is one bath a week enough for a 4 year old?

[traceface]

My dd1 used to have a bath 3 or 4 mornings a week when she was at nursery. She loves a long soak and a play. Since starting school we don't have time in the mornings and she's never really liked baths before bed, so now she just gets a bath on a weekend. Is this really gross and neglectful of me?

The bath every night is a bit of a UK obsession. We lived in Germany and the norm there is to bath the DC once to twice a week, even babies. The paediatrician told us not to bath them too often as it dries out their skin.

Ours generally have a bath or a shower midweek and at weekend, more in summer when it is hot. But then, they are in paddling pool/beach/sandpit almost every day anyway so having a bath anyway.

I don't think there are many posts saying a bath every day is essential or even particularly desirable. But the majority appear to agree that only ONE bath a week is not enough. There is an enormous difference between two or three baths or showers a week and just one, imho.

I bath my 3 every night too. Mamcat, neither of the older ones smell of wee but they still needs chucked in the bath every night. Once a week would be unthinkable in this house.

What do you do with hands that have made mud pies and look like the dirt will never come off? What about pasta sauce in hair or making their chin a lovely orange colour? Pen on hands and face from school and nursery?

I don't think mine are particularly smelly, if at all. But they are very dirty come bath time. Aren't all kids??? especially in this lovely weather when they spend all the after school time in the garden getting filthy.

I did not mean that everyone on here was saying that they bath every night. When my DC were born my mum expected me to bath them every night before bed and it was so different to the German way.

My two get a thorough wash, and if they are particularly grubby an quick shower. They are past the stage of rubbing mud into their hair, although DD still manages to get jam in her hair regularly.

My two grandsons, 4 and 18 months have a bath every night, it is play time, when they are with me we spend half an hour in the bath playing messy games, it is great fun and a good time to chatter about what has been going on during the day

I guess it's up to the individual parent isn't it? I like to know my two are clean and fresh and are not going to get called 'smelly' by other kids at school(well Ds anyway as Dd too young for school). I can distinctly recall a girl at school leaning over me when we were getting our books from our trays(we were 7)and as she bent over I got her backside in my face. Trust me, she smelled, but she didn't look dirty.
My Dd is only 2, but she sweats buckets whilst she sleeps(as does Ds)and her hair smells nasty. I don't tend to wash her hair more that two or three times a week though.

My exsil is the worst mother in the world and I can remember my brother having the children and bringing them to visit us at my parents. The children were filthy and we bathed them. I seriously could not get the ingrained dirt out of my nephews ankles/heels...he has Asbergers too, so needed that bit extra help. The youngest girl always smelled of wee too.
The girls don't have great personal hygeine now and are 12 & 13, though considering their mother, they are now better than could be expected. I had to show them how to clean their nails a few weeks ago as their mother didn't tell or show them and the sight of their filthy finger nails made me want to vomit.

I guess it's each to their own at the end of the day, but I can't agree that children 'don't smell', it's far more likely that we as parents just can't smell our own children as much as other people can.

My wee man is a hot, sweaty baby as well. And his wee head smells like sweat if he's not bathed. Plus, he loves his bath. He splashes around, splashes me, coos and giggles.

He likes being naked.

Ruby lol at banning Playmobil! I agree that the transition to adulthood is gradual - I certainly don't think I'm establishing a pattern that she will keep for ever! She can't even grasp the concept of weeks and weekends yet so I doubt she's storing 'one bath a week' as a rule for the future.
I agree with all the comments about wanting to remove dirt etc - I do that!! And yes, when it's warmer and there have been ice creams and sun cream and general muck, she might get a bath everyday - i do it on a 'needs' basis. It's cold at the moment and she doesn't need a bath - so I don't give her one.
Also she only started school in January and is EXHAUSTED at the end of the day. It's a challenge to get her to do her homework (yes she gets some every night ) and to eat tea before she's ready to go to sleep.

It would be, if you washed them top to toe every day including inbetween their toes, where the fluff gathers- the back of their neck where they sweat from running like loons all day- quicker to dip them in a bath of warm soapy water every night

I had a bath once a week when I was younger. Now I am older I bath or shower more often. It isn't too hard to adjust.

It's also about setting up good hygienic habits for the future. As children get older they do start to whiff, and if they live in a family where you don't bathe often it's quite a hard leap for many of them to bathe more frequently.

I'm a school nurse and we see quite a lot of children who don't bathe often enough and they DO smell. We end up doing quite a bit of work with groups in senior schools whose personal hygiene leaves a lot to be desired. Some of them have clean clothes, but there isn't a lot of point in putting clean clothes on dirty bodies.

Once a week here too, unless he's wet himself, been sick or been rolling around in mud.

Twice or three times a week in the Winky household. It dries out their skin otherwise.

Every day they don't have a bath, they get their faces and hands washed.

They're just not that pongy.

I think people get really hung up on the whole bath thing. Like lots of you I was only bathed once a week as a child (there were 9 of us so my mum had some excuse!)and it didn't do me any harm and I'm pretty sure I didn't smell! My dd (2.5) and ds (1.2) get bathed 2-3 times a week mostly because they enjoy it and dh and I like to chill out in the bathroom with them for a good 30 mins each time watching them play and splash each other. When other people tell me (in a bit of a superior way) that they bath their kids every night I just think they have little else to do. When you both work full-time, have 2 kids under three and no family nearby to give you a hand, you do what you can.

Meant to be twice a week for my 2 pre-schoolers, but more often than not usually once - usually the night before week in creche starts. They get a good wash before bed most nights
Even with one particularly hot-to-touch child, i haven't noticed any issue with sweaty smelly child - i'll revisit that of course when he's 14, but not 4!

Really dirty children smell of old biscuits!

I am a grandmother of 9 and mother of 5 as well as an ex-teacher!

I mean I am an ex-teacher not one of my children!

LOL, I will save this thread to show to all our Aussie friends that the worldwide stereotypes about the Brits only bathing once a week are all true! (Sorry guys!)

FWIW, I don't think its nessesary to bath small kids every day, although a week is a bit longer than we would go. So long as they have some sort of good wash every day, I guess it doesn't matter.

Mine get a bath pretty much every day - I guess 5 times a week. I can't really think of an easier way of getting them clean tbh - by the time I clean their bums, clean under their nails (which are always really grotty), give their faces a good wipe...I might as well just stick them in the bath for 15 minutes and let them have a good soak. For us, that is way quicker an easier than any other way of cleaning - although mine love their bath, so that obviosuly helps.

I agree with you Astrophe. I had all boys and didn't think they had had a reasonable day, at that age, unless they were covered in sand, siol, paint etc.
It was the easy, fun way to have a good soak. They liked it, I liked it. They went to bed smelling sweet and clean. There was never any problem keeping them in bed, or knowing it was bedtime because it followed a set pattern.After the bath came bedtime stories. The only time that we ever missed bath or stories was if we had been out and ended up getting back too late.

every day is just silly and ocd.
why one earth do people dry their babies and childrens skins out.

once a week is fine.

My three girls (4, 3 and 8 months) get bathed 3 times a week.

More often in Summer when they are coated in sun lotion and have been rolling about in the grass and mud. Good wash down every night, DD2 especially is rubbish at wiping and stinks of wee.

It's not OCD it's part of a bedtime routine. DS (1 year) loves it.

well routines are control frekery in my book too, so i do think its ocd.

Ds's used to get a bath every night but we're slutty Mummies now and they have a bath + hair wash on Sunday and a shower on Wednesday.

Suits them, suits us. Sorted.

Ds2 4) is a smelly thing but smelled just as much when he had a bath every night.

Ds1 (7) always looks perfectly clean and neat and tidy whether he's had a bath nightly or once a week.