If you have a newborn how often do you shower/bathe?

[FeedMeCoffeeOrGin]

I only ask as was talking to a friend today about how often people shower and I said 'Gosh when DS was born I didn't shower for about a week' and my friend was genuinely disgusted by this..

Tbh at the time we weren't going out anywhere and had no visitors for the first couple of weeks so wasn't bothered about being a bit smelly lol

For the first few weeks it could sometimes be 3-4 days as DS was SUPER clingy and the king of cluster feeds!

Now that DS is older (5m) I shower regularly but damn it seemed like a luxury in the early days!

So yeah, anyone else as grim as me when they had a newborn? 😂

Every 1-3 days but only because I wouldn't manage without. It makes me cranky when I'm in bed with a rare chance to sleep and I just have that gritty feeling and can't sleep. Babies managed with dad for 5 minutes. No judgement on people who shower less (like my partner 😅) its just how you feel. I doubt you even smelled, I generally think people don't smell as much as they worry they do.

Also once they can sit up I popped them in the bath next to me while I showered. Maybe you can do that now yours is bigger x

Every day or two, it is hard to make yourself get in after a c section though, I know.

I find it harder to shower now she's a toddler! Follows me around, often wails the second I'm out of sight, gets into mischief the second my backs turned. Wakes up before me in the morning so I can't do it when she's sleeping and I'm not getting up at 5am to try.

Every day, it’s a priority for me. I’m glad my baby doesn’t really do anything to get in the way of personal hygiene standards, but I wouldn’t have paid any attention if she wasn’t, she’d have had to have learnt to accept that mummy gets washed every day.

Every other day in the first week because I found getting in the shower (it's over the bath) physically difficult after a c section then every other day once I felt a bit better. I genuinely smelt pretty awful in the first weeks - night sweats, milk, blood, DD2 was sick a lot so my shoulder was normally covered in milky spit up! Getting in the shower was a must.

I'd often have a quick 2 minute shower in the morning and then leave the baby with DH in the evening and have a longer shower and hair wash or a bath.

Everyday. I couldn't wait to get in the shower after the birth!

Every day. It was one of my self care things to shower and put make up on.

I remember my NCT teacher telling us to get a small bouncer and put baby in there while we showered. They could see us, we could see them, everyone was safe and it was ok if they cried for a minute while I got clean.

OP it's perfectly normal that sometimes you go without showers when your baby is young.
It's about prioritising your baby's needs over your own.
Yeh it's not glamorous maybe but those of us with babies that only contact nap totally get it.
Other people may be happy to put their baby in a cot/crib and potentially let it cry alone but I certainly would never have done that and research says that this is so harmful.
Some babies will sleep alone early days others won't so we work with what we've got.
But newborns are programmed to cry when left alone as that's their survival instinct, accepting this helped me a lot with my (what other people would call) 'clingy baby'.
They are just normal babies with a good survival instinct and well functioning nervous system.
Also, your baby would have loved your smell how ever many days had passed since your last shower.
Once I was going out and about I would bath with my baby if needed and even now at 7months old she often comes in the shower with me.
Sounds to me like you were doing what was absolutely best for your baby.

Everyday for me too. Bleeding, leaking nipples and c-section meant I'd have felt awful not to.

If DH wasn't about, the baby came into the bathroom in the Sleepyhead on the floor. When they were able to sit up, the Bumbo chair and then in the cot when they were bigger with some rubbish on under iPad nearby.

Every day - both of mine were happy sitting in one of those laid back bouncy chairs in the bathroom - the noise of the water and the hair dryer seemed to soothe them!

I bathed or showered every day even with a newborn. It’s just something I need to do to feel good about myself. No judgement on people who don’t do that but I don’t feel emotionally right if I can’t bathe or have a shower. I was even the same after a hip replacement.

Every day! I would have felt unkempt without one.

I really can't stand these threads where people delight in smugly not-so-subtly implying that every new mum that doesn't shower every day is disgusting, and that new babies should be left to cry whilst you shower and it's madness if you feel you can't do that.

Come on. I know you all know how common post natal depression is.

I showered every day but wouldn’t judge someone who struggled with that.
I had a 10 min routine- quick shower, dry shampoo, tinted moisturiser and mascara. I did that every day before DH left for work and felt so much better and more ready for the day. Again would never judge anyone and understand make up feels a lot of effort with a baby but it made me feel loads better. Neither of mine were sicky/Poonami babies and only ever wore one outfit a day so luckily I wasn’t fatigued with getting people dressed!

Daily - but it may have waited until hubby was home ( even now ) so I can actually enjoy more than a quick rushed shower but definitely daily

I found time and made it a necessity such as eating and going to the toilet ! I wouldn't feel nice not showering and feel soooo much better for once I've had a nice shower and clean clothes even if it was into a pair of pjs! X

I'd a baby with severe cmpa and reflux 😂😂 any shower I managed to grab was a very quick affair

Daily, even when I had spesis and other complications from c section. It was 10 mins of me time plus I was all sweet and covered in milk, puke and god knows what else.

Daily. I can't think of a time I've ever been dirtier: milk, sweat, sick, blood 🤮

Every two or three days for me. I definitely remember when my son was one or two days old and I tried VERY HARD to get up for my morning shower... water finally went on at 11 PM

Every day. I had stitches so I felt it was important to keep that area clean. Plus with lochia and leaky boobs I would have smelt pretty ripe if I didn't. I was lucky though, I've always had a very hands on husband. There was paternity leave and then of course he was around in the evenings anyway to take over.

Single parent from day 1, showered every day. I'd have felt disgusting if I hadn't.

Every day or every other day. With dd1 I would shower before DH left for work, with dd2 DH takes dd1 to nursery and takes dd2 with him so I can shower while they're out.
It works for us

Well the other side of this is the posts smugly implying that they put their baby's needs first, unlike us selfish cows who dumped their crying babies all alone in order to Swan off into the shower. There's even a post about how this is 'damaging' to babies.

People on mumsnet need to calm the hell down when it comes to showing. I could care less about how often other people do it - it implies absolutely nothing about them as a person.

I don't like the message that mums shouldn't ever consider their needs that comes up sometimes on these threads. Mums who are recovering from having a baby absolutely should look after themselves too. For some people that looks like not worrying about getting in the shower. For others that looks like making time for a shower.

Daily! I had episiotomy stitches to keep clean plus awful postpartum hot flashes so they were extra motivators.

Repeated and prolonged neglect is harmful. Putting them in the cot for a few minutes while you wash is not.