Bathing frequency

I bath mine daily as part of their routine, and coz they enjoy it. I've just started bathing BEFORE dinner rather than after as the gremlins are in a better mood then and don't scream when they're getting dressed, plus it means I can get them into bed so we can eat dinner in peace instead of inhaling it as fast as possible to deal with them.

Maya wrote: I bath mine daily as part of their routine, and coz they enjoy it. I've just started bathing BEFORE dinner rather than after as the gremlins are in a better mood then and don't scream when they're getting dressed, plus it means I can get them into bed so we can eat dinner in peace instead of inhaling it as fast as possible to deal with them.

Yes we had a similar problem, since then I have switched to doing baths during the day. It means they don't get the bath before bed routine but to be honest, I'm a bit concerned about that becoming a crutch - like if we went out late one night or something.

We're probably ever three days but then it does depend on how much food Alex gets in his hair...not a nice smell after a day.

Alex, who is 16 months, really loves his bath but for the last few he has done poos while having his bath. What a drama. I have to take him out, get rid of the poos, change the water, clean the bath and then refill...what a drama!@

When Emma Rose was born, we bathed her every 2-4 days. She once went a week without a "proper" bath (I think it was in the winter, when it was too cold in the house we were renting to strip her totally down for the bath!). Now that she's self-feeding, it's more like every night or every other night after dinner. But if she didn't get food crusted all over herself, I probably wouldn't bathe her unless she was "dirty".

When we'd just come home from Birthcare, one of DH's aunties (who used to be a nurse) came to see her and was asking me when Em had last had a bath. I answered, "Um... At Birthcare she had one, I think it was three days ago?" and she FREAKED OUT, saying that we HAD to bathe Em EVERY DAY, and telling us that she was going to run the bathwater RIGHT THEN AND THERE and bathe our child.

We somehow managed to change the subject but after she left, you know I was crying on the phone to my mother, my midwife, and my doula asking if I was harming my baby by not bathing her every single day.  That auntie really made me feel like a bad mother! Months later, another relative mentioned that was all Auntie could talk about at family gatherings immediately following her visit to us -- how we didn't bathe our child every single day. SHEESH!

i bath haleigh every night now shes older only cause she loves it, when she was little there was no need to as she didnt get dirty enough.
my midwife I had with haleigh told me not ot bath her everyday as a baby not until she started getting 'dirty' basically.

Whats a doula?

DH gives DD a bath every day because she loves it and he enjoys it - it's their 'thing'. I don't stress if she misses a bath and sometimes if we're out and she falls asleep we just put her into bed or give her a quick face/hands/feet wipe.
I do like to bath her because I figure it's good for her since she's sitting around in nappies all day and it must be nice to get a really clean bum. Just my theory!

Our girls went without for nearly 2 weeks when I broke my foot - I couldn't do it, DH wasn't available when they were, and I didn't try my home-help's sense of co-ordination etc. (Have since found out that she needs new glasses.) So I can't believe you got hassled for not bathing every day Katherine!