This week, mummy blogger Constance Hall had other parents breathing a sigh of release when she revealed a few of her parenting techniques.
On the site Mamamia, Constance admitted that she lets her kids eat with their hands, and sometimes even just puts her headphones in to drown out the noise.
Of these admissions, there was one that appeared to be controversial to some; that she only bathes her six kids around three times a week.
Constance said in the piece: ‘They don’t have to bath or shower every day. They can quite often skip that part of the routine if it’s getting everyone down. I’m like, “Fine, stinky, go to school and gross everyone out”‘.
She also said that not having a bath ‘won’t kill them’, which is certainly true.
But how often should you cajole your little ones into the bath or shower?
As Constance cited in her post, the American Academy of Dermatology recommend that children should be bathed at least once or twice a week.
This is really open for interpretation, but does imply that you really don’t need to worry so much about bathing little ones as you would yourself.
These guidelines are for children aged 6 to 11, and come with the caveat that they haven’t gotten dirty in that time (ie if your kid loves to run around in muddy fields) and don’t have a skin condition.
It stands to reason, that children don’t produce body odour at this age like adults do.
For babies, it’s recommended specifically by the NHS that they aren’t bathed every day.
This is because they have fragile skin, and too much ‘immersive bathing’ (where they’re right in the water) can dry it out.
What you can do as an alternative is wash your baby with a sponge, and use a damp cotton pad to wash their face, then one cotton pad for each eye, keeping them clean and making sure infections aren’t spread.
In general, there is no hard and fast rule for kids once they get to toddler age. If they’re still in nappies or training pants, you’re of course going to want to keep them clean, and if daily bathing works best for you, then that’s fine.
However, if you haven’t managed to wrangle your kiddos into the tub after a busy evening, please don’t beat yourself up.
As long as they’re not smelly or dirty, the only people worried are the ‘judgy mum-shaming squad’. And who cares about them.
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