How often do we really need to wash our kids???

[Bunny10]

So I read today that Vivienne Westwood only has a bath once a week to keep her looking young and to save water/help the environment. It got me thinking - how often do your kids have a bath or shower? I'm in the habit of giving my little ones a bath every night although they probably don't need it. It's just a habit/part of their routine. But I keep reading about how we need to stop wasting so much water in the home as water levels are low and am feeling guilty. Any tips on keeping kids clean without a nightly bath???

People who shower once or twice a day want to think they are doing it the 'right way' more right than people who don't. And it's easily to just say 'anyone who doesn't is just a lazy smelly person'.

I can't bear the smell of laundry detergent and most shower gels.

Exactly Annie and Multivac! I don’t bathe every day but that doesn’t mean I don’t brush my teeth twice a day. My teeth need cleaning every day but every part of my body doesn’t. DS1 stinks after he has worked out so has a shower, I don’t sweat much at all so I don’t stink. I’m not sure what you mean by creative excuses SoyYo, the reasons are real. I promise you if I smelt like DS1 ever I would be showering much more frequently. I am not nose blind, nor are my family.

SoyYo you've called your neighbours - and us here on-thread - "lazy", "dirty", "minge", compared our bodies to people who are "homeless, destitute and cannot afford warm water" and told us that the different choices we make are "feeble excuses". You've insulted our families: "bad habits inherited". And you find us and our dirty, Victorian, not-worthy-of-being-called-first-world practices so terribly, terribly amusing.

I sat next to a guy on the bus the other day who stank of urine. It was so bad I pretended the next stop was mine rather than continue sitting there (and I didn't want to be mean and just move seats). I'd still rather sit next to him than someone who is as sneery about other people as you.

My son was born extremely premature and he didn't have his first bath for about 6 weeks, maybe more. He didn't smell though, but I bet it felt good! 😂

ArcheryAnne Please don't take what I said out of the context it was said in. I apologise if I offended you.
Not taking the piss now:
I don't really think about my daily showering habit vs other people, it is so ingrained in me that it is simply a "no brainer" daily habit...but I do remember the pong in the classrooms/nurseries/playgroups.

That is not my imagination.
And how outraged I was with my first landlady trying to limit my daily showers as a student all those years ago...It was so bizarre, yet to her my habit was equally bizarre.
Think about it from my different cultural perspective, when daily/twice daily showering is dead common across all social groups.

If I am travelling in the London Tube (I don't live there or commute regularly) I notice the same rankness in crowded trains.
I put it down to people not washing often enough.
Nothing anyone has said in this thread has persuaded me that my habits are OTT.
Some people even told me I was neurotic... It is hilarious that anyone would think me neurotic for saying that a daily shower for DC should be the norm rather than the exception.

I still believe DC (with all the previous provisos about extreme skin conditions, etc etc) truly benefit from a daily shower or bath.
Not just for hygiene reasons, also because it is relaxing for them.
I remember my DC being babies/little and how enjoyable it was for them. Blissful for them. Happy Memories.

To me, the top and tailing habit/just using wipes is unhygienic.
Bottoms need a proper daily wash (sorry to be so direct!).
It is just my opinion.
Judging by the comments I received I am in the minority which is fair enough. Not my body. Not my DC.
I don't feel in any way superior to people who don't shower daily.
I was trying to use a bit of sarcasm/humour when I spoke about old Victorian habits...in that respect I thought the old self deprecating British sense of humour would "get" where I was coming from.

But maybe, just maybe, those of us who like to are just a little bit cleaner and sweeter smelling than those who don't.

I can't bear the smell of laundry detergent and most shower gels.

Me neither. I teach sport and sometimes i can’t get close to a child because the laundry smell is so overpowering.

I have a really sensitive sense of smell, bit i have to say years of travelling on public transport and working with both kids and adults and never noticed all these people who don’t wash. It’s very rare I meet someone who smells- except for the overpowering perfume/ laundry people.

When I was a kid I was bathed every Sunday night (I turned out alright)
I'm 31 now and don't bother daily bathing

But maybe, just maybe, those of us who like to are just a little bit cleaner and sweeter smelling than those who don't. flowers

Odfod. That’s got to be about the rudest most insulting thing I’ve read on here in a long time.

Maybe, just maybe, you’re a patronising twat who I don’t want to be anywhere near, no matter how much better you smell than all us unwashed peasants.

My youngest is eczema prone and we found that washing/bathing/showering every day made it worse. Now he showers twice a week and his skin is pretty much ok. He's nine, so not at the smelly stage yet so we may have to revisit as he gets older!
In the same vein, he's a very good swimmer but couldn't go down the club swimming route because his skin can't cope with pool water and showering more than once a week.

One thing this thread has shown is that maybe, just maybe an arsehole will always be an arsehole no matter how many showers it has.

Lol Micah and Touché
I will ignore the "t" word but in Spanish we say: Ladran Sancho, Señal que cabalgamos...Meaning what I said must have touched a raw nerve if it incited such an outraged comeback.
Yes I think it's very strange not to shower daily, but I don't feel superior just because other grown ups choose not to...but I do think they don't smell as good as me.
Can you not see the difference?
Indeed you might be a far cleverer, kinder, better person than me.
We are only talking personal hygiene habits, not judging people's character here.
It's also enjoyable and relaxing.
I realise this is not the general concensus on this thread. Maybe I challenged one person to rethink their personal hygiene habits.
Maybe not.
It's not a matter of life or death. The human race survived the Dark Ages without washing
When it comes to DC I do think it's not very kind to them, or their teachers, to have them smelly. A quick shower is faster and better for school age kids than messing about with unhygienic flannels and wipes. Babies and Toddlers I already expressed my thoughts earlier.
But I fully own and admit my cultural bias: Do you?

And as the insults keep rolling in I'll say good night ladies.
Call me whatever else you like.
I had an opinion on personal hygiene and DC and glad I had the "cojones" to speak my mind.
Chill. Life is too short...

The British are famous for not washing ?? Didn't hear that one yet. Thought that was the French/Europeans in general and the British stereotype was the teeth (don't hate me plz, I dont think that myself lol)

I bath/shower my two year old every night, my big two have showers everyday and it's been that way since they where born, it's our routine bath/shower, book and bed. Kids need to learn good personal hygiene then they won't be smelly adults!
my two year old tries to wash himself but I help him too,
All 3 wash their hair every night too.

The British are famous for not washing ?
might be to do with some hotels/b&b still having no mixer taps in bathrooms and (very rarely nowadays) no shower, just a bath.

messing about with unhygienic flannels

Only a problem if you don't know how to do laundry, tbf.

Once or twice a day, obviously. Just like brushing your teeth.

Interesting thread... always find these ones make good reading.

We bath both children every evening.

We shower daily... me usually twice daily.
I can’t go to sleep dirty and I can’t go on the road not having showered. I wash my hair once per week same with my children’s hair.

And yes white British people are notoriously known for having poor hygiene... it’s not just the whole teeth thing. I always thought it to be a lie, because my DH is white and showers every day.... but then I joined MN and have seen a lot of threads about hygiene and the responses tend to confirm the gossip.

Culturally for me it’s what you do, shower before school, shower before dinner... teeth cleaned before bed. As I’ve lived around the world a bit I’ve seen in so many other cultures the value placed on bathing/showering.

Interesting article: and what’s the first things said about England....

https://www.google.com.au/amp/www.refinery29.com/amp/2016/01/101925/cultural-differences-women-showering

I do wonder whether we have conditioned ourselves out of accepting human smells -I'm not talking urine, poo, BO- but everyday humanness. Synthetic= good, human= bad. I like the smell of my husband after a day's work and of my boys when they are running and playing. To me there's something necessary and carnal about liking it. I much prefer it to obliterating it with synthetics.

I had an opinion on personal hygiene and DC and glad I had the "cojones" to speak my mind.

Yes thank god. People like you, who have the balls to speak out about the important things in life, like levels of minginess and flannel use, are the ones who really make a difference.

Yep poor hygiene is a well known white British thing. Not showering/ bathing every day is a massive no no in majority of other ethnic groups/cultures. It's not just the teeth...

From your own account, Ilovesouthlondon, I brush my teeth twice as often as you. Does that make you guilty of poor hygiene, then? Does your bad breath cancel out my flannel wash, or have we achieved some sort of balance in the universe?

ArcheryAnnie I obviously touched a nerve. You probably brush your rotten teeth only occasionally which is why you've called me out. If you were close enough to smell my "bad breath" as you call it you would not dare to be so rude- key board warrior. According to you everyone who brushes their teeth twice a day like me has bad breath...ok...

Oooooooooooooooooooh..........

It's like some sort of competitive hygiene throwdown.