Be honest - how often do you bathe your kids?

[Anonymous]

I have twin babies. One has dry skin, so we bathe him every other day during the week (and then whenever necessary on the weekend, like if we go swimming or he gets stinky/sweaty). My other twin is bathed every day during the week (hair every other day) and same as-needed weekend policy as the one with the dry skin.

[Anonymous]

We bathe our almost four month old every other night-ish - I have a hard time not giving her a bath after a real blowout of a diaper, but I imagine we could go another day or two between baths and it would be fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:what does bathing has to do with cancer?

It's not the act of bathing, it's the soaps and cleaners that she's concerned may contain cancer-causing chemicals. If I had her family history of cancer, I might be a little more paranoid myself.

That said, I my 23mo gets a bath every night, although admittedly some nights are more thorough than others. It's just a big part of our evening routine.

[Anonymous]

our not-quite-2 DD gets a bath virtually every night we too only use soap every 2 or 3 days and probably wash hair once a week. (she hardly has any still so it's not sweaty normally)

Not so much because she always NEEDS it, but she likes it and it's part of our bedtime ritual - we find it provides a nice and very clear line to break off playing vs. getting ready for bed time.

[Anonymous]

Our 3yo gets a bath 6-7 nights out of 7. She gets grungy and it's just part of the bedtime routine. She enjoys it. She's sorta sticky the next day if we skip it (which we do if we're out late or she has a babysitter or I'm especially exhausted at the end of the day). We only wash her hair every other night, or sometimes skip 2 nights -- that's more of an ordeal.

To the PP worried about cancer from bath products -- there are a LOT of safe, natural soaps out there. We use California Baby, but there are a ton more. Whole Foods has piles of them, a local co-op grocery store or farmers market would have some, you could find some online... I agree there are some questionable ingredients in some of the major brands out there, but fear of cancer does not mean you need to skip soap altogether.

[Anonymous]

6 yr old -- 2x a week baseline. More often if there's bug spray, garden dirt, sweat, etc.

[Anonymous]

When our kids were infants, it was an every night part of bed time routine bath, soaping up every 2-3 days (just a warm water bath other days). Now that they're 3 and 15 months, approximately every other night or whenever they've been coated with a lot of sunscreen, bug spray, surprising amounts of dirt, etc.

[Anonymous]

These days pretty much every day. I'd say he's outside every day, and so he's either full of dirt, sweat, or sunscreen. Leaving sunscreen on is not great for anyone.

[Anonymous]

I bathe my 6 month old every night (hair every other night). It's his bedtime routine, and after being at daycare, I just feel like he needs to clean off. I know the other kids like to touch him and I have seen where their hands have been! We use soap every night, and lotion afterwards to prevent dry skin. I never quite understood why people don't wash their kids every night because they are afraid of drying out their skin (unless they have eczema). Just lather them up with lotion and it isn't a problem!

[Anonymous]

Every night. Including hair. He is 19 months old, and this has been the ritual pretty much since he was born.

[Anonymous]

My two-year-old gets wet 2 or 3 times a day. (Yes, a day.) She insists on getting in the shower with us in the morning; her nanny does a bath as part of the routine; and sometimes I'll put her in the tub before bed, often just to kill time and have some splashy fun. I think the nanny uses soap almost every day. I only use soap when washing hair, and that's about twice a week.

[Anonymous]

Every night for my 17mo almost from the beginning. It use to calm her and now she likes to play. Plus in the summer, she is really dirty at the end of the day.

I don't wash the hair everyday and often only soap the hand, feet and bottom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:our not-quite-2 DD gets a bath virtually every night we too only use soap every 2 or 3 days and probably wash hair once a week. (she hardly has any still so it's not sweaty normally)

Not so much because she always NEEDS it, but she likes it and it's part of our bedtime ritual - we find it provides a nice and very clear line to break off playing vs. getting ready for bed time.

Same for us.

[Anonymous]

My 5.5 month old gets a bath every night. It calms him down and it signals that it's bed time for him (I think )

[Anonymous]

Nightly because my son has eczema, and Aquaphor ointment works a million times better when applied to damp skin vs. dry skin.