How often do you bath your babies ??

I know that I have always bathed my babies everyday. Right from birth. I know that I feel and sleep better being clean and I would expect that my babies would feel the same. Plus I hate to think of any little bits of poo that have been missed in a nappy change or whatever.

I have heard though, some of the midwives at the hospital recommend only bathing baby evey second day. Do you do this, and if so for how long ? ie, until 1 week old, 2 weeks ??

I realise that most new mums have a lot to do in the first few weeks of bubs life, but surely taking out 30 minutes a day to bath bub isn't too much.

I still bath my daughter every second day because she has very dry and sensitive skin, on the day I don't bath her I give her a top-tail before bed.

Flynn slept ridiculous amounts as a newborn - he would literally wake, BF for 1 hour, burp and go back to sleep. I remember he was 3 weeks old and had only had 4 baths! DH and I started making a concerted effort to bath him every 2nd day when he was a month old but then he developed a skin rash from being bathed "so often" )LOL) so he was a once every 3-4 days bather till he was at least 3 months old. Gradually we stepped up to once every 2nd day but he has had 1 bath a day since about 5 months. For us it was more that he slept so much and would get cranky if you did anything other than let him go to sleep that stopped us from bathing him more, rather than no having the time.

We did every second day for a long time because of Zander's as he HATED baths. For us it was bad enough with his reflux & him screaming for 90% of the day, so we didn't want to make it worse with putting him in a bath that he hated every day. Although he was washed down with a washer & soapy water every day.

I bathed DD every second day until she was about 6-8 weeks (again she had some skin issues - she was overdue and had the whole peeling thing going on, bathing her made it 10 times worse) and then it was every night before bed.

That's still her routine now - dinner, bath, bed.

Wow, seem's like I am the only freak that baths her babies every day.

Most babies have skin issues when they come out, only normal, they are out into air, not a water world. Their skin dries out. That's where some cream comes into it.

I bathed Eden every second day for the first month, then it became everyday as we do boob, bath, boob and bed... sometimes if she has a massive pooooooooooooo that makes its way up her back she will have two in a day... i find a quik bath so much faster and more effective than a washer while she's sqirming all over the change table. She gets oiled up everytime too.. she lurves her little baby massages. She was dry after maybe her first two baths but ever since then she's had dreamy creamy skin.
i think she needs a bath everyday, shes a sweaty head baby and gets booby milk everywhere!!!!

I bath DD every day for a couple of reasons (not in any particular order);

1. It helps shift her wind
2. It relaxes her before bed and she sleeps better
3. She LOVES her bath!!!!!!
4. It is a great way for DH to bond with her and something he feels confident doing.

Before anyone mentions the water restrictions... I bucket (ok, I make DH bucket ;) ) the water onto the plants afterwards.

MG :)

I bathed the other boys every day but Caleb gets one every second day unless there is a blowout or he gets food in his hair.

I love to take my newborns for a bath with me. Kills 2 birds with one stone. I give them booby while their in there with me. Call out to DP who comes and gets them out and dresses them, then they are ready for bed :)

Sammi, I find at that age I just throw them in with the others in a bath seat. Gets it all done quicker. But much more mess !!

Dont think I am a bad mother but in Elizas first few weeks of life she was bathed once.. after the birth and then didnt have another one till she was transfered to another hospital 14 days later. She has had daily baths since :)
Bec

LOL Bec, I don't think your a bad mother. Totally different reasons there huni.

How is your princess going ?

I bathed Kayla every day.

She LOVED her baths and I love a squeeky clean bubba LOL. I Love them to smell clean.

So Trish, I join you LOL. I just like them to be clean. Even if it's just a quick one to wash their bottoms.

my DD Gets Bathed every 2nd day~ I was told from my M/W not to bath them every day because you remove all their natural oils from there skin... On the days she dosn't get bathed she gets a top an tail!

We started off bathing every second day because she hated the bath and hated getting dressed and undressed. So she lived in singlet and nappy for ages LOL.
Now she has a bath every night because she loves it, and loves being a nudie baby... if it weren't for the prolific wee I'd leave her to be a nudie all afternoon and evening as soon as she starts getting tired and cranky ;)

I can't remember... If they didn't get a bath they got a wipe down...
I read somewhere (Melb heral sun I think) that having them in a routine before bed of a night helps them to settle into a night time routine quicker. In other words they slept longer at night etc. That routine included a bath.

Tanya

Indah was always bathed nightly before bed... Dh & I would do it together, coz I hate missing out on anything & so does he, we fight over who's gonna do what with the kids! LOL...
Now she has a quick bath with me before bed or a shower with Dad, Maddy will shower or bath every second night, coz she thinks they are wasting her time (Goodness knows what else she has to do though!??)

I also get DH to bucket our bath water onto the plants!


For babies with dry skin I cant recommend a couple of teaspoons of Bi Carb soda & NOTHING else in the bath water!!!

We were every couple of days when he was little. We've never had a night routine, coz he slept at all different times and fell asleep on the boob, so *shrug*.

These days he has a shower with daddy most nights. If he's asleep when DH showers, then he'll have a shower with DH in the morning! THey have a great time in there sliding the rubber duckies up and down the shower LOL. Much more fun than a bath. He always stands up in his bath, doesn't sit and enjoy it... so showers it is :) Perhaps when there's 2 of them bathtime will be more fun.

ETA: Just read Tanya's post about night routines helping them sleep longer. Tallon's night sleeping still increased to longer sleeps without the strict routine :) He's a booby boy, so always woke up for boob, but we never had problems settling him again. He knew night & day sleeps from fairly early on. They don't all go by the book! hehe. We still have very wakeful nights tho when he's sick or teething etc.

Tracey, am loving your new ticker pic hun. Yummo!!

I bath her every second day because she get very dry skin if I bath her more often than that.
might try that bi-carb trick, Tracey.. thanks :)

So far I've been bathing him every second day, because he absolutely HATES having a bath, and it takes ages for me to settle him afterwards. He's not that dirty yet either ;)

we stared with 3 times a weeks until about 12 weeks from there it is everyday as part of night routine!

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It doesn't help her wind down, though... she's usually wild and hell frisky after her bath, as she loves playing in there so much

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LOL - I thought it was just my little monkey who did this!! :)

Chelsea is bathed/showered every night, if she isnt then i make sure the next morning she has one!

Olive oil is also great in their baths when their skin is peeling.

Yep Olive Oil, but not for hairy babies like mine, then they look mlike Elvis!!

I used to bath Kaitlyn every second day. The midwive said to me that until a child is eating or playing or doing things that can actually get them dirty as such then they only really need to be bathed every second day.

love your new Ticker Tracey!!!!!!!!!!!!

Adrian didn`t get his first bath till he was 5 days old!!!! Now he gets a bath about every 2nd day (unless for some reason he`s really dirty like face plastered with rice cereal or weetbix LOL) due to all the issues I had with Matthew`s senstitve skin I don`t want to go down that road again and so far so good :pray:

I bath DS every day, partly because I shower twice a day and adore going to bed nice and clean myself and partly because I loved giving him a bath.

He adored his bath from Day 1, would lie back and just chill out, so cute. And quite literally Day 1 - he had his first bath in the delivery suite because he did his first meconium poo all over me just after he was born and it went EVERYWHERE.:rolleyes: We have some lovely pictures ready for his 21st birthday of him getting weighed with poo all over him.:lol:

HI

we've always bathed both bubs everyday. i think we were desperate to get Oscar into a routine so he knew when his 'long' sleep was coming up. I think it helped as he slept through from his second day home from hospital. We did the same with Will (who didn't sleep through for 3 or 4 months and even not really now without being re-dummied) but also because he had reflux and was so covered in sick that we had to! i think its a nice wind down or excess energy burn in Oscars' case as he's mostly 'physco' in the bath! i hadn't heard about the every other day advice - oops!

Julie x

ETA -

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not for hairy babies like mine, then they look mlike Elvis!!

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pmsl at the mental image Tracey!!!!

We lived in a very hot climate so daily bathing was essential for us from day one, I know I can't go to bed with out one, And if I dare put baby to bed with ut his bath I hear about it very quickly. Lol. Sometimes bubs gets bathed 2-3 times a day depends on where we are and time of year.

We bath DS every second day due to his ezcema.

If he didn't have it so bad, we'd bath every night, he loves it and it's a great night time routine to get him settled for bed.

Our DS has a bath every night. He absolutely loves it and goes crazy with excitement. How can we deny him such a pleasure? I also love the smell of a freshly washed baby.

I feel SOOO guilty if i dont bath them a particular night. If we have a late night out or something and get home late we wont bother....but first thing in morning they are in the bath. I agree 1timemum, i love the smell of a fresh baby.....

we bathed jack once a day for first 10 weeks then when he started sleeping thru we went to 2 baths a day he has occasionally had 2 baths and a shower

i am sorry but he smells bad of a morning i couldn't imagine not bathing him straight up

I always bathed Em once a day. But really, I don't think I realised there was the option not to lOL. I think this time, if it doesn't fit in, I won't worry about it too much.

I guess it depends too if the bub likes baths or not!

We bathed both girls daily as newborns right before bed to relax them.

We were told we only needed to bath every second day when Jess was a bubba as he's not rolling around and getting dirty or sweating or getting food all over him, so theres no need really to bath everyday, unless we wanted to. We started bathing everyday when it got warmer and he would sweat and i think it was when he started having big baths too.. so was about 1.5 months old maybe 2 months.. also as i started to set a routine for him then too.
He now has a bath once a day after dinner.. sometimes if we're going out and he makes a mess from his breakfast he'll have another in the morning which makes him happy as he loves them.

Trish, I bathed both my boys every day from birth, apart from the odd day when they slept too much or whatever and I just didn't get the time. But Tom spent a little bit of time in SCN and there they only bath babies every second day. I think this is bcos many bubs are hooked up to things so it's a big job, but Tom wasn't and they still didn't do it every day. I did though - they allowed me to keep him in my room most of the time that he was supposed to be in SCN as he really didn't need to be there. I also remember the midwife telling me when we went home that while it was good to try and bath every day, a missed day wouldn't hurt.

Milo has a bath every day since his eczema has settled down.