From: d8b@sgfb.ssd.ray.com (Denise M. Boudria)
Subject: Re: Baby Bath Frequency (was Re: Starting bedtime rituals (Was: ...)
Organization: Raytheon Submarine Signal Division
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1993 16:58:27 GMT

In article <16B6113583.BIOSEE@UKCC.UKY.EDU> BIOSEE@UKCC.UKY.EDU (Stephanie Edelmann) writes:
>In article <MfN54mK00WBOE4Q35M@andrew.cmu.edu>
>Laura McGinnis <lm3a+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:
> 
>>
>>On 22-Jan-93 in Re: Starting bedtime ritual..
>>user LIBEMC@BYUVM.BITNET writes:
>>>Kelley asked if bathing baby every 4-6 days only is normal and
>>>okay.  Well, I bath Emily about that often (she is 5 months),
>>>mainly because I can't find a good reason to do it more often.
>>>I wash her bottom off when it is messy, and her face also,
>>>but only give her a real bath when I feel like playing in the
>>>bathtub with her.  I hope we aren't the only ones who don't
>>>bathe the baby every day.  My ped. said it was okay not to
>>>bathe her every day, so I don't.
>>
>>Our pediatricians recommended NOT bathing the baby every day, since our
>>kids both have dry skin. So, like Ellen, we make sure the commonly messy
>>areas are cleaned as needed, then save the bath as a special play time.
>>We've done this with boths kids & have has little to no bath anxiety
>>(Mickey got scared once when the pipes rattled while he was in the tub,
>>but we worked through the fear during the next bath).  Infact, we tend
>>to have the opposite problem - how do you get them out of the tub once
>>the water's turned cold & their bodies look like raisins?
>>
>>The only time Mickey ever needed daily baths was last summer/early fall,
>>when he started school (on-cmapus daycare).  He found the water fountain
>>on the first day & spent almost every moment of every outside play
>>period playing with it.  Our nightly ritual of play-supper-play-bed
>>became play-supper-bath-bed with no problems.  We figure we'll go back
>>to this when the weather warms up again & he's outside more (& they've
>>turned the water fountain back on).
>>
>>YMMV.
>>
>>Laura
> 
>Well, I just had to tell you guys how much I appreciated this post.  I go
>around and around with my husband about this. (And of course, I've never
>thought about talking to the ped about it... :)).  My husband feels that
>our daughter (2.5) should be bathed EVERY night.  First, I don't see the
>need for it.  She's a basically clean child, pretty much potty trained,
>I wipe her with a wet wipe every time she goes potty, and after we eat,
>when she goes to bed or gets up I wash her face and she brushes her teeth.
>HE doesn't think that's enough.  So, HE thinks that I should bathe her
>every day, of course HE won't do it.  Just like HE won't put her to bed
>or make her something to eat as long as there is the slightest chance that
>I'll be home within the next 2-4 hours.
> 
>So, I've just been ignoring him.  (What else am I supposed to do? There are
>not enough hours in the day to go to school, work full time and do all the
>things he thinks a wife and mother should do...).  But next month, we'll
>have a ped. appointment - and I'll make sure to ask what she thinks about
>it.  I guess a ped probably has more authority with Daddy.
> 
>I'm from Germany, by the way, and when we were kids, we never bathed
>or took a shower every day.  We would take a bath every Saturday and we'd
>wash from head to toes on the other days of the week.  I don't think it
>hurt anything.
> 
>Sorry, if I sound a little mad in this post.  Just before I went back to
>school to do some more work (10PM) he made me give Tat a bath.  Oh, by the
>way, anybody want to know why he doesn't do it?  I guess, it's a sign of the
>times.  He wants to make sure that he'll never be accused of sexually abusing
>his child....- greatest excuse in the world.  Hope I'm not giving any Daddy
>out there ideas....
> 
>Stephanie
> 
>PS: Now I feel better.

Stephanie,

I sympathize with your situation but my husband and I have an agreement that
there are "no" Mommy or Daddy jobs.  If he wants to give the kid a bath, and
I don't then he should do it (on occasion this does happen).  Generally he
gets a bath twice a week, on Wednesday's (usually) when Dad's in school and
on Sunday.  The Sunday bath is the "big" bath, Mommy actually gets in there
and scrubs him (he's six).  After bath time he gets his nails clipped, ears
cleaned and a general check to make sure problem spots are OK (he has a problem
with Plantar's warts).  Sometimes we bathe him more often depending on what
he has gotten into that day.  As the weather gets warmer, his baths get more
frequent until they are just about every day in the summer.  Oh, and he gets
a hair wash with every bath, I don't believe in a bath without it since he
has very thick hair and sweats a lot.  Hope this helps,

Denise
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