How often do YOU bathe your kids?

[JustMandy]

This is my unofficial poll to (hopefully) make me feel better about my parenting . My kids (4 and 17 mos) get two or on good weeks three baths a week. The baby (3 weeks) has only had one a week poor guy.

You always hear about bath time being part of the bedtime routine, then that kids don't need daily baths unless they are DIRTY...what's the deal??

 

[lucypevensie]

That's about how often my kids got bathed when they were those ages too. I just give them a bath when they need one or if they need a bit of "perking up", say for church or something.

I'm sure your kids are fine

 

[frankincense]

My 7 month old gets bathed twice a week. My 6 &7 year olds- every day. My 2 & 4 year old- about 4 times a week.

 

[Jengi]

I bath my 10 week old every night as part of her bedtime routine. When I do it, she sleeps through most of the night, when I don't she has a rough night! Sometimes I am feeling especially lazy and wish we hadn't gotten into doing it each night!

 

[Katydid]

my kids get maybe 2 or 3 a week. The water over here (I am in Germany) REALLY dries out their skin, so they only get a couple a week. Unless of course they get really stinky or dirty.

 

[Zoomer]

I bathe them only 3 times a week unless they are dirty. Which they get almost everyday since it is summer and they play outside.

 

[Leanna]

My son is 10 months and I bathe him every other day. When he was younger, I did only twice a week because he wouldn't get as dirty. I have always heard every day isn't necessary and so I never did it. With one child it is easy though and he LOVES baths, so the issue isn't laziness. When I put him in a bath he is happy and cries when we take him out. He loves to splash. Hehe.

 

[Neenie1]

My 3 yo gets a bath every second day. Normally anyway, partly because we are in drought (I am not in a drought affected area so much but Australia is a dry country and I don't like to waste water) and partly because I am soooo lazy at that time of the day (I am also 8 mths pregnant so that doesn't help) Also when he is in there he doesn't want to get out and the water gets cold and we are in winter here too.


Don't feel bad about not giving your kids a bath every day, my 3 yo has always been a reasonable sleeper, and has never really had a bath every day.

 

[andiesmama]

Andie (who's 3) gets a bath pretty much every night, probably averages out to like 5 or 6 times a week. I might skip a night here & there but not often.

It's not because she gets so dirty....altho now that it's summer she's outside ALOT & gets sweaty & all...but it's just a part of her bedtime routine. It helps to get her in the frame of mind that it's time to get geared down for bedtime.

 

[CarrieAg93]

Our sons had eczmema when they were babies so our peditrician told us not to bathe them unless they really needed it so we just kinda got into that habit. I'd say they average twice a week. Some weeks end up being almost every night - just depends on how dirty or stinky they've gotten. I do feel bad when neither DH nor I can remember when that last bath was.

 

[Princessperky]

we do the daily one (some exceptions due to odd things) but we have it as part of the bedtime routine. BUT soap is optional . (well optional as decided by mom, not the DCs)

 

[JustMandy]

I do feel bad when neither DH nor I can remember when that last bath was.

I've been known to do the same thing :o . It's so good to hear I'm not crazy! Alright, time to take a nap and then think about maybe just maybe bathing the baby....

 

[JustMandy]

we do the daily one (some exceptions due to odd things) but we have it as part of the bedtime routine. BUT soap is optional . (well optional as decided by mom, not the DCs)

I like that soap optional thing...I may have to do that. Maybe than I would get into a regular routine!

 

[andiesmama]

we do the daily one (some exceptions due to odd things) but we have it as part of the bedtime routine. BUT soap is optional . (well optional as decided by mom, not the DCs)

That's what we do...sometimes I just let her play awhile in the tub or shower, I figure at least some of the grime will rinse off! lol

 

[appleofhiseye]

I bathe my kids about twice a week (Wed) & (Sat). They may need a quick clean-up on other nights, so I do a sponge down with a warm washcloth at the sink. Teeth brushing, everynight, is what sets the stage for book and bed, in our house.

My kids' skin tends to be on the dry side, so I don't want too many baths drying them out more.LOL

 

[christalee4]

I think when you have more than one, and especially over 4 kids, a daily bath is too much of a chore. I have only one, and probably from my midwestern German upbringing, I got kind of crazy about making sure my son was bathed every day before bed.

My only concern is that infrequent bathing when younger (they don't get as stinky when they're young and sweet) may translate into lax habits later when they're teens. My son is now 15 and you can best believe he is getting his heiny in the shower or bath every night! My two stepkids, sadly, when they came for bi-weekly visitation or summer visitation, would balk at bathing frequently - my stepdaughter at 17 sometimes went 4-5 days without washing her hair! It was not good.

 

[JustMandy]

My two stepkids, sadly, when they came for bi-weekly visitation or summer visitation, would balk at bathing frequently - my stepdaughter at 17 sometimes went 4-5 days without washing her hair! It was not good.

EEWWWW! LOL!

I have a feeling when I don't have to kneel at the tub chasing slippery little heathens with a wash cloth they will get more baths!! The truth is I don't like to give them a bath. I am annoyed at the water everywhere and splashing. I'm just counting the minutes until I can get them out without too big of a fight. That's weird, because I'm generally very laid back about things especially messes...hmmm sounds like deep seeded issues On the other hand, I am pretty hippie-ish myself. I go through phases where I don't put too much into personal hygene (just clean enough for peple not to notice...my poor DH!!)

 

[Princessperky]

Close the curtain, then the spashing stays in the tub, get a clear liner if you need to see them still, then get a mag and lean against the wall while they get the ritual part, you get to relax (or I have heard of cleaning the bathroom while they play, but eww.)

 

[selune]

Glad to know I'm not the only one who doesn't bathe the kids regularly. The 10 year old like to shower almost everyday, which is great. The others like to shower, they just don't only about 2-3 times a week. In the winter, we've had problems with their skin drying so badly that it scales and lotion never helped, so that's when we started cutting back on showering, the dry skin went away, and the kids were cleaned when they were grimy or stinky.

 

[lucypevensie]

EEWWWW! LOL!

I have a feeling when I don't have to kneel at the tub chasing slippery little heathens with a wash cloth they will get more baths!! The truth is I don't like to give them a bath. I am annoyed at the water everywhere and splashing. I'm just counting the minutes until I can get them out without too big of a fight. That's weird, because I'm generally very laid back about things especially messes...hmmm sounds like deep seeded issues On the other hand, I am pretty hippie-ish myself. I go through phases where I don't put too much into personal hygene (just clean enough for peple not to notice...my poor DH!!)

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one whe dislikes giving baths! I feel kind of bad about that sometimes. Mine are old enough to start taking showers and washing their own hair now , but I still have to supervise, make sure all the shampoo gets rinsed out and all that.