How often do you bath your babies

[hm4912]

Hi. We currently bath our 9M old every other night. Bath time is becoming quite stressful as she has eczema and is a scratcher and by the end of it we are all pretty stressed. I’m just wondering how often people bath their babies . I was considering dropping down to a couple times per week (and just do a quick baby wipe clean) but I didn’t know if this was a bit grubby! TIA

We bath ds (11 months old) twice a week, the same day he goes swimming to remove chlorine and the other is usually half a week later. Obviously if it’s a very messy nappy etc then we bath him too. We will increase it when he becomes mobile and gets more messy to daily baths if needed but for now twice a week is plenty for him. We also clean him with a flannel/cloth multiple times a day eg after meals.

I think you might get a variation of answers.

At that age, once a week (very sensitive skin).
Now (2 years and 2 months) still only twice a week.
If its a messy poo, I wash the butt/leg. If it's messy dinner, I wash the face/arms.

Making them sit in a bath can cause a lot of skin problems. They don't need bath every day or every other day, especially if they have sensitive skin.

DDs eczema improved when we reduced the amount of baths she had. We bathe her 2-3 times a week in oilatum.

My DC both had eczema as babies, we bathed daily but used oat baths, relatively tepid and not too hot as that can be an irritant and we used oilatum which helped. Post-bath we’d lather them in avenoo cream to keep their skin moisturised.

We saw a dermatologist for our baby who had eczema, they told us once a week is perfect as more might bother the skin.

Mine fell into a routine of being bathed every night. They didn't have eczema though.

I preferred to bathe each evening, especially if there had been any poonamis during the day (which sometimes led to an ad hoc bath anyway to get them cleaned up.

Our bedtime routine was bath, bottle, story and bed.

10mo DD, twice a week plus messy nappies (rare but they do happen)

My DD has eczema, had it at 8 weeks old. We bathe her nightly, and then use a lotion on her skin when her skin is still slightly damp, as this traps in moisture. We were prescribed steroid cream, but as an eczema sufferer myself I really didn't want to use any strong creams until I'd tried everything else.

I did a bit of research and found an amazing cream which cleared by DDs skin up I less than a week and she's never had a flare up since. It's called Weleda White Mallow lotion, it has no nasties, is all natural and organic, and is recommended by the eczema association. I use it every day without fail. A friend of mine was struggling with her DD eczema and started using the same cream and it cleared up in 3 days.

I cannot recommend this cream enough.I absolutely hate to think of these little babies suffering so I'm trying to tell as many parents about it as I can. Please try it, it made a world of difference to us!

Twice a week

If they have eczema I would consider dropping to once or twice a week. I know it seems grubby but won’t do them any harm.

My friend's child had very bad eczema as a baby, and the dermatologist she saw said it was caused by too much bathing. She stopped bathing her so much and it improved. I would bath your child 1-2 a week and just wash grubby hands/bum by hand xxx

See attached

I give my baby a full bath three times a week. If I’m not giving him a bath then I wash his face, hands and bottom with warm water and cotton wool before bed.

Also Epaderm ointment is amazing.

The midwives for both of my babies told me to only bath them once a week. I washed their bums under the tap after poos but apart from that only bathed once a week.

1-2 times a week with sulphate free products. Need to look closely at labels. Sanex do one. Sulphates strip all your oils and are so harsh to your poor skin!

I have a 6MO for context. I bathe her every other day - I find the heat and sweat make eczema worse! we use dermol500 as the soap, it’s designed for eczema. And then I apply her standard moisturiser straight after.

I found getting into the bath with my baby really helped! I run it a lot deeper - a typical depth for an adult, she’s in basically to her armpits. She seems to enjoy it more, I think because she’s a more consistent temperature. I obviously hold her tight, but this way I have much more ability to stop her scratching. I usually put my leg over hers, so she sits with her back against my left leg, and her legs under my right leg. My legs then block her scratching her tummy, and she can splash or play with toys over my leg. Then to get her out, I have her real baby bath nearby - I drain the bath, put her in the baby bath, get out myself, then get her out. The first time I had my husband on stand by to help but now I’m happy to bathe her alone.