There has been a lot of talk floating around the interwebs about how kids don’t need to be bathed save for once or twice a week. How daily bathing dries out their skin. How it is simply unnecessary.
Buuuuuut, I’m still giving my kids baths every night. And I’m sick of feeling guilty for it, so I’m speaking up on behalf of all the parents who give daily baths! Here are my reasons:
1.) My children enjoy bath time. It’s a legitimately fun activity in their day. I’ve nannied for children who took infrequent baths and when they did finally bathe, they haaaaaated it. So I understand why this is not an enjoyable activity for many kids and parents. I won’t make the claim that bathing daily makes all kids enjoy bathtime, but it’s been my experience and I’m sticking to it.
2.) My children poop and/or pee on themselves daily. I have one in diapers and one who has been potty trained for nearly a year now. I wipe as thoroughly as possible, but a bath just sets things right. I can just know that they are both fresh from that point on. Ever notice how much a little boy’s penis drips after he pees? I know he’s not waiting at the toilet for every drip to come out. Some of those drips are going straight into his impatient pants. And I’m not having that go more than 24 hours without washing.
3.) My children get dirty daily. My toddler plays hard. He runs and sweats and digs his hands into dirt. There is nary a day that we stay indoors and perfectly clean. My baby crawls everywhere and although he doesn’t do much of that outside, he still has all fours touching all of the places that we walk. He also mashes food into every fold of skin he has. I just want to know all of this is washed off before bed.
4.) It’s calming for them. Warm water feels good, ya know? So this is the point of the day when the crazy starts to wear down and the calm starts to set in. It’s a very tactile reminder for their bodies to wind down for the day, and I like it as a part of our bedtime routine.
5.) Clean sleeping is important to me. Okay, so I’ve learned that I’m one of very few adults who does this, but I like to take showers at night. Why? Because I want to get in bed feeling clean! I don’t want to take my sweat and oil buildup from the day to bed with me. That’s just my own hang up but I like to practice the same for my kids. Go to bed clean, keep your bed clean.
6.) Their skin isn’t excessively dried out. If it was, I would stop. If we had a problem, I would heed a doctor’s specific advice. But so far, they still have that soft, sweet baby skin and I cannot kiss it enough in a day!
7.) I’m no dermatologist, but I have a theory that bodies adapt to daily washing and can rehydrate accordingly. That’s why if I go two days without a shower, I feel greasy and gross. Because I’ve got two days’ worth of my body’s natural oil production on my skin.
8.) Daily bathing does not mean I am sanitizing my children from all bacteria and viruses in the world. In fact, I don’t know if there is a baby soap on the market that is also antibacterial. So the point that kids need to be exposed to bacteria to build immunity is not nullified by a daily bath using a gentle kids soap. We’re still getting colds with the best of ’em over here!
Now, I will say that I didn’t bathe my children daily as newborns–only once they hit crawling status did the daily baths kick in.
Also, I’m not advocating that everyone do what we do; I just felt someone ought to come forward with some justification for the daily bath. If you’re terribly offended, please don’t be. I’m great friends with moms who give weekly baths! This is so not a polarizing issue; definitely not my hill to die on.
But, if you’re like me, if any of these reasons rang true for your household, then this was for you–for us to form a little solidarity. I’ll think of you as I bathe my kids tonight.
Speaking of baths, here are some great ways to add some FUN to it! Shut out the lights and try this party bath light. Bust out some bath crayons! Change the color of the bath. Or make it a musical bath and try playing a water flute! (these are affiliate links that support the family behind Nourishing Little Souls)
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I give E a bath every night. She LOVES it! I ask if she wants to take a bath and she runs to the bathroom. It’s a nice way to end the night and it also kills some time :)
Totally for this!! I bath my son every night and even as a newborn (although I bathed him in olive oil…eczema) and he loved it. Now almost 2, he runs to get his towel and occasionally gets into the bath with his clothes on he’s that excited. Colour bombs, bubbles and crayons, along with the bath toys are a certain winner in our household!
Here’s to all the clean kids out there 😉
Great reasons. I gave my boys baths every night. They loved playing in the water. You did miss one thing: bathing is educational. Not only are they playing with all those water toys, but the lesson of how to clean themselves is being reinforced every day
We aim for 3-4x/week. Frankly, I was relieved when I found out that babies don’t have to take a bath every day!
Here in the Philippines, most children take baths AT LEAST once a day from the day they are born. We just like to be clean and feel fresh since we live in a tropical country.
Wipes for babies are mostly for cleaning hands or sanitizing chairs and toys. We WASH the babies’ butts every diaper change.
I am with you and pretty much for all the same reasons. My grandaughter gets a bath 2-3 tmes a week and she is almost two. When I got told they were told not to bath the child evry day because it isn’t good for their skin in had to bite my tongue. Wet wipes are great but do they get evrything, especially when a child is still in diapers? I don’t believe so and getting any excess urine off their dlicate skin I think is important. The other thing is I felt it had a calming affect and helped the kids sleep better.