weird and unhygienic to make the DSC share a towel - that got washed about once a fortnight 🤮). They’re his kids, so it’s his call. But I’m not instigating any such thing for DS3 (it’ll be me that has to do it).

Its fine, bathing too often isn't good for their skin. I used to give once a week/fortnight, though I washed bums under the tap after each poo until they were on solids (so while the poo was still breastmilk poo and would just wash down the drain, saved on wipes!). Toddler still only has a shower a couple of times a week, he doesn't really get grotty.

It's fine to bathe him daily
It's fine not to bathe him daily

We bath every night as part of bedtime routine. Even if its for 5mins. Just signals that its time to wind down.

he genuinely thinks DSD requires a shower daily at 6

I agree with him

Why? I get the need for a daily shower after puberty but before that there's just no need.

I've always done morning baths and I will continue until dry at night. No point getting them all clean to risk a leak overnight! However my toddler will have a bath before bed if it's been a sticky sun cream kind of day. My 3 month old probably has one twice a week. You can tell when they need one!! She smells great I wouldn't want to wash that away

We used to bath DD about every 2 or 3 days until she started weaning. She's 1 now and has a bath/shower most days as she enjoys it and normally has some sort of food all in her hair!

Children get dirty at school...mine always came home smelling like that weird mass catering odour...plus going to the loo and not always cleaning themselves thoroughly, food on their face, ink on their hands...just grim. And they do get sweaty especially on hot days.

When we started doing daily nightly baths at the same time ds slept for 12 hours straight.

No we are not saying the bath made him sleep through but we were not cursing ourselves by stopping them

But no there is no need for daily baths

I do get why people don’t want to clean a baby everyday but after the age of a toddler I think it’s important to teach daily hygiene routines, much like brushing your teeth.

@formerbabe

Children get dirty at school...mine always came home smelling like that weird mass catering odour...plus going to the loo and not always cleaning themselves thoroughly, food on their face, ink on their hands...just grim. And they do get sweaty especially on hot days.

Fair point, school is grim. Mine is only a toddler so I wasn't thinking that far ahead.

Routine baths were probably twice a week at that age, although there were rather more of the clean up as required variety.

Weaning tended to lead to a phase of daily (or even 3x daily) hair washing...

@OnlyFoolsnMothers

I do get why people don’t want to clean a baby everyday but after the age of a toddler I think it’s important to teach daily hygiene routines, much like brushing your teeth.

I'm not convinced on this point. I don't think daily showering is a particularly difficult habit to pick up later on. We didn't switch until the top end of primary school- wasn't difficult to change to daily.

Twice a week. Any mess was cleaned with a baby wipe so he was never dirty
Could not be arsed to bath daily
Also he had bad eczema and GP told us not to

We used to bath ours if they smelt. So if you above that line you're fine.
They need clean faces, hands and bums. Anything else is just gravy

Everyday. He loves it and splashes around. We're also weaning and, quite frankley, theres food purees in places I dont even think too look.

We do a daily bath - my DD always liked a splash about! Once we started weaning it was essential as she got food every where!

We do it Monday, weds and fri with fri also being hair wash night and top and tail on the other 4 nights. I'm sure once or twice is also fine though, I'd just carry on if I were u.

I agree once or twice a week is fine for a young baby.

I’ve always bathed/showered mine daily, mainly just because I bathe daily and it seemed the thing to do. If I had left them 1/2 days inbetween it probably would have been fine but they’ve always liked their baths anyway. They definitely had to shower daily by the time they started school, they seemed to spend all day at school rolling in mud and glitter.

Do what’s best for you! Your baby is obviously not rotten if you are exhausted of a night which I can understand have you tried the kitchen sink? That’s what I used to do most nights with mine just clear the draining board get a towel to hand and your good to go super quick and easy way to bath baby.