Once a week baths for baby and four year old

[quillfram]

Is this okay?
Neither the baby (9 months) or the four year old seem remotely stinky. We wipe their faces, necks and hands every day.
Am I the only one who doesn’t bath their children every day..?

Possibly but that would not be enough for me. Can I ask why you think that would be enough, are you just going off smell??

I always bathed my children daily. They loved it and I found that they would generally need it at the end of the day. I didn’t feel a wet wipe was enough. Is there any reason why you don’t bath them more regularly?

Bath, book, bed was the daily routine in our house.

I didn’t. It was more hassle than it was worth, and isn’t great for the skin. We did twice weekly.

I bathed mine most evenings, especially once they were sitting up and thought it was great fun.

Would say at least every other day.

Same. Or whenever they get a bit too sticky. 😆

It was once a week here too, although once my child started school I found we needed to increase to twice a week.

She never particularly liked baths even as a baby/toddler so it wasn't a helpful part of the bedtime routine.

Whilst DC are in nappies they need a bath everyday.

Do they? I didn't get that version of the rule book.

It's fine. Don't worry.

Probably twice a week as minimum for me. More if they are sweaty, tired, or cranky. More again in summer.

Twice weekly. My kids don’t have eczema but it runs in my family and I’ve always thought the less you interfere with the skin’s natural barrier the better.

My youngst hated water the first 5 years. Not worth it as a daily fight.

I don’t think daily baths are needed unless they are dirty or stinky. It’s well known that daily baths can be bad for some types of skin, drying it out and getting rid of natural oils, and ‘topping and tailing’ is perfectly adequate.

For others on the thread, there’s nothing wrong with daily baths either if skin is okay and you think your little ones need it!

It is good for bedtime routine, but if you’re working it’s a little time consuming to get dinner, homework, bedtime reading etc done PLUS a bath all between getting in from work and getting them to bed and to sleep so do what’s best for your routine.

I would say though if you are just ‘topping and tailing’ you need to also do their privates, and probably feet for the older one especially if a boy.

It’s not so much about them being stinky or not, but a week without washing their intimate areas? I’m sorry but this just seems unhygienic.

My youngest got a bath once a week or if/when he got grubby in between which rarely happened before he was mobile.
Intimate areas got cleaned every time his nappy was changed, so multiple times a day.

Everyone, including his doctor and health visitor used to comment on how amazing his skin was, so I don't think it did him any harm.

By the time he was 4 it was probably twice a week, or more often as required if he'd got covered in food/playdoh/mud pies.

Imo if they're in nappies and getting their bottoms thoroughly cleaned with wet wipes or wet cotton wool several times a day they need a bath less often.

I'm assuming the 4yo wipes their own bum (probably badly 😂) so imo they need a bath at least twice a week, or more if they're getting stinky.

We were once a weekers as well. Bathing daily is really bad for their skin! But people seem to be really precious about it these days, screaming 'neglect' for those of us who don't do daily 'bedtime baths' 🙄

But they will get top & tails done daily.

You can keep them clean. No one said anything about it and she went to nursery twice a week for a long time. GP and HV found it fine too. It's no big deal.

I’m surprised the 9 month old isn’t getting sticky and food in hair etc at that age as presumably having finger foods. My 4 all used to get food everywhere and had full heads of hair at that age so they had a bath and hair wash everyday as routine, and a bum wash with a warm soapy flannel in the morning after having a nappy on all night.

I agree older babies/toddlers in nappies need a soak in that area once a day.

Mine all loved their bath and it was part of a routine of bath, milk, story, which I loved with them fresh, in clean pjs and smelling gorgeous! Best part of the day.

Only one of mine had eczema (grown out of it now) and I was told I could bath daily, just used natural baby wash and Oilatum and then slathered Doublebase.

You obviously need to do what works for you but I’d be wary of thinking they don’t smell to other people because you’re used to them, especially when the 4 year starts school if not started already. They are not going to be wiping properly at that age and still can have small accidents. I remember a teacher on here saying they could tell which DC only had a bath once a week.

I also think starting good hygiene habits young is a beneficial.

I thought it was easier to bath then top and tail so bathed then daily like i do as an adult

Ran bath in and out took less time and faffing about

It’s much better for their sensitive skin to be washed daily but bathed less frequently unless dirty

My DD had v sensitive skin (& still does) so bathing daily really didn’t suit her at all