3+Kids - What does bed/bath time look like?

[mrsbutters]

I have four - 6,4,2 and 9 months. I like to bathe them nightly because 1.) they need and it and 2.) it's a good part of their bedtime routine.

Well, I used to really enjoy this but now that there's so many of them, logistically it's not working anymore. All four of them in the tub is a nightmare but otherwise I have to give two baths - one for the older two, one the younger two. This also means starting baths almost right after dinner and that taking a large portion of the evening up.

What do you do? Just let the 4 & 6 year old shower in another bathroom while I bathe the younger ones? It used to be a relaxing, peaceful time for all of us but now it's stressful, loud and very messy.

[krisim]

We don't do baths every night because we just don't have the time, even with 2 kiddos it adds an extra half hour to the evening routine that we don't have.

How about alternating nights? The older 2 one night and the younger 2 the next night? Showers are good too, but my mine (same ages as your older ones) could stand in the shower all night, so I'm not sure that would speed up the routine.

Is your DH helping?  If so, divide and conquer?

[Marmee]

Mine are 10, 8, 6 & 2.5yrs old. I send my older 3 down to their bathroom 1 by 1 to take quick showers at night. If DD4 needs a bath before bed (often I bath her during the day) then I go bathe her & DD3 together. DH will go up & read to the younger 2. That's it. Easy peasey but when I had littles like you I did joint bathes all the time.

[Deleted]

I just do them one at a time. The other two are off playing while I'm washing one child. Bedtime goes in order of age: the 3 yo, then the 5 yo, and then finally the 7 yo around 8 or 8:30.

[holly116]

We bathe every other night unless they're exceptionally dirty. My 5 yo can sometimes be convinced to shower on her own and that's great. I can get her started and just pop in to help her get her hair cleaned/rinsed. Otherwise, she'll usually jump in the bath first and then can get herself dressed for bed while we move on to the boys. All three can fit in the tub, but it's hard to get all three washed down and clean when they're in there together.

I bathe the boys together (3 1/2 and 2) but we don't linger. We've never been a long bath family, honestly, multiple kids in the bath makes me a bit nervous so I get them in and out quickly and then spend more time on books and cuddles.

[mrslisa]

Mine are 8, 7, 6, and 2. The two year old is obsessed with bathes. She usually takes a real bath in the morning and then gets in the tub with someone at night. We have two bathrooms upstairs so two kids get in one tub. The combo depends on who is getting along. I sit in the bathroom that DD3 choses and just check on the other kids. Sometimes I count swimming as a bath, I will be sad when it is too cold to swim.

[Deleted]

We do a bath nightly. We bathe all 3 together (3yo and two 18mo olds). When there are two of us, H will take one of the girls and get her dressed while I finish bathing the other two. Then he gets the other girl while I get J out and get him dressed.

If I'm doing it solo, all 3 go into the tub. I wash all 3. Then I have diapers with me in the bathroom. I get one of the girls out, dry off, diaper. Next one out, dry off diaper. Then get J out. Then I go and get them all dressed. We have to do it this way when I am solo so as to not leave any of the kids unattended in the tub.

We have it down to a science at this point and it runs like a well oiled machine.

[sallyanne]

Do they all go to bed at the same time? I bathe my 8 month old twins while my 4 y.o. plays/watches a show and get them to bed. Then after the twin are in bed a bath or shower for him and get him to bed. When they all went to bed at the same time I think I was doing as pp mentioned and giving him his first then he could get dressed while I bathed the babies. Then get them dressed while the older one picked out a book to read. It was pretty crazy though.

[cinco]

Assembly line showers. When DD2 was a baby I'd put a show on for the older two and bathe DD2, but I switched her to a shower by 18m. Now that the older two shower themselves (9 and 7), I have been able to give DD2 a bath and let her play on days when we have more time. We have a time crunch almost every week day though, so efficiency wins. I can get all three done in less than 10 minutes.

[h]

Most nights my 8 yo showers on his own and my 5 and 3 yos play in the bath together. Occasionally my oldest takes a bath or the younger ones take a shower.

[jeaniebueller]

I don't have 3+ kids, but if you must bathe them every night, I would bathe the 4 and 6 year old together first, they can help wash themselves. Make it a quickie bath, get them out of the tub and they can dry and dress themselves while you bathe the younger two. Then once the older two are dressed, they can play or read or do whatever it is you have them do after a bath. Again, make it quickie in and out kind of baths so that it doesn't dominate your entire night.

[luckyno7]

Older ones get showers. (Mine are 5 and 3). We have a walk in shower so it makes it easier on me. Much much faster.

[Willis Jackson]

I have three- 6, 4, and 13mo. They all get baths nightly. We do assembly line. They only play for 5-10 minutes after getting scrubbed.

[lilles]

I have a 7, 5, and 14 month old. The older two shower by themselves every night after dinner. They used to like showering together but stopped doing it six months ago. So one showers in their bathroom while the other showers in mine. While this is going on I give the baby a bath in my bathroom. We are lucky to have separate shower/tub makes it easier to get things.done with the kids.

Everyone showers/bathes every night.

[Queen Mamadala]

My older three are almost 11, 9 and 6. They take showers every other day after dinner for the girls and in the morning for my son. Even when they were toddlers/preschoolers they mostly took showers. I usually brought them in with me. I bring my 10 month old into the shower with me maybe twice a week.

[namasteak]

Sept 30, 2015 8:29:02 GMT -5 Marmee said:

Mine are 10, 8, 6 & 2.5yrs old. I send my older 3 down to their bathroom 1 by 1 to take quick showers at night. If DD4 needs a bath before bed (often I bath her during the day) then I go bathe her & DD3 together. DH will go up & read to the younger 2. That's it. Easy peasey but when I had littles like you I did joint bathes all the time.

You are a genius. Daytime baths is a game changer for me! It makes sense and would take up some time every day (Ds1 loves baths).

[meltoine]

Mine are 4, 2, and 4 weeks.

6:00 - dinner
6:30 - bath, all three together. The older two sit in the big tub and the baby is in the infant tub laying across the big tub.
6:45 - pajamas, stories
7:00 - teeth brushing and into bed for the 2yo
8:00 - teeth brushing and into bed for the 4yo

Somewhere in there the baby falls asleep and I put him in bed.

mrsbutters - can you teach your over two to shower independently? My 4yo can wash his body in the shower and mostly his hair, he just needs a check to make sure he got all the soap. That way they could shower together with minimal involvement from you and you can give the younger two a bath.

[bbonanza]

We do baths/showers every other night unless needed. My youngest, 3.5yr, takes a bath first, and usually doesn't like to take too long, she gets hers after dinner so then she goes downstairs while the older two (7yr and 5yr) take showers, sometimes joint,other times rotating in and out quickly. DH and I also take turns on who has bath night. I never found bath time relaxing or fun, at least not for me. When they were smaller, DD1 and DD2 would take a joint bath. We tried a joint bath with DD2 and DD3, but neither of them liked it.

ETA:  The older two can pretty much do the showers themselves, they just like to have DH or I there to make sure they get all the shampoo out of their hair. 

[Deleted]

I only have 3. They are 9, 6, and almost 4. They also only bathe on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays because two of them have really sensitive skin and can't bathe as often.

Right now bath and bedtime is pretty easy.

On bath nights it looks something like this.
7:15 - everyone upstairs. Younger 2 get in bathtub for a bath in DSs bathroom. Oldest takes a shower in the girls bathroom.
7:30 - get younger 2 out of bath. At this point DH and I divide and conquer. We each take one of the younger two and get them out, help with PJs, brushing teeth and read to one: then we switch and read to the other. While we are doing this Oldest DD is getting her PJs, emptying her hamster's litter box, and hanging out in her room.
This is all done sometime between 8 and 815.

After we have both read to a younger kid, DH is done. I go in and read with oldest DD. that is done by 8:30.

I don't remember well how it was when DS was a baby. But it was similar. DD2 and DS took a bath together and DD1 showered. For awhile we did alternating nights, but it didn't work well so now everyone gets clean on the same nights. And then I nursed the baby to sleep and then read with the older girls.

[zarapipe]

Can your older one shower alone? My dd just started and loves it. She is 5.5. I had to wash her hair for a few weeks but now she can get all of the soap out of it. She likes it because it's different, new and she feels grown up.

[Deleted]

Mine are 9, 6, 3, and 1.5. 9 year old showers every night and he handles this alone. 6 year old showers every other night and I just check at the end to make sure she washed the shampoo and conditioner completely out of her hair. 3 year old and 1.5 year old take baths every other day and it is the days the 6 year old isn't. I bathe the youngest two together and when they are clean I take 3y.o. out, dry her off, wrap her in a towel and have her stand by the bath. Then I get the 1.5y.o. out and dry him off. 3y.o. heads to her room to try to get dressed while I quickly dress 1.5y.o. and then help 3y.o. because she is probably still rolling around on the bedroom floor rolled up in her towel.

7:30pm- Shower or bath for either 6 year old or 3 & 1.5 year olds.
7:45pm- Pajamas for youngest three and 9 year old hops in the shower.
7:55pm- All are showered and in pajamas and we read for a few minutes.
8:05pm-ish- Prayers, teeth brushing, general craziness of trying to get everyone in bed.
8:15-8:30pm- Lights out for younger 3 and the oldest stays up to read for 20 minutes.

All our times are a little later than most because the school bus doesn't pick up the older kids until 8:02am so we sleep in a bit.

[mrsbutters]

Thank you for all the replies!

My 6 yr old is very capable of showering herself and can also help the 4 yr old get the shampoo out of her hair. I guess I've just been holding onto bathtime for them because they have several bath toys (Ariel, etc.) that they love playing with in there.

It sounds like for my own sanity though they should shower themselves more often than not.