For today’s Monday Musings I’m wondering, how often do you bathe your kids? Do babies and children need to have a bath everyday? I say no. But I’m pretty sure I’m in the minority.
Don’t get me wrong, I keep my kids clean. I don’t take them into public with caked food on their faces and dirty clothes are changed immediately. Sometimes my kids go through three changes of clothes a day. But as far as baths go, I only make them take one about once a week. And hair gets washed less frequently than that. I clean their dirty parts as needed, and if there’s a particularly scary bathroom accident or they’ve had a major mud splashing or food fight, they get into the bath. They also have them if they’re bored or I feel (or they feel) that they need winding down before bed. I think of these baths more like water -based play or relaxation activities though. True baths, complete with soap and shampoo, happen once a week or less. Shocking but true.
I went to France when I was 18 and stayed with a family there. The adults bathed approximately once a week. I was horrified and guiltily took my daily bath. Years later in my mental health career I worked with a woman from Switzerland. We were brainstorming ways to get our clients to bathe more often. She shared with me her upbringing and values around baths and divulged that she still didn’t take daily baths. Instead she had sponge baths. For her, it wasn’t about being okay with being dirty, it was about not being okay with the unnecessary task of bathing. It was also about saving water. This made sense to me.
But the first time I ever really thought about lessening how much I personally showered, and/or specifically, washed with soap, was about ten years ago when a friend disclosed to me that the girl he was dating didn’t use soap. And she was the farthest thing from crunchy that I’d ever seen!
Soon after, I stopped showering everyday and started showering every other day. I went easy on the soap. Since no one complained and I didn’t feel much different, it became a part of my new routine.
When I was pregnant I read about the benefits of leaving a newborn’s vernix on their skin after birth. Vernix is the layer of white stuff that is thought to protect baby skin from amniotic fluid and from bacterial infections while inside the uterus. Did you know that studies have found that delaying a newborn’s bath for several days (some suggest waiting until breastfeeding is well established) can protect the newborn from the bacteria in his new environment? Since my first birth ended up being an emergency c-section, I didn’t have a say as to when my daughter got her first bath. In fact, by the time I got to hold her an hour after they pulled her out of me she’d already been bathed according to hospital policy. I didn’t even get to give her her first bath! Argh.
With my second baby, since I birthed her at home I could do whatever I wanted. I was torn between the idea behind having a relaxing bath with her immediately after birth (also known as a Leboyer bath) and keeping her fresh and juicy for awhile. I opted for the latter. I think it was mostly because I was so tired though.
The first time I washed my firstborn in her little, plastic, baby bathtub I used a commercial goat milk-based baby soap. Immediately her skin went shlllllp! My baby’s soft marshmellow skin suddenly felt like lizard-scales. Soon after, I pretty much stopped using soap on her all together. When I needed to wash her with something stronger than H2O I used a natural organic shampoo/body wash. I stopped trusting commercial brands of baby shampoos all together once I started learning about the chemical ingredients in them.
I’m with the group of parents who feel that getting dirty is good for the immune system and that a few germs won’t kill our kids but will actually make them stronger. There are germs everywhere but many of these microorganisms are harmless and actually boost our immune system by cultivating the white blood cells that work to protect us against germs that are actually hazardous to our health. A layer of dust and dead skin cells on my kids doesn’t freak me out. They’re both extremely healthy, well groomed, and I think, clean enough.
What do you think about not bathing your kids everyday? How often do you bathe your kids? Did you opt for the bath right after birth or did you wait awhile?
A VERY BIG thank you to one of my favorite bloggers, Tabatha of Tabulous (she’s so fabulous!) for doing some photoshop work for me so I could have a special Monday Musings photo.
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My husband has a PHD in chemical toxicity. We avoid using soaps that are not safe (specially -parabens) and runaway from the externally imposed need for the daily baby bath full of chemicals that the baby skin absorbs. We bathe her 2 a week with very little of a 100% natural soap, sometimes w/o soap altogether.
in the summer my kids are outside in the dirt all the time and daily baths are a must. During winter they get baths ever 2 or 3 days or so. The baby about the same. I would do it less actually, but she loves to be in the water so sometimes i do it just because she is fussy etc. On soaps etc…I wash the older kids hair everytime they are in but the baby not every time. And only if there is visible dirt on anyone that needs scrubbed off do they use any sort of soap. I don’t rarely ever use soap on myself either. I think it messes up your skin balance and causes dryness etc. I never have to use skin lotions either. Water is enough to clean in most cases I think
Heehee – glad to know I’m not the only one! Gwen gets a bath every other day, normally, but I probably wash her body once a week (or less) with soap and wash her hair with baking soda once every few weeks (I give it a water wash when I wash her body).
I feel like her dirty parts (diaper area, face, hands, arms) get washed several times a day so she’s generally quite clean!!
I personally enjoy showering a great deal so I often shower every day, but I wash with baking soda/ACV rinse once every 3 – 4 days. I’m thinking of cutting down on the actual showering so as to conserve water, too.
Thanks for an interesting question!!!
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We bathe our two month old once or twice a week, although sometimes she gets ’sink baths’ to wash her bum if there has been a big explosion. We only use Rocky Mountain soap, which is 100% natural from Canmore Alberta, and then we rub her with organic apricot oil because we live in dry dry Alberta. I generally just run the soap under the tap while filling the tub so that it is a bit easier to clean her, not use soap directly on her.
My husband showers everyday but I usually shower every other day. We only use Rocky Mountain soap and he soaps his hair (its very short) and I use the ‘no poo’ method.
I can’t wait until it is summer here and not freezing so that our little pig can play in the water!
we live in a tropical country so daily baths are regular. let me correct that — showers. naima showers 2x a day but we laze around in the bath once a week – usually saturday or sunday mornings. when she was a newborn it was 1x a week then moving on to 2x-3x. we started bathing her everyday at about 4 months.
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When my son was a baby I probably bathed him a couple of times a week, basically when ever he seemed to need it. When my daughter came along, she would be downright GRUNGY if I skipped even a day, so she had daily baths from the time she was a newborn.
I started out bathing her in the same little molded baby tub that I had used with my son, but she was very squirmy and seemed to want more room, so I laid her on a thick towel in the big bathtub with just a little water. She went nuts, she absolutely loved it! She would kick and kick in the water and had the best time even though she was just a tiny little thing.
Love the pics!! We all do daily showers. My 2 yr old son gets very upset when I try to get him to skip it. He loves to play in the shower. He’s just begun to like the bath in the last 8 mos. I feel gritty and icky when I don’t shower everyday and I love the warm water. We only use soap (either California Baby or Earth Mama Angel Baby) about once a week on our son and rarely wash his hair. I do use soap daily and shampoo maybe once a week. This past year I went 3 months without shampoo and used baking soda, but I thought my hair looked and felt dirty. I may try it again soon though just to see.