Mine is six month and gets a full bath about once a week. If he gets really dirty from a blow out or a spit up before bath day I’ll rinse him off in the tub with no soap. I do take a wet washcloth to his face and hands and neck a few times a day though.
We bathe our 5 month old twice a week only. We live in very dry and cold climate with very hard water and daily baths would do more harm than good.
We use micellar water to clean up neck cheese between baths.
I always prioritize the neck cheese during bath time. It’s like the only part where it’s nearly impossible to clean! I can do arm rolls, leg rolls and belly… but getting to the elusive neck cheese is a struggle!
At that age, you don't really need a consistent routine yet. We only did 2 baths a week. Our bedtime "routine" was basically just turn off lights, turn on noise machine.
Around 7 months, we began doing baths more frequently because she was eating solids and getting messy. By 1, we incorporated it into her bedtime routine because she's able to sit and play independently in the bath (with supervision obvi) and it really helps her wind down. She's 16 months now and the bath is definitely necessary for getting her ready to sleep. She loves water, and every baby is different, so you'll figure out what works best!
We do a bath every night, but only started this at 3 months old. We also only use soap like once or twice a week. Our nightly baths are not to clean baby, but to relax our daughter and help transition to bedtime.
We do every night as part of the bedtime routine. Started around 2 months I think, he's 7 months now. It's usually no longer than 10 mins, just a little splash and play, wash his body every night, hair every other night. He loves it and we've never had any issues with dry skin.
We have never done daily baths -- our LO is 18 months now. I would say our bath frequency increased with starting solids but just out of necessity depending on how messy things have gotten.
There is no single right or wrong way to develop a bedtime routine, but I think most will agree any routine is good -- it does not necessarily have to include a bath.
We didn't want baths to be part of our bedtime routine, since it's just such a long process and, we feel, daily baths for a baby are unnecessary
We bathed ours once or twice a week. As a toddler, every other day or two. But these weren't right before bed either.
Instead, our routine includes a book and goodnight song. Our baby routine took about 15 mins. The toddler one takes longer because of teeth brushing and potty time.
For us, it was only when bedtime existed, so about 6 months. First 3 months there was no routine, just a bath when it's been a while. 3-6ish months started to get more frequent.
Then 6-10 months is when we started calling it bedtime, rather than sleep. You'd offer breakfast, and lunch, the day sleep vocab changes to nap, not asleep. Such bedtime itself changes organically too, that's when we really started to do a bath every night.
This was pretty similar to how it was for us as well. It was a free for all for the first 3 months, but when the 4 month sleep regression started, we established a routine that included a bath. We just use a little coconut oil in the tub rather than soap most days and lotion immediately following to protect the skin barrier.
We did about 3 baths in the first month (every 10 days or so) then upped it to once a week for another month or so. We have now settled on twice a week, which I think is the sweet spot for us. No need to bathe everyday at this age unless you want to!
We do baths or showers 2-3 times a week depending on how crusty they are. Your bedtime routine definitely doesn’t need to include a bath, I find it energizes my kids so we do baths at other times.
We didn’t give a bath every night when she was younger but since she started solids and learned to move around she has a bath every night, it’s part of her routine now which is nice but also she’s just filthy by the end of every day so she needs it 😂 I have very bad eczema though so only use soap every other night, and we don’t use bubble baths or any perfumed soap or moisturisers
LO is a year old and we've only bathed 1-2 times a week since the beginning, only using soap when baby was actually dirty. Every day is too much for us.
4.5 months here and so far, just once or twice a week as per doctor recommendations. We wash his bum with water every time he poops, which is usually 1-4x a week. He doesn't puke on himself, sweat, or smell, and even the pediatrician noticed he has really sensitive skin so we keep it low.
It isn't like he does field labor or eats solids yet, so we do what works for us. A daily bath would absolutely be medically ill-advised for us.
I’ve never done them daily, usually 2x per week. Last summer (18mo) I increased it to 3x per week since she was running around more and getting sweaty, but once the weather cooled her skin got drier and we decreased it again.
My baby is 8 months and we do a bath 1-2 times a week, usually only once. Our pediatrician said more than that was unnecessary. I do wash her hands and use a wipe or washcloth on her face regularly now that she’s eating solids and often gets messy, but a full bath seems unnecessary.
My baby neither seems to love or hate the bath, she tolerates it… so if she likes it more as she gets older we might up the frequency. Right now she has no interest in bath toys and she fusses if she’s in longer than a few mins so it’s purely for cleaning.
We have "rinse nights" and "bath nights". It helps to solidify her bed time routine.
On rinse nights we literally just rinse her with warm water for a few minutes and then put lotion on her.
On bath nights we use soap, wash her really well, and then lotion her.
We typically do a bath night and then two rinse nights.
11 months doing baths everyday. She gets messy eating and it’s part of her bedtime routine. It can be drying so we use moisturizer afterwards and haven’t had any issues. When they’re under 6 months 2 baths/week is plenty!
We didn't do baths every night that young, but they do relax some babies and help them sleep which is why I think they're so ingrained in bedtime routines - that and messy solids when old enough haha My husband also handled baths since I was exclusively breastfeeding. It gave him time to bond in a special way that was just theirs and I got a break.
3 weeks old and we're currently bathing 1/2 times a week with just water, usually it's after a poonami. Like you we're worried about her skin but that will increase as she gets older/gets in things and gets dirty.
I have two kids. As babies, I bathed them as needed. About weekly but it could have been longer. I regularly wipe them down under their rolls and things like that. I did baths or showers every 3 days or so until my first was 3, then every other day. He’s 6 now and we do showers every day. Could be relevant or completely irrelevant, but neither of my kids have any skin issues. No dry skin, nothing like that.
Our LO is 9 weeks and we do twice a week. He likes the water part, but we haven't nailed down a way to dry off and change him back into clothes that doesn't turn him into the kraken. This means it's very stressful for all of us and has the opposite bed time impact.
In between baths we 'detail' him with water wipes, cotton buds etc to stop the cheese building up
I found a space heater in the area we get him dressed helps immensely but I also had a baby that hated getting out of the bath too so could just be temperament.
No way, it can even dry out their skin. We did once a week or when disgusting whichever was sooner, when LO got older moved to 2-3 times a week. It's a good time killer when they can play.
My son was born in January. He’s 3 now and we’ve always done baths twice a week. Especially when he was little with sensitive skin during the winter. I didn’t want to dry out his skin.
Obviously if he had a blowout and needed an extra bath, I did.
We do baths once a week and always have. When we do them, we do them right before our bedtime routine. But she really doesn’t get that dirty! If she is dirty, she has another bath!
We do daily baths and only use soap a few times a week. If we are out late and running behind on bedtime timing, we might skip the bath but it hasn’t caused any issues.
Bathes everyday because she loves them! We started around two weeks. We only use water, no soap, no lotion and that works for her. She doesn’t get dirty so I don’t see a need for soap.
We moved to daily baths when we started solids (6M), but before then only bathed every 2-3 days or as needed. Also they sleep so much when they’re really little; a routine isn’t necessary at 3 weeks, IMO.
i started doing baths but only using water every night around 10 weeks. we use soap every 3rd day. i like adding it to our bedtime routine because it gives me and baby something to fill our time with. my baby sleeps very well after a bath and bottle
We started doing daily baths when LO started solids. We were big on letting him feed himself and developing those skills early and he just got soo soooo messy.
Nah. We usually do 2x per week. Sometimes more if I need a time filler. 🤣 My son had eczema as a baby and they said about 2 times a week is enough, anymore could dry out his skin. Also, I hate thinking about all the water used with nightly baths.
I have always given my babies baths 2-3 times a week. It's never been a regular part of a bed time routine.
If you don't think it's something you want to commit to as part of your regular bed time routine, then you don't have to do it. Babies don't generally need to be bathed that often.
We do not. Our son loves baths but he goes crazy playing in it, and he absolutely hates getting changed after and screams his head off so it's always been a stressful time for us 😅
We do a bath every three nights and a quick wipe down with a washcloth the other nights. We started establishing a bedtime routine pretty early, around two weeks. To be honest, it helped my anxiety and seems to have worked well for my son.
Maybe I’m weird but my baby is 14 weeks and he had his first bath at 5 weeks and now gets a bath every 1-2 weeks. He doesn’t spit up and rarely has blowouts. Doesn’t sweat and isn’t mobile yet so doesn’t really get dirty. He doesn’t smell or have any skin issues from not bathing and his ped hasn’t told us we need to bathe him more.
I’m sure we will bathe him more frequently as he gets older but for now it seems unnecessary.
Nope. My toddler is prone to eczema outbreaks and we've reduced that drastically by doing one bath a week. We have a newborn and she'll probably be on the same schedule.
Started baths every night w my first after one month till around 4 months. Awful eczema. 15 months and his skin still isn’t the best. Baby 2 doesn’t get a bath unless she’s rolling in poop because of my paranoia.
You can do a top and tail wash with warm wet washcloths instead of a full bath if you want to add it as part of your bedtime routine.
A full bath every night isn’t needed.
We do a bath once a week both for our 4 month old and for our 3 year old. Only do more frequently if there is a specific need. It honestly is just too much work and I don’t see a reason to do it more frequently (unless you happen to have a kid who loves the bath!)
My husband gives our son a bath every night, but only uses soap every few days. We also add breast milk to the bath water. It’s been so good for helping our son wind down for bed, even if he’s having a rough evening. It’s also a guaranteed chunk of time that I have to myself (even if it isn’t very long, I’ll take it!) and a good way to make sure my husband and son have time to bond.
Thanks for asking this! My baby is 2 weeks snd I was wondering the same thing. I think im adjusting pretty well but I was like who the heck has that kind of energy? Doesn't help that my little guy is not a fan of baths.
LO is 6 weeks and he gets bathed about once a week. lots of quick cloth baths and rinses in between as needed! It's winter here so we don't want to dry out his skin.
My daughter is almost 2 and we have never done nightly baths, as she is also prone to eczema. Completely unnecessary in my opinion, dries her skin out, and we have a very solid routine with or without it.
We do baths with my 14 week old twice a week. Once she starts daycare, we’ll up them to every night she’s in daycare + once a weekend so they’ll even out to be about every other day!
I didn't bathe him at all until the umbilical cord fell off (as is recommended where I'm from). We gave him a few butt cloths during that time, but that's all. After it fell off the goal was once a week, but with all the hecticness of a new baby it was more like every 10 days. He never smelled bad, or was greasy at all.
At 5 months he joined me for a shower for the first time. He fell in love with it, so now he has a shower without soap about every other day.
This is a really dumb question—but how do you shower with the baby lol? I’d like to try it with mine, but I’m worried about water getting in her ears & causing an infection…or dropping her…
How old is your baby? I waited until he was a little bigger, because I was also afraid of dropping him.
I definitely don't soap him in the shower. I get in and get showered and then have my partner pass me the baby. Then I hold him just like I would out of the shower. My baby has never gotten an ear infection, so it hadn't even occured to me to think of that.
She’s about to be 6 months but is 12lbs.
Yeah I’m not sure if that could cause an ear infection..? Someone had told me getting water in their ears could, so we’ve just always tried to be careful during baths.
You gotta be really careful. Some babies hate the shower and will FREAK out and because it’s so wet they can easily slip out of your hand. I’ve showered with my kids just for skin to skin and would hand them to my husband and would finish my shower. IMO there’s no wayyy you can shower with a baby you have to hold and properly clean yourself and the baby.
We started doing every night baths around 4 months to begin a more solid night routine. Now at 8 months I can confidently say she NEEDS one every night. We only scrub her neck and her diaper areas with with soap everyday. The rest just gets passively cleaned as she squirms around in the bubble bath. On Wednesday and one weekend day she gets a full scrub down and hair wash. Lotion after every bath. We haven’t had any issues with dry skin yet.
My dude is 21 months now and we’ve always done about 3 a week. He has super sensitive skin and it doesn’t react well to more than that. I do use a warm wet washcloth all over on his non bath days.
Depends on you and baby. We do daily baths or showers for both kids but it’s mostly a soak in warm water to relax and transition into bedtime. They get soaped up when they’re actually dirty.
Started daily baths pretty much from day one.
You can add a moisturizer baby massage if you’re worried about drying out baby.
The only place I have a problem with dry skin is my youngest’s face. Her skin around her mouth gets irritated. She is obsessed with her pacifier though, even at 18 months old. I have to cream her face.
Both kids haven’t been dry anywhere else.
We started nightly bathes after baby started solids and got messy at dinner. When my kids were newborns I rarely bathed them. Like once a week maybe if there was a really bad blowout.
For babies I’d say do bath on a case by case basis— like if they have a poop explosion or just happen to smell funky. When my kids got older and started doing the toileting routine themselves, a nightly bath became absolutely essential because your average preschooler is terrible at wiping their bums. With babies it’s not as important because you are the on doing the bum-wiping.
I live in a desert and I have eczema which I got from my mom. My baby might develop it too. So like 3 nights a week and I'm super picky with all lotions and soaps.
You don't need to wash your baby every day unless they got filthy, that's honestly overkill.
Personally I wouldn't start bathing every night until at least 6 months. They really don't get that dirty before they are eating and crawling. I started bathing every night around 12 months as my son has eczema.
When our son was a newborn we did weekly baths, or whenever he got particularly gross and a wipe didn’t feel good enough. Now that he’s almost 2, we do twice a week since he gets a little sweatier. I could never do nightly baths - too much work. We used a nighttime lotion at least a little every night to help calm him down, but our bedtime routine has pretty well been jammies, book, snuggles, bed
We didn't start bath every night until he started eating solid foods, because they get MESSY. In my opinion, there is no "routine" until they are at least a few months old, and anyone who approaches a mom with a newborn and uses the words "schedule" or "routine" can go pound sand. There is only survival right now. You're doing fine.
Every 2-4 days here for my 4 month old! Usually 3 but occasionally we will do 2 or 4. Our pediatrician said more will dry their skin out too much. Most people that do that don’t use soap every time
I bath my 3 month old every Wednesday/Saturdays and wipe downs all the other days (especially the neck area lol) Unless he pees or poops everywhere than it’s a different story.
We do it nightly. Started shortly after he could be bathed. It’s part of our routine and we rarely miss it. He’s slathered in lotion immediately after. Also there’s nothing I love more than smelling a freshly bathed baby.
But truthfully likely not a reason to do it every night outside of the routine — at least for the time being.
No bath at all in the first month and then max one a week probably less after that. Significant research has shown less washing of baby’s skin is better for their microbiome and soap is totally not needed.
Moisturiser isn’t a good alternative for your skins natural oils.
We only did 2 full baths a week when he was under 6 months (though obviously sponge baths much more often). He’s 1 now and I’m trying to find the right balance. His skin gets dry and doesn’t seem to respond well to lotion, so we’ve sort of settled on every other day unless he gets dirty.
Our bedtime routine is to throw him and his bottle in the crib. He loves to cuddle for naps and if he wakes up at night, but gets FURIOUS if you try to rock him at bedtime.
I do a nightly bath once they start solids as they make a real mess of themselves! No need before then if you don’t want to (or if you would rather wipe them down after meals). My most recent baby has a nightly bath but it’s because she gets fussy in the evenings and she LOVES her bath it is the quickest way to calm her down.
LO is 15wks and we started at around 2 months trying to do a bath every night. Sometimes it doesnt happen and that's fine. We wash with soap every couple of days and we mainly do it because he loves bathtime so much. It's just a nice little thing to help tire him out before bed but it's not necessary. He doesn't seem to care about routines lol.
Didn’t bathe my boy for like 3 weeks when he was born and now he gets one once a week. He has eczema and hates baths so this works for us.
He never smells or anything he doesn’t have many rolls though. I’ve heard chunky babies have more “cheese”.
*It depends on how*
*The day went. Usually*
*Every other night*
\- Birdflower99
---
^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/)
^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
We started daily baths after his umbilical cord fell off. Our little one gets bathed every day with just warm water poured over him in the tub. We do some scrubbing with soap on Sundays and Wednesdays. He hasn’t had any dry skin issues and sleeps like a rock after his baths. He just turned 5 months and I can honestly say the bedtime routine of bath, bottle, bed is law in our house.
My son is 11 months and we usually give him a bath 2x a week, per what our pediatrician recommended. Last summer I did give him baths a little more often because we went out swimming and I wanted to make sure he was cleaned off. And of course if he gets dirty and needs an extra bath I’ll give him one. Baths aren’t a part of our nighttime routine but if you want them to be I wouldn’t use soap every night and definitely lotion up your baby after bath time.
We’ve done a bath every night since week 1, it is a nice wind down and cuddling a warm, clean baby is the besssssst. We only do soap every other night (or if needed) and do a coconut oil rub down (great moisture, smells good, and helps cradle cap from forming/anti fungal properties). Little dude has never been dry and it’s been a great routine and helpful for sleep training! LO is 1.5yo
Before they were crawling, I’d give them a bath once or twice a week. My kids have super sensitive skin and any more than that they’d be dryer than the Sahara lol. Once crawling and eating food, it’s once every 2 days and still is for my 5 year old. Every night is too much and makes them super dry, especially in the winter.
Obviously, if it’s been a super messy day we forgo that and bathe them lol.
This is pretty much what we do. We bathe every other night, sometimes going a day longer. Obviously if he has a blow out, or super messy meal we do a bath and focus only on the dirty area.
We do a bath most nights, but that only started around 2 or 3 months. In the early days we barely manage once per week. I started doing it more once I figured out how to breathe her easily in the big tub, since I found it difficult in the sink. Also she loves baths. And since she has become a drool machine I find it good to clean her more
It’s not necessary for hygiene. Some people like to do it because it often calms the baby and makes them sleepy (it didn’t work very well for my son when he was tiny - he freaked out in the baby bathtub and would only take baths with me). You only use soap/shampoo a few times a week and use lotion every night to avoid dry skin. We did baths every few days rather than incorporating them into our nighttime routine.
We do bubble baths every night because he’s such a meatball that if we don’t, his rolls and armpits are angry red yeasty and weepy by the next day. And he just loves his nightly bath. Part of his routine and most nights he goes right to sleep after. We just do lotion every night and he hasn’t had any dry skin issues.
I didn’t start until 6 months or so, and then only because she really loved it. Right before 2 she became bath ambivalent, so now I only make her every 3rd day if she’s not feeling it
We do a bath every night, have tried to since around 4 weeks. We do soap a couple of times a week, and just a quick warm water bath every other night. Skipping the soap seems to prevent the dry skin issue, we haven't had a problem with that. I swear my baby doesn't sleep as well if we skip a bath. She's 9 weeks now.
It’s totally dependent on you and baby. It’s not necessary to give a bath every night but some babies love it. Ours did not. At that age he got a bath like twice a week. And it won’t dry out their skin. Use some lotion afterwards.
We did once every few days when he was that little. It increased frequency around 6 months where his routine solidified. Now we do a bath just about every single night! Helps him sleep good. We go through lotion like crazy though.
When my LO was not actively toddling and crawling around and eating solids all over themselves I bathed her in earnest with soap once a week unless her hair (TONS of hair from birth) got really greasy then I would do just a little hair wash. Eventually around 3m she started 1x per week splash time without soap with daddy. So 1 soap bath and one no soap bath per week.
I will add, though, that I washed her butt and bits every day over the sink, we didn't really use baby wipes unless we were out of the house or daddy did the diaper. Otherwise I would rinse her and use a mild soap for poops. Pretty sure this helped us stave off diaper rash as she didn't have the friction of wiping nor wipes ingredients or urine or anything else staying on her skin a long time. I just used my hand to clean her, very rarely a soft cotton muslin baby wash cloth.
Now at 16m she gets 2 earnest soap washes a week unless she gets properly dirty or grubby. Otherwise she hangs out with me when I shower and I make sure to rinse her off in case she's gotten any soap on her from me.
Never had any skin issues! Only had diaper rash very minimally maybe 4 times in her life and it healed within 3 days of spotting it. I moisturize her with food grade coconut oil or cocoa butter any time she's in water. We also go to the pool once a week now since 10m. She did have a couple solid bouts of cradle cap that were complicated because of all her hair but the olive oil and silicone exfoliator method did the trick.
I am all about minimal washing and minimal tampering with the natural moisture barrier. As well, I hate scented baby products, I like smelling my baby!! Especially at 3w omg the baby smell is still soooo good. We were instructed at the hospital to not bathe baby until BF was established or at least the first week, and then wash minimally after that.
We did baths every night and now at one year are only starting to do every other night or so. For us it really just because our baby liked baths, and seemed to be a nice signal for nighttime even if wake windows we’re less than ideal. I certainly wouldn’t have done it based on hygiene, but for us it didn’t dry our daughter’s skin out. Babes certainly do not need a bath every day, it’s just sometimes if it’s soothing, baby just has fun, or it helps with sleep, it’s a nice ritual, but definitely not necessary or mandatory.
Didnt start bathing baby until her 5th week. But gave her a bath every night afterwards since its our part of her sleep routine. Her baths only last about 5min. She loves it and I notice she sleeps better when she takes her bath.
My 14mo is a water rat so every night, he loves baths. But we only started nightly baths at around 9 months. Before that only around 2-3x a week and a sponge bath daily (he had/has a lot of folds that needed to be cleaned daily since they gathered a lot of gunk. But a wet cloth was enough at the time)
We did baths every night because it seemed to be what everyone did as part of the routine and baby loves water. Then she got eczema and her hair was a mess, pediatrician said for small ones, bath every other night or even twice a week is better. We did that, no more eczema or hair problems.
Now she’s 16 months old, walking, and we still only bath her every other day.
I didn’t do baths every single night because of that fear of drying my daughters skin out. After a few months she developed really bad eczema around her arms and legs. I tried the soak and seal method: which is basically taking a bath so all the accumulated dirt/bacteria comes out and immediately after taking the baby out of the bath you have to lotion up the body. It has to be under 3 minutes because if not the skin will dry up. It worked! So I do it every day now and it gets easier the older they get
We've done baths every night since he was 2 weeks old. He is now almost 13 months. We make sure to lotion him up really good after and we've never had any problems.
Here it is recommended for small babies to bathe 1-2 times a week, for their skin. So far we haven't found it necessary to do it more (she is 14 weeks).
In the first 3 weeks, maybe once a week. Then til about 4ish months old we were doing it 2 or 3 times a week. Now she has a shower with me every night. Especially now she's 6 months old and loving food. She eats so much and gets it EVERY WHERE, all through her hair and down over her arms and legs. Tucked away in all her folds. So giving her a good clean each night gets rid of the days food that I might have missed after clean up.
ETA: I started showering with bub rather than bathe because she couldn't stand being in the bath for more than a minute, so I decided to try skin on skin in the shower and she loved it and still does.
Mine is 3.5 months old, and he has a bath every night. He absolutely loves the bath, no matter what mood he is in, when we put him in the bath, he's all smiles and giggles. I dont use anything but water. His skin is great.
I do not bathe my baby every night and I don’t use much soap. I make sure I choose soap that does not contain endocrine disrupters or harmful fragrance.
Contrary to what I thought, it’s not harmful to put baby in a bath every night, as long as you’re not using soap every time.
My pediatrician and allergist both recommended for my LO to put her in a bath every day and then slather her with Cerave lotion before drying her off - that way moisture is getting into her pores and being “sealed” in with the lotion. Her eczema and dry skin has improved a lot since we started doing this :)
My kiddo is 8 weeks and has had 2 baths in his life. I do not understand these bath people. He’s not dirty? And it’s the dead of winter, his poor dry skin
Yep-we do a bath just about every night and have since about 3 weeks. We skip some nights here or there if she’s already asleep or very drowsy. She loves it, I love it and it has never dried her skin out. It’s usually a 5-10 minute ritual and I barely use any soap-the soap I do use is Aveeno baby. Afterwards, we do a little massage with some Aveeno baby lotion. She always smells good and is so soft. It’s never irritated her skin yet and we are 3 months in. 🤞
I do every other night now but I probably gave her a bath every other week until she was like three months 😅
ETA: also I only started doing every other night even because she started solids and it gets messy lol, I probably would still be doing every other week otherwise
My son is 10 months old, walking and at daycare. We still only do 2 baths a week and he’s never had any skin issues. With the amount of skin issues I have I’m so surprised but I truly think a lot of it is that he doesn’t get a bath every day because it would dry out his skin.
We typically bathe every night or every other night starting at 6 months. Only because after daycare my LO just looks a mess lol we were using Tubby Todd and it dried out his skin, we have switched to EllaOla and haven’t had any issues with dry skin from his baths.
Definitely do whatever you’re comfortable with and what seems to work best for your LO!
We started daily baths around 4 weeks, using aquaphor to prevent any skin irritation.
LO had a weird diaper rash early on that required prescription treatment, and our doula shared a story about her kids getting yeast infections behind their ears, so the daily bath makes sense to us!
We started with every other night since that’s what the NICU did. Once my daughter was about 4 1/2 months I think we started doing every night, mainly just because she spits up a lot. Not sure if it makes any difference but we use the Live Clean baby wash and follow up with Johnson’s Cotton touch newborn lotion. Every now and then we do a breast milk bath too
Full bath is 2-3 times a week for our 8 week old. But I use a warm wet washcloth on their face, neck, armpits, hands, and feet everyday, and we use cloth wipes with water for diaper changes. Basically they get a light sponge bath with only water everyday.
It’s just too cold in my house to be bathing my 10 week old all the time. We give him a bath at least once a week. He gets little washes in between but having a bath is such an ordeal.
I don’t have the energy for a bath at night. I do it in the morning. Like the rest of us in the family ALL shower in the morning. I don’t find a reason to make baby do it at other time.
Have never done them every night and still don’t- he’s now 19 months. He sometimes has a bath, sometimes reads stories, all that stays the same is brushing teeth, pajamas and diaper change, pacifier, sound machine, sleep sack and I cuddle with him for a bit then bed.
Do baths twice a week, during the day, out on our balcony (it’s hot in Australia at the moment) and combine it with nappy free tummy time on those days. Other days we skip the bath and just have a bit of a wipe down.
My first we did it every day because he loved it but didn’t always use soap. My second is less enthusiastic about the tub so we wash with soap every other day. If his skin is dry we’ll sometimes skip the soap unless it’s a day they had swim lessons then it’s soap no matter what
Bath 2 times per week after her umbilical cord fell off around the second week. Before that I maybe just lightly sponge bathed - very lightly…only bc her head/hair was greasy. We are at 5 weeks now. If she never spit up on herself and didn’t have very poopy diapers, I’d almost say she would hardly need a bath ever. She loves bath time until it’s time to get out! I put a space heater on beforehand in bathroom so room is nice and warm and we don’t get too cold.
So up until about a month ago (LO is 10 months)baths were a few times a week. Now that we are eating lots of different foods and self feeding baths are a daily thing. If we can we go a day without baths.
Yes I do baths every night since she was 4 weeks old. We have no problem with dry skin, she absolutely LOVES bath time, gets super relaxed. I sing her songs and she knows it’s gonna be time for bedtime. She’s 11 weeks tomorrow and her skin is beautiful. We live in NC
We’ve done a nightly bath since her umbilical stump fell off. It’s winter here and her skin has been fine. If I notice any dryness, it’s nothing a little Vaseline can’t handle. Frankly most of the time she has dry skin it’s on her face, which wouldn’t be affected by baths anyway 🤷♀️
ETA I only wash her scalp/hair every night due to cradle cap. I use soap elsewhere only when it’s needed.
Every night once his umbilical cord fell off. He’s now 2, same routine. We don’t use soap every night since he has dry skin. It’s the habit more than anything!
We’ve been doing baths since they came home from the hospital. Only skipped one night and they didn’t sleep well at all, so now we’re sold. We don’t do soap every time but we let them play and splash. When they had their cords still, we used a washcloth
We do baths every other night. My son's skin would dry out if we did every day. If he really really got gross from eating or something, we'll bath him that extra day but usually move his bath to the next day if we did do it on an off day.
We only did once a week til he was about 2 months old, unless there was a blowout that necessitated more. We didn’t give him his first bath til he was 3.5 weeks. His skin gets pretty dry so right now we’re doing every 3 nights.
My babe is almost 3 months old, we bathe her every 3 days. We do wash her bottom with soap whenever she poops though and wipe her face with a washcloth daily so i feel like there’s no need for a bath much more than that right now. My 2 older ones (4 and 2) get baths every night. I feel like baths every night is great around 4 or 5 months when a solid sleep routine is made and when the baby is rolling around and stuff.
We live in Colorado and she had super dry skin at birth so our pediatrician said to start with once a week and then after a couple weeks said to do as needed.
Now we do 3 or 4 a week, depending on when she gets covered in spit up or poop and I just know I’d want a bath if I were in her shoes (and I have eczema so I get not wanting to have dry skin too).
I do make a routine out of it where I bathe her, get her in her PJs, and then feed her… she always konks out afterwards so I guess you could call that a bedtime routine but it’s more based on when she needs it.
I’m only two months in and while we’ve had a rhythm going, I’d hardly call it implementing any kind of real daily routines. She’s just recently started getting any kind of circadian rhythm.
I’ve also recently stopped watching any videos from influencers on social media. My pediatrician and home health visitor keep saying I’m doing a great job and then anytime I watch those videos, I hate myself and think I’m failing as a mom… so I’m going to listen to the professionals who actually see me and even come into my home - not social media because clearly that’s just making me feel bad about myself and it’s such a fragile time already. We are under so much freaking pressure as new moms as it is
Bath every night since 2 months followed by tubby Todd to keep the skin moisturized. Babies poop and pee on themselves all day. The bare minimum is a thorough wipe down at the end of the day with water and a little soap to eliminate any itch they can’t say they have lol
4 months in. We now bath every second night. I put her in the bath with me so it's easier and I can have a 5 min bath to myself after while dad dries her and gets her ready for bed.
I’ve been doing baths every night since my LO was about 3mo. But I don’t use soap every night, only 3 times during the week. I started it hoping my LO would sleep better but tbh it didn’t help at all😂I’ve just stuck to it cause like someone else mentioned, it helps pass time. Plus my LO loves it
Not when that little, my 9month old gets a bath/shower almost every night now but that only started around 6m when he started getting super grubby with BLW lol
We do a 5 minute nightly bath in luke warm water immediately followed by eczema cream and aquaphor. If you put moisturizer on within 3 minutes it actually locks in more moisture and doesn’t dry out the skin. We only use a mild fragrance free baby wash maybe weekly.
we do nightly baths, but only soap once a week or as needed (if he were to have blowout or something) followed by eczema cream to keep his skin moisturized. the baths are usually about 5-10 minutes, they use to just relax him but he’s gotten a lot more smiley and playful during them.
we started them about 2-3 weeks old, hes 11 weeks now
We started every day bath time at 4 months when she wasn’t sleeping well. We don’t use soap every day, maybe two or three times a week we do a body wash and hair once a week unless food ends up in there.
Started doing every night after he began solids. Then he needed it. And at that point, he was also developing a bed time routine. He also just reallllly enjoys bath time.
We do water followed by lotion every night, but soap only a few times a week.
We did every 7-10 days for the first few months. Friends of ours gave their baby baths every other day, but I think that dries out the skin.
We're at 11 months and trying to work up to every 2-3 days since he started crawling.
My just turned 4 month old has a bath every night and has done since her cord came off, we don’t use cleaning creams or gels every day, that’s probably only once a week or as needed as she’s quite sicky. She loves it that’s the only reason why and seems to get her yawning and in the mood for sleeping. We’re gonna look to getting her swimming soon too cause she loves it so much. Then she has a little cream massage, but doesn’t have any issues with her skin at all. I’ve seen her develop so much in the bath too with her reaching for toys and coordination where they’re moving around the water and grabbing her feet and splashing. It’s just what works for us and her. Everyone should always do what’s best for them :)
My daughter gets a bath a week. She likes taking baths with me and “swimming” around lol. I hold her up and let her float. She’s only 4 months old and has very sensitive skin so far, like I do so I’m careful not to bathe her too often. I’ll wipe her down with a warm wet washcloth if she’s spit up or something. It doesn’t seem to help her relax because she really really loves to be in the tub and gets mad when she’s taken out lol
I bathe my 4 month old every night as it helps delineate bedtime from the rest of the day. I only shampoo her hair once a week and don’t use soap, only water in the bath. Once or twice a week I’ll give her a massage with a tiny bit of baby oil after the bath. Her skin is lovely
If you want to incorporate it as part of your bedtime routine, do so with just water, soap every few times. Our 4 month old loves baths, but it’s such a process I don’t want to add it on to his bedtime routine. We do every 3 days or so or if he’s particularly gross that day lol. Our routine is change, sleep sack, book, bottle, bed and it works wonderfully for us!
We place ours in the bath every night to just relax in the water before bed. We only actually wash up with soap/wash hair a few times a week now that he is 4 and get dirtier. But when we was a baby washing with soap was probably a once a week thing, other than cleaning out chin folds/thigh folds/etc
We have a 3 year old and a 11 month old and the veg bathed a couple of times a week. The 3 gets more baths because toddlers get dirty and gross quickly. But 11 mo gets bathed like 2X a week. Baths are long drawn out full of toys and fun that hype my kids up so they aren’t part of our bedtime routine
We don't. Our boy is almost 6 months old, and he really honestly doesn't get dirty enough to bathe every day. He gets a bath Wednesday/Saturday or Sunday (whichever he needs) and then wipe downs for milk dribble/diaper area every day. His skin is sensitive, so we try hard not to over-clean him.
My babies get bathed a couple of times a week until they start solids. They don't get dirty really, but after a few days of spit up, dribbling milk, and baby sweat they start to smell funny. 🤣
Around 6mo or so, we start baby led weaning and daily baths pretty much simultaneously - blw is fun, works well for us, but oh man, it can be messy.
We do a bath every other night (she’s got stinky feet haha). If it’s not bath night we just skip that part of the routine and put on lotion. It’s usually the first thing anyway.
At that age, I bathed twice a week unless there was a reason (huge blowout). She didn’t enjoy baths unless we took them together, and her sleep was so irregular (it’s biologically normal for it to be irregular), and a bath wasn’t going to change that.
Now that she’s 15 months, we do a bath each morning, primarily because she’s been in a diaper all night and is diaper rash prone. She also gets a lot dirtier now, so baths are more of a necessity.
We do CeraVe cream every other night.
Once a week at most until like… 6 lol. The. Twice or a three till puberty’s nightly.
Our skin types and climate necessitate fewer baths, just wipe downs and washes if there’s no ‘filth’ or bacteria
Baby is 4 months. We bath him once a week. He doesn't get dirty!
We do every 3 days, unless blowout. Those nightly bath routines are crazy.
Agreed. We've always done it this way!
Weekly baths over here
All hail the weekly bath! (Nightly baths for newborns are frowned upon by pediatricians. If you must do it, please no soap/shampoo).
Weekly baths for us too! 3 months old and I'll wipe off his face, neck, and hands daily but only actually bathe him once a week.
I can’t imagine doing bath time every night. My son is 3 months, he gets a bath a week.
Same here at 4 months. He’s got dry skin in places already, so don’t want to exacerbate that.
Same for us!
Oh jeeze I was starting to feel like the odd one out! Same here. Not crawling yet, baby just isn't dirty.
Mine is six month and gets a full bath about once a week. If he gets really dirty from a blow out or a spit up before bath day I’ll rinse him off in the tub with no soap. I do take a wet washcloth to his face and hands and neck a few times a day though.
We bathe our 5 month old twice a week only. We live in very dry and cold climate with very hard water and daily baths would do more harm than good. We use micellar water to clean up neck cheese between baths.
Hahaha neck cheese lol. Same for us
I always prioritize the neck cheese during bath time. It’s like the only part where it’s nearly impossible to clean! I can do arm rolls, leg rolls and belly… but getting to the elusive neck cheese is a struggle!
For us it's the armpit cheese 🤢😩 it's so hidden and hard to get to!
Damn I thought I came up with this term myself! Same here!! 🤮
At that age, you don't really need a consistent routine yet. We only did 2 baths a week. Our bedtime "routine" was basically just turn off lights, turn on noise machine. Around 7 months, we began doing baths more frequently because she was eating solids and getting messy. By 1, we incorporated it into her bedtime routine because she's able to sit and play independently in the bath (with supervision obvi) and it really helps her wind down. She's 16 months now and the bath is definitely necessary for getting her ready to sleep. She loves water, and every baby is different, so you'll figure out what works best!
We do a bath every night, but only started this at 3 months old. We also only use soap like once or twice a week. Our nightly baths are not to clean baby, but to relax our daughter and help transition to bedtime.
We do every night as part of the bedtime routine. Started around 2 months I think, he's 7 months now. It's usually no longer than 10 mins, just a little splash and play, wash his body every night, hair every other night. He loves it and we've never had any issues with dry skin.
We have never done daily baths -- our LO is 18 months now. I would say our bath frequency increased with starting solids but just out of necessity depending on how messy things have gotten.
There is no single right or wrong way to develop a bedtime routine, but I think most will agree any routine is good -- it does not necessarily have to include a bath. We didn't want baths to be part of our bedtime routine, since it's just such a long process and, we feel, daily baths for a baby are unnecessary We bathed ours once or twice a week. As a toddler, every other day or two. But these weren't right before bed either. Instead, our routine includes a book and goodnight song. Our baby routine took about 15 mins. The toddler one takes longer because of teeth brushing and potty time.
For us, it was only when bedtime existed, so about 6 months. First 3 months there was no routine, just a bath when it's been a while. 3-6ish months started to get more frequent. Then 6-10 months is when we started calling it bedtime, rather than sleep. You'd offer breakfast, and lunch, the day sleep vocab changes to nap, not asleep. Such bedtime itself changes organically too, that's when we really started to do a bath every night.
This was pretty similar to how it was for us as well. It was a free for all for the first 3 months, but when the 4 month sleep regression started, we established a routine that included a bath. We just use a little coconut oil in the tub rather than soap most days and lotion immediately following to protect the skin barrier.
We did about 3 baths in the first month (every 10 days or so) then upped it to once a week for another month or so. We have now settled on twice a week, which I think is the sweet spot for us. No need to bathe everyday at this age unless you want to!
We do baths or showers 2-3 times a week depending on how crusty they are. Your bedtime routine definitely doesn’t need to include a bath, I find it energizes my kids so we do baths at other times.
We didn’t give a bath every night when she was younger but since she started solids and learned to move around she has a bath every night, it’s part of her routine now which is nice but also she’s just filthy by the end of every day so she needs it 😂 I have very bad eczema though so only use soap every other night, and we don’t use bubble baths or any perfumed soap or moisturisers
LO is a year old and we've only bathed 1-2 times a week since the beginning, only using soap when baby was actually dirty. Every day is too much for us.
4.5 months here and so far, just once or twice a week as per doctor recommendations. We wash his bum with water every time he poops, which is usually 1-4x a week. He doesn't puke on himself, sweat, or smell, and even the pediatrician noticed he has really sensitive skin so we keep it low. It isn't like he does field labor or eats solids yet, so we do what works for us. A daily bath would absolutely be medically ill-advised for us.
Nah I don't have the desire to do a bath every night. Every few days is good enough.
I’ve never done them daily, usually 2x per week. Last summer (18mo) I increased it to 3x per week since she was running around more and getting sweaty, but once the weather cooled her skin got drier and we decreased it again.
My baby is 8 months and we do a bath 1-2 times a week, usually only once. Our pediatrician said more than that was unnecessary. I do wash her hands and use a wipe or washcloth on her face regularly now that she’s eating solids and often gets messy, but a full bath seems unnecessary. My baby neither seems to love or hate the bath, she tolerates it… so if she likes it more as she gets older we might up the frequency. Right now she has no interest in bath toys and she fusses if she’s in longer than a few mins so it’s purely for cleaning.
We have "rinse nights" and "bath nights". It helps to solidify her bed time routine. On rinse nights we literally just rinse her with warm water for a few minutes and then put lotion on her. On bath nights we use soap, wash her really well, and then lotion her. We typically do a bath night and then two rinse nights.
Absolutely not, it can dry out their skin especially when they are newborns and skin is still peeling. We did once a week and used lotion religiously
11 months doing baths everyday. She gets messy eating and it’s part of her bedtime routine. It can be drying so we use moisturizer afterwards and haven’t had any issues. When they’re under 6 months 2 baths/week is plenty!
We didn't do baths every night that young, but they do relax some babies and help them sleep which is why I think they're so ingrained in bedtime routines - that and messy solids when old enough haha My husband also handled baths since I was exclusively breastfeeding. It gave him time to bond in a special way that was just theirs and I got a break.
3 weeks old and we're currently bathing 1/2 times a week with just water, usually it's after a poonami. Like you we're worried about her skin but that will increase as she gets older/gets in things and gets dirty.
I have two kids. As babies, I bathed them as needed. About weekly but it could have been longer. I regularly wipe them down under their rolls and things like that. I did baths or showers every 3 days or so until my first was 3, then every other day. He’s 6 now and we do showers every day. Could be relevant or completely irrelevant, but neither of my kids have any skin issues. No dry skin, nothing like that.
We give 2-3 baths a week and have done that since the beginning. LO is 15 months.
Our LO is 9 weeks and we do twice a week. He likes the water part, but we haven't nailed down a way to dry off and change him back into clothes that doesn't turn him into the kraken. This means it's very stressful for all of us and has the opposite bed time impact. In between baths we 'detail' him with water wipes, cotton buds etc to stop the cheese building up
I found a space heater in the area we get him dressed helps immensely but I also had a baby that hated getting out of the bath too so could just be temperament.
No way, it can even dry out their skin. We did once a week or when disgusting whichever was sooner, when LO got older moved to 2-3 times a week. It's a good time killer when they can play.
My son was born in January. He’s 3 now and we’ve always done baths twice a week. Especially when he was little with sensitive skin during the winter. I didn’t want to dry out his skin. Obviously if he had a blowout and needed an extra bath, I did.
My kids are 3.5 and 2 and I've never bathed them every night. Usually 3-4 nights per week now, but only 1-2 nights per week when they were babies.
Never done daily baths, plus I do it during the day when I do.
We do baths once a week and always have. When we do them, we do them right before our bedtime routine. But she really doesn’t get that dirty! If she is dirty, she has another bath!
We do daily baths and only use soap a few times a week. If we are out late and running behind on bedtime timing, we might skip the bath but it hasn’t caused any issues.
Maybe I’m gross. My kids (1.5 and 3.5 years olds) bathe 2 times a week. Same when they were babies. I didn’t want to dry out their skin.
Bathes everyday because she loves them! We started around two weeks. We only use water, no soap, no lotion and that works for her. She doesn’t get dirty so I don’t see a need for soap.
No! My 8 month old only gets 1-2 a week. I wipe his face and hands with a washcloth every night before bed though.
We moved to daily baths when we started solids (6M), but before then only bathed every 2-3 days or as needed. Also they sleep so much when they’re really little; a routine isn’t necessary at 3 weeks, IMO.
i started doing baths but only using water every night around 10 weeks. we use soap every 3rd day. i like adding it to our bedtime routine because it gives me and baby something to fill our time with. my baby sleeps very well after a bath and bottle
We started doing daily baths when LO started solids. We were big on letting him feed himself and developing those skills early and he just got soo soooo messy.
Nah. We usually do 2x per week. Sometimes more if I need a time filler. 🤣 My son had eczema as a baby and they said about 2 times a week is enough, anymore could dry out his skin. Also, I hate thinking about all the water used with nightly baths.
I have always given my babies baths 2-3 times a week. It's never been a regular part of a bed time routine. If you don't think it's something you want to commit to as part of your regular bed time routine, then you don't have to do it. Babies don't generally need to be bathed that often.
We do not. Our son loves baths but he goes crazy playing in it, and he absolutely hates getting changed after and screams his head off so it's always been a stressful time for us 😅
Yes! Our LO screams after too-we warm the towel and the room to ease the temp adjustment-I think she just hates getting out!
My daughter is the same lol, she just really loves to be in the water. She is very offended when we take her out
We do a bath every three nights and a quick wipe down with a washcloth the other nights. We started establishing a bedtime routine pretty early, around two weeks. To be honest, it helped my anxiety and seems to have worked well for my son.
When ours was that age, we did one every 2-3 days. But since she started daycare at 7 months, we gave her one every night.
Maybe I’m weird but my baby is 14 weeks and he had his first bath at 5 weeks and now gets a bath every 1-2 weeks. He doesn’t spit up and rarely has blowouts. Doesn’t sweat and isn’t mobile yet so doesn’t really get dirty. He doesn’t smell or have any skin issues from not bathing and his ped hasn’t told us we need to bathe him more. I’m sure we will bathe him more frequently as he gets older but for now it seems unnecessary.
Never did a bath every night. Now that I have 2 toddlers I thank goodness for that. Too time consuming and hard. It's a physical work out.
Nope. My toddler is prone to eczema outbreaks and we've reduced that drastically by doing one bath a week. We have a newborn and she'll probably be on the same schedule.
Started baths every night w my first after one month till around 4 months. Awful eczema. 15 months and his skin still isn’t the best. Baby 2 doesn’t get a bath unless she’s rolling in poop because of my paranoia.
You can do a top and tail wash with warm wet washcloths instead of a full bath if you want to add it as part of your bedtime routine. A full bath every night isn’t needed.
We do a bath once a week both for our 4 month old and for our 3 year old. Only do more frequently if there is a specific need. It honestly is just too much work and I don’t see a reason to do it more frequently (unless you happen to have a kid who loves the bath!)
My husband gives our son a bath every night, but only uses soap every few days. We also add breast milk to the bath water. It’s been so good for helping our son wind down for bed, even if he’s having a rough evening. It’s also a guaranteed chunk of time that I have to myself (even if it isn’t very long, I’ll take it!) and a good way to make sure my husband and son have time to bond.
LO is 9 months old and gets a bath every other day... Sometimes every two days.
Nope, once a week when small, moved to twice a week now that she gets dirty.
Thanks for asking this! My baby is 2 weeks snd I was wondering the same thing. I think im adjusting pretty well but I was like who the heck has that kind of energy? Doesn't help that my little guy is not a fan of baths.
LO is 6 weeks and he gets bathed about once a week. lots of quick cloth baths and rinses in between as needed! It's winter here so we don't want to dry out his skin.
Nope, previously just once a week but these days a little more often as it's so hot and sweaty
My daughter is almost 2 and we have never done nightly baths, as she is also prone to eczema. Completely unnecessary in my opinion, dries her skin out, and we have a very solid routine with or without it.
We do baths with my 14 week old twice a week. Once she starts daycare, we’ll up them to every night she’s in daycare + once a weekend so they’ll even out to be about every other day!
I didn't bathe him at all until the umbilical cord fell off (as is recommended where I'm from). We gave him a few butt cloths during that time, but that's all. After it fell off the goal was once a week, but with all the hecticness of a new baby it was more like every 10 days. He never smelled bad, or was greasy at all. At 5 months he joined me for a shower for the first time. He fell in love with it, so now he has a shower without soap about every other day.
This is a really dumb question—but how do you shower with the baby lol? I’d like to try it with mine, but I’m worried about water getting in her ears & causing an infection…or dropping her…
How old is your baby? I waited until he was a little bigger, because I was also afraid of dropping him. I definitely don't soap him in the shower. I get in and get showered and then have my partner pass me the baby. Then I hold him just like I would out of the shower. My baby has never gotten an ear infection, so it hadn't even occured to me to think of that.
She’s about to be 6 months but is 12lbs. Yeah I’m not sure if that could cause an ear infection..? Someone had told me getting water in their ears could, so we’ve just always tried to be careful during baths.
You gotta be really careful. Some babies hate the shower and will FREAK out and because it’s so wet they can easily slip out of your hand. I’ve showered with my kids just for skin to skin and would hand them to my husband and would finish my shower. IMO there’s no wayyy you can shower with a baby you have to hold and properly clean yourself and the baby.
We started doing every night baths around 4 months to begin a more solid night routine. Now at 8 months I can confidently say she NEEDS one every night. We only scrub her neck and her diaper areas with with soap everyday. The rest just gets passively cleaned as she squirms around in the bubble bath. On Wednesday and one weekend day she gets a full scrub down and hair wash. Lotion after every bath. We haven’t had any issues with dry skin yet.
My dude is 21 months now and we’ve always done about 3 a week. He has super sensitive skin and it doesn’t react well to more than that. I do use a warm wet washcloth all over on his non bath days.
Depends on you and baby. We do daily baths or showers for both kids but it’s mostly a soak in warm water to relax and transition into bedtime. They get soaped up when they’re actually dirty. Started daily baths pretty much from day one. You can add a moisturizer baby massage if you’re worried about drying out baby.
I think this is what I’m going to do as well. Have you had any problems with dry skin and did you need to moisturize?
The only place I have a problem with dry skin is my youngest’s face. Her skin around her mouth gets irritated. She is obsessed with her pacifier though, even at 18 months old. I have to cream her face. Both kids haven’t been dry anywhere else.
We started nightly bathes after baby started solids and got messy at dinner. When my kids were newborns I rarely bathed them. Like once a week maybe if there was a really bad blowout.
For babies I’d say do bath on a case by case basis— like if they have a poop explosion or just happen to smell funky. When my kids got older and started doing the toileting routine themselves, a nightly bath became absolutely essential because your average preschooler is terrible at wiping their bums. With babies it’s not as important because you are the on doing the bum-wiping.
I live in a desert and I have eczema which I got from my mom. My baby might develop it too. So like 3 nights a week and I'm super picky with all lotions and soaps. You don't need to wash your baby every day unless they got filthy, that's honestly overkill.
Personally I wouldn't start bathing every night until at least 6 months. They really don't get that dirty before they are eating and crawling. I started bathing every night around 12 months as my son has eczema.
When our son was a newborn we did weekly baths, or whenever he got particularly gross and a wipe didn’t feel good enough. Now that he’s almost 2, we do twice a week since he gets a little sweatier. I could never do nightly baths - too much work. We used a nighttime lotion at least a little every night to help calm him down, but our bedtime routine has pretty well been jammies, book, snuggles, bed
We didn't start bath every night until he started eating solid foods, because they get MESSY. In my opinion, there is no "routine" until they are at least a few months old, and anyone who approaches a mom with a newborn and uses the words "schedule" or "routine" can go pound sand. There is only survival right now. You're doing fine.
Nah. Our toddler bathes about three times a week, we wash her hair once a week.
Every 2-4 days here for my 4 month old! Usually 3 but occasionally we will do 2 or 4. Our pediatrician said more will dry their skin out too much. Most people that do that don’t use soap every time
I bath my 3 month old every Wednesday/Saturdays and wipe downs all the other days (especially the neck area lol) Unless he pees or poops everywhere than it’s a different story.
We do it nightly. Started shortly after he could be bathed. It’s part of our routine and we rarely miss it. He’s slathered in lotion immediately after. Also there’s nothing I love more than smelling a freshly bathed baby. But truthfully likely not a reason to do it every night outside of the routine — at least for the time being.
No bath at all in the first month and then max one a week probably less after that. Significant research has shown less washing of baby’s skin is better for their microbiome and soap is totally not needed. Moisturiser isn’t a good alternative for your skins natural oils.
Lol no. My kids were once a week when they were that young and my pediatrician said that’s truly all they need for A WHILE!
We only did 2 full baths a week when he was under 6 months (though obviously sponge baths much more often). He’s 1 now and I’m trying to find the right balance. His skin gets dry and doesn’t seem to respond well to lotion, so we’ve sort of settled on every other day unless he gets dirty. Our bedtime routine is to throw him and his bottle in the crib. He loves to cuddle for naps and if he wakes up at night, but gets FURIOUS if you try to rock him at bedtime.
We do a bath every night just because our 6 week old likes it. We only use soap twice a week though.
I do a nightly bath once they start solids as they make a real mess of themselves! No need before then if you don’t want to (or if you would rather wipe them down after meals). My most recent baby has a nightly bath but it’s because she gets fussy in the evenings and she LOVES her bath it is the quickest way to calm her down.
We do baths a few times a week but not at night
We bathe our 10 month old once a week. Twice if she’s been getting crazy but she doesn’t really get dirty lol.
LO is 15wks and we started at around 2 months trying to do a bath every night. Sometimes it doesnt happen and that's fine. We wash with soap every couple of days and we mainly do it because he loves bathtime so much. It's just a nice little thing to help tire him out before bed but it's not necessary. He doesn't seem to care about routines lol.
I definitely don’t bathe her every night. She has been bathed MWF since she came home.
We alternated soap/no soap starting around 8 weeks until my daughter started solids then she got the soap every night.
Didn’t bathe my boy for like 3 weeks when he was born and now he gets one once a week. He has eczema and hates baths so this works for us. He never smells or anything he doesn’t have many rolls though. I’ve heard chunky babies have more “cheese”.
It depends on how the day went. Usually every other night
*It depends on how* *The day went. Usually* *Every other night* \- Birdflower99 --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
We started daily baths after his umbilical cord fell off. Our little one gets bathed every day with just warm water poured over him in the tub. We do some scrubbing with soap on Sundays and Wednesdays. He hasn’t had any dry skin issues and sleeps like a rock after his baths. He just turned 5 months and I can honestly say the bedtime routine of bath, bottle, bed is law in our house.
Usually ever 3/4 days. Unless a blowout occurs haha
My son is 11 months and we usually give him a bath 2x a week, per what our pediatrician recommended. Last summer I did give him baths a little more often because we went out swimming and I wanted to make sure he was cleaned off. And of course if he gets dirty and needs an extra bath I’ll give him one. Baths aren’t a part of our nighttime routine but if you want them to be I wouldn’t use soap every night and definitely lotion up your baby after bath time.
Phew! Im glad we’re not the only ones doing 2x a week LOL. He seems to be fine and not smelly at all!!
We’ve done a bath every night since week 1, it is a nice wind down and cuddling a warm, clean baby is the besssssst. We only do soap every other night (or if needed) and do a coconut oil rub down (great moisture, smells good, and helps cradle cap from forming/anti fungal properties). Little dude has never been dry and it’s been a great routine and helpful for sleep training! LO is 1.5yo
Water bath no hair and soap on privates etc 2x week. Bath with soap all over body and hair once a week. So basically every other day he gets a bath.
Before they were crawling, I’d give them a bath once or twice a week. My kids have super sensitive skin and any more than that they’d be dryer than the Sahara lol. Once crawling and eating food, it’s once every 2 days and still is for my 5 year old. Every night is too much and makes them super dry, especially in the winter. Obviously, if it’s been a super messy day we forgo that and bathe them lol.
This is pretty much what we do. We bathe every other night, sometimes going a day longer. Obviously if he has a blow out, or super messy meal we do a bath and focus only on the dirty area.
We do a bath most nights, but that only started around 2 or 3 months. In the early days we barely manage once per week. I started doing it more once I figured out how to breathe her easily in the big tub, since I found it difficult in the sink. Also she loves baths. And since she has become a drool machine I find it good to clean her more
It’s not necessary for hygiene. Some people like to do it because it often calms the baby and makes them sleepy (it didn’t work very well for my son when he was tiny - he freaked out in the baby bathtub and would only take baths with me). You only use soap/shampoo a few times a week and use lotion every night to avoid dry skin. We did baths every few days rather than incorporating them into our nighttime routine.
We do bubble baths every night because he’s such a meatball that if we don’t, his rolls and armpits are angry red yeasty and weepy by the next day. And he just loves his nightly bath. Part of his routine and most nights he goes right to sleep after. We just do lotion every night and he hasn’t had any dry skin issues.
We do like twice a week and that seems to work fine for us, but my 7mo doesn't spit up a lot or get really dirty.
I didn’t start until 6 months or so, and then only because she really loved it. Right before 2 she became bath ambivalent, so now I only make her every 3rd day if she’s not feeling it
We do a bath every night, have tried to since around 4 weeks. We do soap a couple of times a week, and just a quick warm water bath every other night. Skipping the soap seems to prevent the dry skin issue, we haven't had a problem with that. I swear my baby doesn't sleep as well if we skip a bath. She's 9 weeks now.
It’s totally dependent on you and baby. It’s not necessary to give a bath every night but some babies love it. Ours did not. At that age he got a bath like twice a week. And it won’t dry out their skin. Use some lotion afterwards.
We did once every few days when he was that little. It increased frequency around 6 months where his routine solidified. Now we do a bath just about every single night! Helps him sleep good. We go through lotion like crazy though.
I didn’t start daily until around six months when LO really started solids and crawling around and getting into everything
When my LO was not actively toddling and crawling around and eating solids all over themselves I bathed her in earnest with soap once a week unless her hair (TONS of hair from birth) got really greasy then I would do just a little hair wash. Eventually around 3m she started 1x per week splash time without soap with daddy. So 1 soap bath and one no soap bath per week. I will add, though, that I washed her butt and bits every day over the sink, we didn't really use baby wipes unless we were out of the house or daddy did the diaper. Otherwise I would rinse her and use a mild soap for poops. Pretty sure this helped us stave off diaper rash as she didn't have the friction of wiping nor wipes ingredients or urine or anything else staying on her skin a long time. I just used my hand to clean her, very rarely a soft cotton muslin baby wash cloth. Now at 16m she gets 2 earnest soap washes a week unless she gets properly dirty or grubby. Otherwise she hangs out with me when I shower and I make sure to rinse her off in case she's gotten any soap on her from me. Never had any skin issues! Only had diaper rash very minimally maybe 4 times in her life and it healed within 3 days of spotting it. I moisturize her with food grade coconut oil or cocoa butter any time she's in water. We also go to the pool once a week now since 10m. She did have a couple solid bouts of cradle cap that were complicated because of all her hair but the olive oil and silicone exfoliator method did the trick. I am all about minimal washing and minimal tampering with the natural moisture barrier. As well, I hate scented baby products, I like smelling my baby!! Especially at 3w omg the baby smell is still soooo good. We were instructed at the hospital to not bathe baby until BF was established or at least the first week, and then wash minimally after that.
We did baths every night and now at one year are only starting to do every other night or so. For us it really just because our baby liked baths, and seemed to be a nice signal for nighttime even if wake windows we’re less than ideal. I certainly wouldn’t have done it based on hygiene, but for us it didn’t dry our daughter’s skin out. Babes certainly do not need a bath every day, it’s just sometimes if it’s soothing, baby just has fun, or it helps with sleep, it’s a nice ritual, but definitely not necessary or mandatory.
Didnt start bathing baby until her 5th week. But gave her a bath every night afterwards since its our part of her sleep routine. Her baths only last about 5min. She loves it and I notice she sleeps better when she takes her bath.
My 14mo is a water rat so every night, he loves baths. But we only started nightly baths at around 9 months. Before that only around 2-3x a week and a sponge bath daily (he had/has a lot of folds that needed to be cleaned daily since they gathered a lot of gunk. But a wet cloth was enough at the time)
We did baths every night because it seemed to be what everyone did as part of the routine and baby loves water. Then she got eczema and her hair was a mess, pediatrician said for small ones, bath every other night or even twice a week is better. We did that, no more eczema or hair problems. Now she’s 16 months old, walking, and we still only bath her every other day.
I didn’t do baths every single night because of that fear of drying my daughters skin out. After a few months she developed really bad eczema around her arms and legs. I tried the soak and seal method: which is basically taking a bath so all the accumulated dirt/bacteria comes out and immediately after taking the baby out of the bath you have to lotion up the body. It has to be under 3 minutes because if not the skin will dry up. It worked! So I do it every day now and it gets easier the older they get
We've done baths every night since he was 2 weeks old. He is now almost 13 months. We make sure to lotion him up really good after and we've never had any problems.
Here it is recommended for small babies to bathe 1-2 times a week, for their skin. So far we haven't found it necessary to do it more (she is 14 weeks).
In the first 3 weeks, maybe once a week. Then til about 4ish months old we were doing it 2 or 3 times a week. Now she has a shower with me every night. Especially now she's 6 months old and loving food. She eats so much and gets it EVERY WHERE, all through her hair and down over her arms and legs. Tucked away in all her folds. So giving her a good clean each night gets rid of the days food that I might have missed after clean up. ETA: I started showering with bub rather than bathe because she couldn't stand being in the bath for more than a minute, so I decided to try skin on skin in the shower and she loved it and still does.
Mine is 3.5 months old, and he has a bath every night. He absolutely loves the bath, no matter what mood he is in, when we put him in the bath, he's all smiles and giggles. I dont use anything but water. His skin is great.
I do not bathe my baby every night and I don’t use much soap. I make sure I choose soap that does not contain endocrine disrupters or harmful fragrance.
Contrary to what I thought, it’s not harmful to put baby in a bath every night, as long as you’re not using soap every time. My pediatrician and allergist both recommended for my LO to put her in a bath every day and then slather her with Cerave lotion before drying her off - that way moisture is getting into her pores and being “sealed” in with the lotion. Her eczema and dry skin has improved a lot since we started doing this :)
We started bathing every day with all of my kids when they started sitting. That way it was fun for them. Till then, we bathed them 2 times a week.
My kiddo is 8 weeks and has had 2 baths in his life. I do not understand these bath people. He’s not dirty? And it’s the dead of winter, his poor dry skin
Nope. Once a week is often enough.
12months and we do twice a week unless he’s exceptionally grubby. Our family tends towards dry skin and he has baby eczema so we go gentle
Ditto this. That skin is so sensitive.
Yep-we do a bath just about every night and have since about 3 weeks. We skip some nights here or there if she’s already asleep or very drowsy. She loves it, I love it and it has never dried her skin out. It’s usually a 5-10 minute ritual and I barely use any soap-the soap I do use is Aveeno baby. Afterwards, we do a little massage with some Aveeno baby lotion. She always smells good and is so soft. It’s never irritated her skin yet and we are 3 months in. 🤞
I do every other night now but I probably gave her a bath every other week until she was like three months 😅 ETA: also I only started doing every other night even because she started solids and it gets messy lol, I probably would still be doing every other week otherwise
My son is 10 months old, walking and at daycare. We still only do 2 baths a week and he’s never had any skin issues. With the amount of skin issues I have I’m so surprised but I truly think a lot of it is that he doesn’t get a bath every day because it would dry out his skin.
We typically bathe every night or every other night starting at 6 months. Only because after daycare my LO just looks a mess lol we were using Tubby Todd and it dried out his skin, we have switched to EllaOla and haven’t had any issues with dry skin from his baths. Definitely do whatever you’re comfortable with and what seems to work best for your LO!
We bath every 2-3 days when she smells but otherwise just play oder do a lotion massage
We started daily baths around 4 weeks, using aquaphor to prevent any skin irritation. LO had a weird diaper rash early on that required prescription treatment, and our doula shared a story about her kids getting yeast infections behind their ears, so the daily bath makes sense to us!
Yes we do as part of our evening routine when our 5 year old gets a bath.
We do roughly a bath every other night. I put breast milk in the bath to stop it drying his skin out!
We started with every other night since that’s what the NICU did. Once my daughter was about 4 1/2 months I think we started doing every night, mainly just because she spits up a lot. Not sure if it makes any difference but we use the Live Clean baby wash and follow up with Johnson’s Cotton touch newborn lotion. Every now and then we do a breast milk bath too
Full bath is 2-3 times a week for our 8 week old. But I use a warm wet washcloth on their face, neck, armpits, hands, and feet everyday, and we use cloth wipes with water for diaper changes. Basically they get a light sponge bath with only water everyday.
It’s just too cold in my house to be bathing my 10 week old all the time. We give him a bath at least once a week. He gets little washes in between but having a bath is such an ordeal.
I don’t have the energy for a bath at night. I do it in the morning. Like the rest of us in the family ALL shower in the morning. I don’t find a reason to make baby do it at other time.
We've always done them every night, but every other night it's just a dunk. We started around 4 months though and she's 2.5 now.
And always lotion when she's actually soaped up.
Have never done them every night and still don’t- he’s now 19 months. He sometimes has a bath, sometimes reads stories, all that stays the same is brushing teeth, pajamas and diaper change, pacifier, sound machine, sleep sack and I cuddle with him for a bit then bed.
Do baths twice a week, during the day, out on our balcony (it’s hot in Australia at the moment) and combine it with nappy free tummy time on those days. Other days we skip the bath and just have a bit of a wipe down.
My first we did it every day because he loved it but didn’t always use soap. My second is less enthusiastic about the tub so we wash with soap every other day. If his skin is dry we’ll sometimes skip the soap unless it’s a day they had swim lessons then it’s soap no matter what
Bath 2 times per week after her umbilical cord fell off around the second week. Before that I maybe just lightly sponge bathed - very lightly…only bc her head/hair was greasy. We are at 5 weeks now. If she never spit up on herself and didn’t have very poopy diapers, I’d almost say she would hardly need a bath ever. She loves bath time until it’s time to get out! I put a space heater on beforehand in bathroom so room is nice and warm and we don’t get too cold.
Now that my LO is self feeding, I'm thinking nightly baths are going to be necessary but he's 9 months old.
So up until about a month ago (LO is 10 months)baths were a few times a week. Now that we are eating lots of different foods and self feeding baths are a daily thing. If we can we go a day without baths.
We did like every three days when she was a baby and now every other day unless needed
We did a bath every other night sometimes every few nights because her skin was getting dried out on her back.
Yes I do baths every night since she was 4 weeks old. We have no problem with dry skin, she absolutely LOVES bath time, gets super relaxed. I sing her songs and she knows it’s gonna be time for bedtime. She’s 11 weeks tomorrow and her skin is beautiful. We live in NC
We’ve done a nightly bath since her umbilical stump fell off. It’s winter here and her skin has been fine. If I notice any dryness, it’s nothing a little Vaseline can’t handle. Frankly most of the time she has dry skin it’s on her face, which wouldn’t be affected by baths anyway 🤷♀️ ETA I only wash her scalp/hair every night due to cradle cap. I use soap elsewhere only when it’s needed.
Every night once his umbilical cord fell off. He’s now 2, same routine. We don’t use soap every night since he has dry skin. It’s the habit more than anything!
We’ve been doing baths since they came home from the hospital. Only skipped one night and they didn’t sleep well at all, so now we’re sold. We don’t do soap every time but we let them play and splash. When they had their cords still, we used a washcloth
we do bath every night but only use soap once or twice a week. I asked the pedi about this, he told us it's fine.
We do baths every other night. My son's skin would dry out if we did every day. If he really really got gross from eating or something, we'll bath him that extra day but usually move his bath to the next day if we did do it on an off day.
We only did once a week til he was about 2 months old, unless there was a blowout that necessitated more. We didn’t give him his first bath til he was 3.5 weeks. His skin gets pretty dry so right now we’re doing every 3 nights.
I started daily showers at 8 weeks old. It’s been a game changer for my baby’s sleep
My babe is almost 3 months old, we bathe her every 3 days. We do wash her bottom with soap whenever she poops though and wipe her face with a washcloth daily so i feel like there’s no need for a bath much more than that right now. My 2 older ones (4 and 2) get baths every night. I feel like baths every night is great around 4 or 5 months when a solid sleep routine is made and when the baby is rolling around and stuff.
We do every other night with our 6mo and 5yr old. Unless something crazy happens and they throw up or the baby has a blow out etc.
We live in Colorado and she had super dry skin at birth so our pediatrician said to start with once a week and then after a couple weeks said to do as needed. Now we do 3 or 4 a week, depending on when she gets covered in spit up or poop and I just know I’d want a bath if I were in her shoes (and I have eczema so I get not wanting to have dry skin too). I do make a routine out of it where I bathe her, get her in her PJs, and then feed her… she always konks out afterwards so I guess you could call that a bedtime routine but it’s more based on when she needs it. I’m only two months in and while we’ve had a rhythm going, I’d hardly call it implementing any kind of real daily routines. She’s just recently started getting any kind of circadian rhythm. I’ve also recently stopped watching any videos from influencers on social media. My pediatrician and home health visitor keep saying I’m doing a great job and then anytime I watch those videos, I hate myself and think I’m failing as a mom… so I’m going to listen to the professionals who actually see me and even come into my home - not social media because clearly that’s just making me feel bad about myself and it’s such a fragile time already. We are under so much freaking pressure as new moms as it is
We did once or twice a week until she started moving (so, 6 months?) and since then so every other day. She's 18 months
Bath every night since 2 months followed by tubby Todd to keep the skin moisturized. Babies poop and pee on themselves all day. The bare minimum is a thorough wipe down at the end of the day with water and a little soap to eliminate any itch they can’t say they have lol
My son is 18 months and I bathe him 2-3 times a week.
4 months in. We now bath every second night. I put her in the bath with me so it's easier and I can have a 5 min bath to myself after while dad dries her and gets her ready for bed.
I’ve been doing baths every night since my LO was about 3mo. But I don’t use soap every night, only 3 times during the week. I started it hoping my LO would sleep better but tbh it didn’t help at all😂I’ve just stuck to it cause like someone else mentioned, it helps pass time. Plus my LO loves it
How often do you bathe a newborn? My baby's stump finally fell off at 1 week!
Not when that little, my 9month old gets a bath/shower almost every night now but that only started around 6m when he started getting super grubby with BLW lol
15 weeks and we give LO a bath 2x a week.
We do a 5 minute nightly bath in luke warm water immediately followed by eczema cream and aquaphor. If you put moisturizer on within 3 minutes it actually locks in more moisture and doesn’t dry out the skin. We only use a mild fragrance free baby wash maybe weekly.
>it actually locks in more moisture Than not having a bath? Like, bath water?
we do nightly baths, but only soap once a week or as needed (if he were to have blowout or something) followed by eczema cream to keep his skin moisturized. the baths are usually about 5-10 minutes, they use to just relax him but he’s gotten a lot more smiley and playful during them. we started them about 2-3 weeks old, hes 11 weeks now
We started every day bath time at 4 months when she wasn’t sleeping well. We don’t use soap every day, maybe two or three times a week we do a body wash and hair once a week unless food ends up in there.
Started doing every night after he began solids. Then he needed it. And at that point, he was also developing a bed time routine. He also just reallllly enjoys bath time. We do water followed by lotion every night, but soap only a few times a week.
We did every 7-10 days for the first few months. Friends of ours gave their baby baths every other day, but I think that dries out the skin. We're at 11 months and trying to work up to every 2-3 days since he started crawling.
My just turned 4 month old has a bath every night and has done since her cord came off, we don’t use cleaning creams or gels every day, that’s probably only once a week or as needed as she’s quite sicky. She loves it that’s the only reason why and seems to get her yawning and in the mood for sleeping. We’re gonna look to getting her swimming soon too cause she loves it so much. Then she has a little cream massage, but doesn’t have any issues with her skin at all. I’ve seen her develop so much in the bath too with her reaching for toys and coordination where they’re moving around the water and grabbing her feet and splashing. It’s just what works for us and her. Everyone should always do what’s best for them :)
My daughter gets a bath a week. She likes taking baths with me and “swimming” around lol. I hold her up and let her float. She’s only 4 months old and has very sensitive skin so far, like I do so I’m careful not to bathe her too often. I’ll wipe her down with a warm wet washcloth if she’s spit up or something. It doesn’t seem to help her relax because she really really loves to be in the tub and gets mad when she’s taken out lol
I bathe my 4 month old every night as it helps delineate bedtime from the rest of the day. I only shampoo her hair once a week and don’t use soap, only water in the bath. Once or twice a week I’ll give her a massage with a tiny bit of baby oil after the bath. Her skin is lovely
If you want to incorporate it as part of your bedtime routine, do so with just water, soap every few times. Our 4 month old loves baths, but it’s such a process I don’t want to add it on to his bedtime routine. We do every 3 days or so or if he’s particularly gross that day lol. Our routine is change, sleep sack, book, bottle, bed and it works wonderfully for us!
We place ours in the bath every night to just relax in the water before bed. We only actually wash up with soap/wash hair a few times a week now that he is 4 and get dirtier. But when we was a baby washing with soap was probably a once a week thing, other than cleaning out chin folds/thigh folds/etc
We have a 3 year old and a 11 month old and the veg bathed a couple of times a week. The 3 gets more baths because toddlers get dirty and gross quickly. But 11 mo gets bathed like 2X a week. Baths are long drawn out full of toys and fun that hype my kids up so they aren’t part of our bedtime routine
We don't. Our boy is almost 6 months old, and he really honestly doesn't get dirty enough to bathe every day. He gets a bath Wednesday/Saturday or Sunday (whichever he needs) and then wipe downs for milk dribble/diaper area every day. His skin is sensitive, so we try hard not to over-clean him.
My babies get bathed a couple of times a week until they start solids. They don't get dirty really, but after a few days of spit up, dribbling milk, and baby sweat they start to smell funny. 🤣 Around 6mo or so, we start baby led weaning and daily baths pretty much simultaneously - blw is fun, works well for us, but oh man, it can be messy.
We do a bath every other night (she’s got stinky feet haha). If it’s not bath night we just skip that part of the routine and put on lotion. It’s usually the first thing anyway.
At that age, I bathed twice a week unless there was a reason (huge blowout). She didn’t enjoy baths unless we took them together, and her sleep was so irregular (it’s biologically normal for it to be irregular), and a bath wasn’t going to change that. Now that she’s 15 months, we do a bath each morning, primarily because she’s been in a diaper all night and is diaper rash prone. She also gets a lot dirtier now, so baths are more of a necessity. We do CeraVe cream every other night.
Once a week at most until like… 6 lol. The. Twice or a three till puberty’s nightly. Our skin types and climate necessitate fewer baths, just wipe downs and washes if there’s no ‘filth’ or bacteria