Scummy mummy? Am I the only one who doesn't bath her dc every night?

[makedoandmend]

DD is 8mo - everyone else I know seems to do the bed, bath routine which I never really started as dd is great at going off to sleep.

She doesn't crawl yet (doesn't even sit up without support) so isn't rolling around in mud everyday.

I do bath her obviously - but not every night. Judging by the faces of my NCT lot I seem to be the only one...

So am I?

no.

I bathe mine every other night, always have.

no, I lie.........I bath mine every other morning.........I found early on that bathing mine at night did NOT calm them down as per the books said, it woke them up and they then bounced around for about 2hrs longer.

I do obviously get them to bath more if they are dirty, which now it is the hols they are getting more and more!

nooooooo

I bath my 16 month old about once a week. I just wipe stuff off her otherwise.

My 3 yo again about twice a week.

If either get particularly muddy or whatever then they'll go in the bath, but otherwise not every day!

I think some people honestly believe it is not possible for a child to fall asleep without the aid of 3 inches of water and a squeezy dolphin.

I bathe my DSes when I think they need it and when it fits in with the evening. Probably 3 or 4 evenings a week for DS1 who is 2, and once a week or less for DS2 who is 7m. Or, shock, even in the morning It is a miracle they dont fall asleep at 10am and sleep 12 hours straight.

No way - every other day at most. Sometimes he goes three days if I run out of time !

He gets a face, ear, neck and hand wash every morning and evening. That and the water used to clean his bum is all he gets.

He never gets dirty or smelly, so why waste water?

Once a week here for my 2.3 yo. If I try to bath him every night, by the time I'm home from work and we've eaten, he would be too late to bed.

I do my 5 yo 2 - 3 times a weeks, and sponge her off in between times. Like Psycho said, it wakes her up.

My DS's both had sensitive, dry skin, and I was actually told not to bath any more than twice a week. DS2 had bad eczema, and was advised to only bath once a week. So that's what we do - DS1 twice a week - or more if dirty and needs it. DS2 is almost 15mths and once a week or more again if dirty.

Think of the water we're saving!

My dc's hated baths.

So it was every 3 days at best when they were tiny

Never did them any harm [twitch]

when dd was little i did but once i had ds1 i gave up and it became every second night.

now i have 3 under 5's and it can slip to 3 nights when we're run ragged!

My kids have baths twice a week (they are 4 and 2). They are not smelly IMO . Might increase it to every other day in Sept when DD starts school and DS nursery.

(Waves to Portofino ~~~~)

We have eczema in the family so also avoided bathing my three too much (only the middle one ever had it in the end, and then only mildly). That was my excuse anyway !

I bathed ds at that age every third day. It was the only way to keep his ezcema under control - any more bathing made it worse and I was guided by his paed. Even now ds is 5 and it is probably every other day unles he has been rolling around in mud (aka cricket camp!). He would have a top to tail sponge bath morning and evening.

My 9mo must be particularly grubby as by the end of most days he's covered in his supper, mud, sand and anything else he's got his hands on during the day.

He does need a bath pretty much every day (probably 6 days a week).

DS and DD are bathed a couple of times a week I think. They go swimming once a week as well and have a shower then. They are 5 and 3. Children don't need to have a bath every day - it's fine if it fits in, it's fine if it doesn't.

'I think some people honestly believe it is not possible for a child to fall asleep without the aid of 3 inches of water and a squeezy dolphin'

• you made do the tea down the nose thing Bibelot!

Honestly you'd have thought I'd said I hung her upside down by her ankles every night from the look on their faces (which went from total shock to benign pity - they're all terribly polite).

Hurrah - I'm glad I'm not the only one. I can understand why some people find it useful but I think it's become this thing that seems to have taken a hold as the only way to get a child to sleep in people's minds helped by the how to books and manufacturers of baby bath (who must have hugged themselves with glee when the idea began to really take off)

I used to do every night, as part of a relatively fixed bedtime routine. Didn't seem to make much difference, as he is still shocking at getting to sleep. It was making his ezcema worse in the winter so I cut it right back and now its only 2 to 3 times a week. Good wash down if he is really grubby.

I am pretty sure i only had a bath once a week on a Sunday night as a child as well.

I do bath my 6mo every night, always have done from day 3 (home from the hospital).

I wipe him clean during the day but the bath does give me reassurance that he is thoroughly clean, (all those rolls nooks and crannies), besides which he is a great sleeper and always has been which I mostly put down to our bedtime routine.

I expect I will continue if and when I have DC2. I really like doing the bath book bed thing.

I have four very happy, healthy children. They get bathed whenever I get a chance - sometimes that's every day, sometimes it's once a week. A bit of dirt is not going to hurt them. Forcing them to do something they don't want to do will hurt them.

As long as your DC is not sore, or ill from not being bathed, then you are not doing anything wrong at all.

Besides, bathtime is so much fun for my DCs that it is far too stimulating to be a bedtime thing - they get bathed in the morning or afternoon, or have a quick shower before bed if they're dirty enough to make their sheets dirty!

DD hates water and doesn't get smelly, so she has a bath or shower once a week, sometimes longer. It's done when needed, not because it is a certain day. I'm needs orientated not task orientated. It's healthier for her skin in terms of dryness and skin flora colonisation. Also way easier

I used to do DS every night, he loved it, worked a treat.
Right up until we started baby swim
Now he hates it because we don't get to swim in the baby bath.
It is about 5 times a week, but I am thinking of swapping it to mornings and skipping it on swim days and then spending extra time in the shower at the gym to wash off the chlorine.

DD's get a bath every 2 or 3 days, and hair washed either then or once a week as long as she has kept it tied up and no food is in it.
They are horrible after the bath, DH is normally still at work, DD1 gets hysterical when I try to dry/comb her hair and DD2 just runs around naked and wees on the landing so for my sanity I daren't do it more often!
If they get very grubby in teh say I will chuck them in and shower them down in the daytime but that doesn't count as I don't have to sort hair etc so is easier!
(They are 1.10 and 3.5 BTW)

When DS was a baby we bathed him every night, obsessively, without fail, and I swear we thought that he would explode or something if we didn't do the bathe, story, bed routine ... we did this until he was 2.

Then DD came along and we took the poker out from our *rses and now both kids get bathed about twice a week, which they love, or more often if they need it.

In the school hols / at weekends they often jump in the bath with me in the morning instead of having a bath before bed.

OP, if you're a scummy mummy then so am I - here's to scummydom!

No.

DS 10 months,and had ecxzema as a wee baby, so i only bathed him every second or third night. Now he spends a lot of time crawling round the garden and rubbing food into his hair, I relish the days he is clean enough not to need a bath.

We never bathe on a swim day, his skin is too dry.

I have 4 children. I bathe the younger two every night (they are 2 and 3) and the older ones have a shower every morning.

2.8yo DS and 10mo DD get bathed every other night. I have to start psyching (sp?) myself up for it all at about 4:30. They have excema and the hard water totally messes up their skin, a bit of dirt never did anyone any harm.