How often do you bathe your children?

[wellington77]

Question. Is in the title! The reason I’m asking is because a friend said to me that the give their 4 year old a bath every night and was shocked when we said twice a week unless she’s got dirty from something such as playing in the garden . But in the meantime my daughter has her face and hands washed everyday and bottom etc with wet wipes everyday as she’s still not dry at night. I wanted to gauge whether I am the odd one, she is or we are all different? I was told by the gp years ago that bathing everyday for little ones as bad for their skin or is this just babies?

Shower definitely every night (also have a toddler). When my DS was a baby we bathed him a few times a week but since he started walking it's just part of his bedtime routine.

Every night. Sometimes twice a day at the weekend; more time means they can have a nice leisurely morning bath too.

Anywhere between 2-4 times a week for our 4 year old DD
To be honest it should probably be more often, but it adds so much time to the bedtime routine we're a bit lazy with it.
She seems to be surviving so far (apart from the mould growing behind her ears).

my DC are 14 and 18. The 18 yo showers every day, the 14 yo every other day.

When they were little twice a week was enough

mine are adults now... but at 4 i bathed them everyday, it was part of the bedtime routine. bath, jammies, milk, book and bed.

i stopped bathing them (girls) when they went to high school. I then left it upto them to take care of their personal hygiene... at that point being girls they would shower 3 or 4 times a day lol

Mine are 7 and 4 and we were doing 5 baths a week due to them coming home filthy from nursery or have a swimming lesson that day. We’ve just dropped it to 4 times a week though as the 7 year olds skin was looking a bit dry

My little boy is 16 months and we bathe him twice a week. Sometimes he’ll get a bonus bath if he’s sick or has gotten muddy or something as you said! He has quite dry and sensitive skin so there’s no way I’d bathe him daily.

I think it's an everyone's different kind of thing. Usually these threads are a split between daily bathers and couple of times a week families. Personally I'm in the latter camp and don't see how anyone finds time for everyday. but my kids have curly hair which can't be blow dried, so I need to schedule in an hour or more for it to dry naturally before they go to bed.

We bathe DD5 and DD2 every night, they have lovely soft skin, no dryness! It’s very much part of their bedtime routine, obviously if we are out, it’s skipped.

Every night all of us, it's hard to sleep properly I find without a bath.

At least every other night but sometimes every night. Then other weeks he might go a couple of days without one... (he's 2). I generally only wash his hair twice a week though, it stays clean for days.
It all depends on what we have been doing to be honest and sometimes he just jumps in the shower with me in the morning so we would miss that night for a bath.

Thanks for the replies everyone, bit of a mixture between everyday and a couple of times a week. I think once she goes to school in September I will up it to three minimum a week while key stage 1. Summer could be different though maybe everyday after school if she’s been running around at lunch, especially with the summers we have been having the past few years. Good to know my approach is not completely the odd one out!

1 - 2 times a week for 17 month DD.

She gets thoroughly washed top to tail between that.

Just a water saving exercise really. We are the same.

I washed my hair this morning by leaning over the bath, wetting hair briefly, shower turned off, then lather, then rinse, the conditioner, then rinse, done. Body was quick flannel wash on bum, pits and feet. (Face done in the sink)

Consientous of water 💧

Usually twice a week, sometimes three. A almost 1 year old (tomorrow!) and a 2yr old. It's hard fitting in a bath on nursery days as baby often goes to bed earlier. I don't like to go more than 3-4 days, otherwise oldest curly hair gets hard to untangle

Daily bath for my two boys (2yo and 7yo). They're both filthy!

Every night.

I used to bath mine every night, mainly because they were outdoor kids and filthy. I mean I wouldn't go without a daily shower so I'd not expect my kids to. Odd times they didn't were usually because of a family event or being out.

Ds is 2.5 and has a shower every night since he could stand

Every night here too.

Then needed.

We have never bathed them every day. It would ruin their skin and waste of water. We used wet wipes or a cloth.

Once or twice a week. I have four kids age five and under so it's just not doable every day, I'm exhausted.

Teens usually shower every day. Sometimes twice a day for ds1 who likes a shower to wake up and will then shower again on the days he has a sport.

Ds3 6...for most of the year a once a week bath at home, midweek. Then he swims on a Saturday and has a full, proper shower and hair wash at swimming.

Between April and September ish it could be anything from our usual once a week to everyday (Weather dependent) because we spend a lot of time at the beach so need to get rid of sand.

Both of mine have eczema so 2-3 times a week, more often in summer to get rid of the sun cream and dirt from being outside more. They have a wash with a cloth the rest of the time.

Every morning and every night. I find that it helps "reset them" and they have a better sleep. Also I have an old house where the bathroom is by the kitchen so I can do the clean up after dinner whilst they are in the bath and keep an eye on them.

Usually twice a week here. Once on a Sunday with a hair wash (eldest has waist length hair which takes almost an hour to wash, comb and dry) and then another bath on Weds or Thurs with hair up and out the way. Middle DC has eczema which is made worse by too much bathing even if we only use water. They would have extra baths if needed if they got super dirty for whatever reason but that normally doesn’t happen during the school week and during the summer holidays they are swimming or playing in water more often so they usually end up clean enough one way or another.

People always used to survive with a weekly bath and I don’t really see the need for it to be much more often unless kids are visibly dirty.