How Often Do You Give Your Baby A Bath?

As new parents, one of the questions that my wife and I had was, "How often should we bathe our baby?" Is it possible to bathe our baby too often?

Well, as with a lot of other questions about baby care there's no absolute right answer. My mom insists that a baby needs a bath every day. She says that a baby has to feel clean in order to be comfortable and to sleep well. I suppose that makes sense to some extent. I mean, we all feel better after a nice warm shower or bath right? But is everyday a bit excessive? I've heard people say that a baby's skin is sensitive and can dry out if you wash it too much, which also seems to make sense.

Then I've also heard the other extreme point of view. Someone once told me that you shouldn't wash a baby for 30 days after being born (I assume the first washing doesn't count...you know, when they wash all that junk off the newborn). Oh wait a minute...I may be confused...because I've also heard that a new mother isn't supposed to take a bath or shower for 30 days after giving birth. Well in either case, that seems gross.

I think most "experts" these days tend to agree that everyday is a bit too much. They say that it really isn't necessary to bathe your baby any more than once or twice a week. So this is the advice that my wife and I have been following for the last 7 weeks or so since our baby was born.

But lately, I've noticed that our daughter smells a little. She doesn't stink or anything (except for the poopy diapers). But she is getting a bit of "baby funk." One reason for this might be the fact that she sweats a lot when she cries. And lately she's been crying a lot. But I've also noticed that her neck sort of has a sour smell. What is this weird smell you ask? I think it's the milk that dribbles down her chin when she eats and gets stuck in the folds of her neck. We wipe her off after she eats, but as any parent will know, the folds in a baby's neck go really deep...surprisingly so. And it's hard to get in there to wipe it all off.

So our plan is to start bathing her more often. Maybe 3 or 4 times a week instead of once or twice. That should help with the sour smell and baby B.O. Maybe it'll even get her to sleep through the night! I know, I'm still a naïve first-time dad...but I can still hope, can't I? I'm just worried that the more we bathe her, the more opportunities for her to poop in the bath water. That would really gross me out.

How often does your baby get a bath? Let me know in the comments.