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???

This thread has been interesting. I shower twice a day, I try & cut it down to once a day but I feel disgusting & struggle to do it, maybe I'm a bit obsessive over it I also suffer from mild acne, could over washing my face be making it worse?

Whoops derailed a bit, meant to be about how often we wash our children & I rambled on about myself

Dgd has eczema so shower/bath once a week. I have to shower every day, I have slot of products to wash out of my hair!
To the poster who says her kids smells great with talc have you read this?
www.nhs.uk/news/cancer/talc-and-ovarian-cancer-what-the-most-recent-evidence-shows/

HoneyBoo short answer is yes, overwashing can make acne worse, as it dries the skin out and prompts your skin to produce more oil. You also have to be careful about things like over-exfoliating, which can also make acne worse.

And if you are in that cycle, I can see that it would be really hard to stop! If you do manage to cut down to one shower a day, you might start off feeling disgusting, but give it a while, and your skin - and your feelings about it - will readjust.

We don’t have a bath so DCs have a shower twice a week, plus an extra one after swimming (at the pool of course, to save our water bill ). They’re infant school age.

And the British wonder how they got their reputation for being unwashed!

I'm with you SoyYo, eczema-sufferers aside, there are some people with very poor hygiene habits on here. Make all the excuses you want though

Interestingly despite the hv constantly telling us that over bathing would make dd2's eczema worse, hers vastly improved when the dermatologist advised daily baths with an emollient followed by cream regime. Her skin is a lot worse when she is slack about doing this. My friend's daughter is under GOSH for her eczema, and she received similar advice (in fact her skin has been at it's best with a twice daily bath/emollient/cream regime).

I do know though that other people's eczema is better with less bathing, so would never say this is gospel. As is often the case, what works for one, will not necessarily work for another, and it's a case of different strokes for different folks (but Mumsnet would disappear if people took that on board!)

Did you do the emollient and cream when you bathed less?
Or did you bathed less but still used the same soapy bath products?

Make all the excuses you want though

Ah bollocks to that. It is the posters with the attitude that others are skanky, pitying teachers who have to enter classrooms of unwashed children and people who reek of pious self-righteousness that stink around here.

Yeah okay, keep telling yourself that...

Jamie, and are you able to tell us exactly the negative outcome for all these people who wash less than you? I rarely come across anyone who has an unwashed smell at all so all these people going around without a daily shower are completely unnoticeable compared to those doing two showers a day.

I think it's a cultural thing. Literally the only people I've met who say they don't shower daily or do a flannel wash are white British. I don't know a single Asian or African person who does the same.

Lweji - she would still have twice daily creams, but obviously only the emollient when she bathed. She just seems to have to use less hydrocortisone, and has less flare ups when she baths daily.

Well if you smell too then you're unlikely to notice other people's smells, are you?

(Not "you" personally, "you" in general)

I didn't do creams. Just washed with emollient and that was it.
Many creams make eczema worse. So the daily bath may help because of that.
But, whatever works.

I wasn’t aware that the British had a reputation of being unwashed. Also are you so judgemental of disabled people? My Mum hasn’t been able to have a bath for months as she cannot get in the bath so she has to make do with a flannel wash. She does not smell. My ds would not like visiting her if she did.

The bits that smell are usually underarms, genitals and feet. Hair after a while.

I only have full showers daily because it is faster to wash all those bits in one go.

Without creams her skin is like a cracked desert, and splits and gets infected. Like you say, whatever works!

I have a bath everyday, have a very sensitive sense of smell and work with small children - unless they have had an accident, I smell the washing powder on their clothes more than I smell them.

DD 14 months every day bath water and DerMol cream as she has eczema I found washing less made her skin worse but every child is different
Plus a it great for little play before bed

This thread has shocked me a bit. I really thought it would be unusual not to bath/shower every day both kids and adults. A quick shower really doesn't use much water at all. Makes me wonder about clothes washing but that's a whole other thread.

My husband and I both have showers every day (separately lol), and my 12 month old and 3.5 year old DD's both have a bath every night. They are grimy by then end of the day, especially on a nursery day (that nursery stink -urgh) and really need it. Hair washing and all. I think it sets you up for good hygiene habits in later life. I can't see how kids will go from a bath or shower once or twice a week to happily daily when they are teenagers and need it without a problem. I always wondered why some people smell on the tube and in work and maybe here's my answer.

I have eczema and my DD2 does too. I find a bath/shower and emollient after really helps to lock in the moisture and is essential in keeping the skin healthy. I remember trying to put on cream to dry skin and it was so itchy and uncomfortable, it would make me scratch and be hot and make everything worse. I do appreciate people may be different in that respect however.

My 4-year-old is a dirt magnet so he gets a quick bath every day before nursery. He would be like Pig-Pen from Peanuts one. :o

DS2 is 10 and used to get his shower 4 nights a week but he's started liking some gel spray in his hair for school (I know, I know...) so he gets one every morning now.

I personally don't feel comfortable leaving the house without having a shower first but I don't think people who don't are stinkers.

without one.

Whoops.

DC1's eczema magically disappeared when the doc told us to stop the daily bathing. His skin is perfect now, and DC2 has never had any issues, as she wasn't washed daily. Small children really don't need to be soaped every day, their apocrine sweat glands are not active yet. And daily hairwash does not necessarily bring about good hygiene habits - it is likely to make hair produce more grease and mean that they will need to wash their hair daily for the rest of their life, whether they want it or not.

It's all too easy to say you don't smell when you don't wash for a few days. Because you have gone nose blind. To others you may smell.
You only have to step on public transport in the morning to smell the great unwashed.
It's not pleasant. Even worse at the end of the day.
Children in particular need a bath/shower more than once or twice a week. A lot at an early age don't wipe properly.

I can't see how kids will go from a bath or shower once or twice a week to happily daily when they are teenagers and need it without a problem.

I did. I started showering daily because I wanted to during puberty and as periods started. Before I'd just top and tail.