daycare = daily bath?

Breezy8407

Hi all. I haven't been posting much. Things have been crazy at work and at home. We started our twins in a daycare center today. We had a nanny debacle...long story!

Anyway, I am assuming they will get dirtier each day now even though they aren't crawling yet. Do you give your babies in day care daily baths? We had been doing every other day baths up until now. 

lcatack

I don't - mine is in daycare1-2 days per week.  I avoid soap b/c its so harsh on baby skin (even baby soap).  You could always wipe them down with a warm wash cloth or just get into the bath without soap to wipe away any dirt or grime they may have picked up along the way. 

Manateearmz

DD gets one everyday. She tends to get pretty rough around the edges after a full day of dc :

mylittlesunshine

I usually bathe the girls every other day. Unless, DD1 is really dirty or DD2 has spit up a lot where it would warrant a bath for the second day in a row.

Usually I just wipe them down really well on the days they don't get a bath

KathrynMD

DD didn't really get much dirtier at daycare than she did at home until she was crawling and especially walking.  I'm not a fan of bathing every day anyway - its bad for their skin. 

Nechie122

We do but I'm not sure it's related to daycare. At an early age, we decided she slept better with a nightly bath and kept up the routine. And in the summer she'd get so sweaty, we hardly ever skipped a night.

1026pumpkin

Before DS started crawling, I did a bath every other day, and on the days inbetween, we washed hands and face REALLY well when we got home with a washcloth and warm water.

As soon as he started rolling around and playing with toys, we moved to the daily baths almost every day (unless we had a really bad day).  In the winter, I kept them short with lukewarm water and used lotion ASAP after we dried him off, and we never had any issues with dry skin.

Now that he is a toddler, we have to do a bath every night- he comes home with sand in his hair, sunblock in his ears, and dirt everywhere.  I take this as a sign that he had an awesome, fun day, but there's no way I'd put him to bed like that.

ridesbuttons

IME, babies/kids get dirtier as they get more mobile and they are dirtier in spring/summer/fall than winter.

Having said that, I don't think I ever bathed my kids daily.  Very hard on the skin.

natalee36

Our pedi suggested a daily bath to help prevent sickness. They will pickup alot of germs during the day. Just use a gentle hypo-allergenic, unscented soap & lotion if you are concerned with dry skin.

LoCarb

We did and still do daily baths; it is part of their night time routine.

chmana

I give my DD a daily bath. She just started going to a center at 2. I think about all the people and kids she comes into contact with. I would give them a bath daily with mild soap like Johnson & Johnson.

PunkyBooster

He gets a bath nightly, but he's also nearly 2 and outside a lot!

I don't shampoo his hair daily, but I do rinse it nightly.

I might skip a Friday or Saturday night if we are busy grilling or have friends over and he's playing a little later. 

ChicagoWeded2007

I just wipe any exposed skin hands and face usually with a warm wash cloth. I do a bath on Tues and Thursday unless there's a big mess.

katie4253

Yes, we always have due to germs.  But, now there is no way we couldn't.  He comes home disgusting now.  I am sure it is because he had such an awesome day, but yuck.

pitterpatter129

I did!  He came home filthy, especially as he got older and started solid foods.  Food, snot, dirt, etc.  I just wanted all the daily germs washed off too.  One teacher wore coconut smelling lotion and he reeked of her.   I was happy someone was snuggling him though!  He has eczema anyhow and a good daily soak with lotion after is helpful for it.

 

 

shannm

DS is four and yes, he gets daily baths because he literally gets dirty.

DD is five months and we do baths every other night so that we don't over dry her skin.  I do wipe her face and her hands every night with a wet wash cloth. 

groovygrl

Ehhh bad mom here, my twins have been in DC since 5 months (now 3 yrs old) and we have always done e/o day baths. I wash their hands & faces after all meals and if they seem especially dirty I'll wash them off but they really arent that bad usually except hands & faces (sometimes DS has marker or whatever all over his arms that I scrub off).

laurakaz13

Mine has had a nightly bath as part of her routine since 2 months old.  She still does, and yes she is dirty from playing, activities, art projects, etc. at daycare. 

katieh1017

We always bathed everyday and her hair every other day. Since DC we started daily. I know she's rolling on the floor and people besides us are touching her hair so I want it done. 

Lotsofloveandkids

Most of the time, others he takes a bath every other day.

laura.noel

J is in one-on-one in-home daycare (her home, not mine), not a center. We bathe him every night, just because it is part of his bedtime routine. However, we only use soap twice a week, the rest of the time we just wipe him down with warm water and let him play with his rubber ducky.

mrskelly731

We do a nightly bath as our regular routine. she also brushes her teeth at that time. I don't see it as bathing because of getting dirty, but more as just a good habit to get into.

SavedByLove

groovygrl:

Ehhh bad mom here, my twins have been in DC since 5 months (now 3 yrs old) and we have always done e/o day baths. I wash their hands & faces after all meals and if they seem especially dirty I'll wash them off but they really arent that bad usually except hands & faces (sometimes DS has marker or whatever all over his arms that I scrub off).

 

Pretty much this except DS is only about 15 months old & has been in DC since 3 months old.  My pedi told me to do every other day, not every day.  In the end, I think it comes down to your schedule and your preference.  I don't think there's a right or wrong answer here (unless the kid is filthy, haha).

financialdiva

1026pumpkin:

Before DS started crawling, I did a bath every other day, and on the days inbetween, we washed hands and face REALLY well when we got home with a washcloth and warm water.

As soon as he started rolling around and playing with toys, we moved to the daily baths almost every day (unless we had a really bad day).  In the winter, I kept them short with lukewarm water and used lotion ASAP after we dried him off, and we never had any issues with dry skin.

Now that he is a toddler, we have to do a bath every night- he comes home with sand in his hair, sunblock in his ears, and dirt everywhere.  I take this as a sign that he had an awesome, fun day, but there's no way I'd put him to bed like that.

This is exactly what we did as well.  

wychets

DD gets a bath every day, she is crawling now and touching everything so she needs it. I only wash her hair 2-3x a week.

SoldiersGreenBean

All 3 of mine get a nightly bath or shower.  It has less to do with being at day care all day, and more to do with what it does to our nightly routine if they don't.  Sometimes I don't use soap, and just let them play.  But they still go in the tub.

cecilyandgautam

We give ours a daily bath but not because of daycare. It's part of our bedtime routine. 

Our DCP wipes DD down after every meal and before I pick her up, so most days she's clean. Keeping baby relatively unsoiled is part of basic childcare, IMO.  

MKE6115

When my kids were young I was able to bath them every other day. Most times now that is the case but there are days they come home dirty, DD was covered in chalk from drawing outside at school, she got a bath when we got home. DS was dirty from who knows what but I didn't notice it until we where getting ready for bed so I just had him put his legs in the tub and I did a quick leg wash with soap and water.

We try to keep it to every other day but if needed we will do washes in between. 

Netty_3

Every other day. Soap is harsh on baby's skin. I can't imagine how they'd get dirtier than they would at home since DC has to keep everything sanitized.

salt78

DD gets a bath every day, but she did prior to going to daycare also. 

skyejo

Nope, we do every other night for the most part unless she's really dirty. In the summer we did baths more often because she was outside sweating twice a day with sunscreen all over her and I wanted to make sure that got washed off.

Breezy8407

Thanks everyone for your input! I figured it's a preference and routine thing.

They survived (or more like I survived) their first day...DS apparently went through all 3 of his sets  clothes between sitting up and peeing during a diaper change, so he would have had one regardless. They enjoy baths and it was nice for me to spend time with them last night. They were so exhausted they pretty much slept the rest of the night!

I am going to see how their skin handles it for now and especially in the winter. If they start to get dry I will ease up. We use Burt's Bees baby wash and lotion right now.

semdkm

They get baths every single day regardless of whether it's a daycare or home day.  I'm a total germophobe.  I also strip them at the door when they get home from daycare, kindergarten, or the park, or any public place where their clothes have come in contact with public nastiness   (Yes, I've become one of "those" people).  I also cringe and start to shake a bit every time we receive a "Bounce U" bday party invite!

Breezy8407

semdkm:

They get baths every single day regardless of whether it's a daycare or home day.  I'm a total germophobe.  I also strip them at the door when they get home from daycare, kindergarten, or the park, or any public place where their clothes have come in contact with public nastiness   (Yes, I've become one of "those" people).  I also cringe and start to shake a bit every time we receive a "Bounce U" bday party invite!

My people

I'll be honest, part of the reason for the baths is germs. It have major anxiety about the upcoming sicknesses we will deal with. I know it's out of my control for the most part though.

maedamalu

This!!

 

mbenit4:

I give mine a daily bath because of the sitting in the diaper all day thing.

Everyone takes a daily bath in my home.

jenn_darrin1515

groovygrl:

Ehhh bad mom here, my twins have been in DC since 5 months (now 3 yrs old) and we have always done e/o day baths. I wash their hands & faces after all meals and if they seem especially dirty I'll wash them off but they really arent that bad usually except hands & faces (sometimes DS has marker or whatever all over his arms that I scrub off).

this exactly.

starlettedir

If DH is home yes.

 

I hate giving baths though so I avoid it if he's not home ;-)

BabyNewbury2012

Our LO is in daycare monday through thursday so we do daily bathes on those evenings then we do one on saturday night! She isnt crawling yet but they do put her down for tummy time and they do share toys.

xtencornfield

DS #1 switched to daily baths right around the same time that he started walking. That seemed to be the trigger for us. But it was spring time and they were outside a lot. If it had been the winter, we might have been able to hold off a little longer.

DS #2 is still doing every-other-day baths even though he's crawling. The only times I feel a need to up the frequency of baths is if he's eaten something particularly messy that day. My guess is he'll be walking shortly after DS #1 started walking and we'll need to switch to daily baths then.

Ecy

The first 3 or 4 months of DD's life, I definitely didn't bathe her everynight. It was more like every 3 or 4 days. Not soon after she started DC though, I started the nightly bath. Now it is such a part of her routine that if we don't do it, she gets a bit thrown off.