Kid's Bath Tub

In my house we all take showers. Even my 3 yr old for the most part. But she does like to take a bath sometimes. I absolutely insist that the bathtub be scrubbed first. The idea of her sitting in the tub with any germs from hard water or other is....ugh! Granted we do a full scrub weekly but still.

I had horrible athlete's foot from 8 yrs old to 13 so I know what you mean though I don't use any powders or what have you any longer. Bleach bath soaks (feet only) got rid of it once and for all.

im not a germophobe but i always rinse my tub really good before me or my kids get in it, my husband is a mechanic so the tub can get dirty some times cant put kids in there like that. So i understand you

Get a bath mat... and have her sit on that.
Keep it out of the bath, when not in use, so that you/Hubby's feet/body is not on it, when you both bathe.

Of course you meanwhile, are cleaning your tub. Daily I assume.

Yes, Athlete's Foot is fungus.

So, just get some kind of bath mat, JUST for her, to sit on when you bathe her. And keep it totally separate and outside the bath, when not in use.

If it makes you feel better, then clean/rinse the tub to your heart's content. However, I will say based on what I've seen my son put in his mouth - licking the side of the toilet bowl leaps to mind - I have a real hard time getting bothered about where he puts his tush.

You are being a little irrational, since you probably soap and clean your feet and body in that tub. And it all gets washed down the drain. And your daughter is also getting soaped and rinsed. So all foot germs are doubly soaped.

That's like saying that you can't use a towel more than once because it's dirty. Uhm...you're clean when you dry yourself, right?

Your tub is clean when you get out, right? If not...scrub better!

EDIT:

Gods forbid any of you have to go to a third world country. Americans are paranoid about germs to the point that we're sabotaging our own immune systems.

if you are being irrational then so am I. I hate feet!!! in my opinion the only time a foot is clean is right after you rinse it off, as soon as it hits the floor, it is dirty. I always clean the tub before giving our kiddo's a bath or shower. My 2 1/2 year old is taking showers mostly now, we are right there with him. and our 9 month old twins get a bath. I think it is good to clean the tub first, even without the feet issue, all the dirty stuff that washes off of our bodies touches the tub as well. I am right there with you!

I wash my shower every week. Also a one bath house.

Personally I have and take issue with baths.

But this may be from growing up in Japan. Where one cleans themselves BEFORE they get into a bath, rather than sitting and stewing in their own filth and wastes. Shudder. Icky.

When I build my dreamhouse, the bathroom will be on the Japanese model but the roman scale.

Although that leads to another thought. Soap. By nature; self cleaning. And yet; what is the last thing you wash and the first thing the next person washes. Just saying.

But no. I never clean the bath prior to every use of it. My son bathes twice a day. I refuse to take on such a chore. It's cleaner than ANYWHERE else he's been that day.

I think that if it bothers you, you can take a washcloth and wipe it out before she gets in. Our kids share the main tub and the big kids shower and the little one takes a bath. It's never been a problem. Usually after the tub is cleaned I use our removable showerhead to rinse it before DD's bath to make sure there is no cleaner residue.

I love baths. And my feet are...absolutely disgusting. They are enough to traumatize the average man. My husband works as a geoduck harvester. He comes back nasty. I seriously have him hose off BEFORE he's allowed in the shower. It was once featured on "Worlds dirtiest jobs." Anyway. I scrub the tub each time before my kids take a bath. Just a quick scrub. After they're done soaping, playing, and hanging in the bath I drain the water. They sit and play while the water is draining. When all the gross sudsy water is gone, I have them stand up and I rinse them again with clean water.

Roald Dahl ruined me as a young child. I've never been able to bath without an after shower since.

I don't think you are being irrational at all. I agree that if you don't clean the tub before she bathes then you are sitting her in a dirty tub. As long as you clean the tub before she takes a bath, all should be good. I like S.H's suggestion of having a bath mat for your daughter to sit on and no one else to bathe on is a good idea.

You're right. Shower floors are germy and bad. Staph being your biggest concern.

We had the same concerns. We just started holding the kids with one hand and showering them with a hand sprayer when they were able to stand up on their own.

I think clean tub or not, baths are just funky anyway. You can't rinse away all of your dead skin and you're basically sitting in your own dirt. Yuck. Females are prone to infections taking baths too. I avoid them.

I do reflect on that briefly (VERY briefly) from time to time, and as Riley said, I generally come to the conclusion that the tub is cleaner than the kid sitting in it, so I let it go.

But I do see the athlete's foot/foot powder issue. And if I were you, and was uncomfortable putting my daughter's girl parts where yucky feet have just been, I'd probably just take the simple step to wipe the tub bottom with a clorox wipe (I know, I know, clorox is toxic) and RINSE before putting baby girl in the tub.

Oh, I also do what Ephie suggested... after my son is done with his bath, I have him stand up and I rinse him down with clean water too.

I haven't as yet, nor do I intend to. Straight out of his bath last night our 10 month old raced to his bedroom stark naked, and started spinning the wheels of his stroller, and was about to gnaw on them as well. I've got more immediate concerns than the cleanliness of my tub.

BTW, fungus is ubiquitous, it doesn't just live on your feet, its pretty much everywhere. http://www.runnersworld.com/cda/toolscontent/0,7156,s6-24...

I am the same way...luckily we have 2 baths BUT if I didnt I would have to clean it each time before the kids. If I didnt it would make me feel like they were sitting in dried soap scum and private body hairs...ewwweee..so im with you and clean it ;-) plus the kids drink the water even if you tell them not too.

I agree that some residual stuff is in the bottom of the tub after showering. So go buy a toilet brush and some comet with bleach. Use the toilet brush for the bathtub ONLY, hand it is the tub. After showering sprinkle a bit of comet in the tub and scrub it a moment. Then use the shower to rinse it out.

Make sure to feel the bottom of the tub to see if there is any grit from the comet still there. If there is then rinse some more. The bleach will sanitize the tub and as you feel the bottom of the tub you'll learn how much to rinse and eventually will be able to tell when it is rinsed enough.

We have 2 bathrooms, and just hubby and I live here. Our daughter and grand daughter come over often, every day, (too often somedays,lol. a whole other post) and occasionally one of them will take a bath or shower in the hall bathroom. Last night, my grand daughter needed a bath and I wasnt busy and M. was, so I went to fill the tub. It actually had a couple cob webs across it since its rairly used. It was dusty on the bottom of the tub and I just didnt want to stick a 4 yr old girl in that. I ran water, swished it a bit with a washcloth, and then dried it down with a hand towel, then filled it with her bathwater. The towel was dirty enough to make me glad Id done it. I wouldnt want to take a bath and sit in water after someone elses feet had been standing there until Id wiped it out a little. Of course Im a bit creeped out by sitting in water anyway. My grown up neice still takes baths and actually dunks her head in to wash her hair,,after soaping herself to wash,, ewww, no wonder her hair looks so bad.
Sorry Christy P, I only use a bath towel once and then wash it, yes Im pretty clean after my shower, but I just cant bring myself to dry my face with a towel I just dried my other end with the day before. Just bugs me.

You can always buy a rubber mat (used to keep people from slipping down in their showers) for her to sit on. Take it out when she's through bathing.

If you weren't actively treating for foot fungus, I'd say you have an irrational fear. But in this case I would be sure that you just spray down the tub when you are done. To make this easier I would recommend a new combo-shower head: one with the hand-held attachment built-in; then you can just rise away after you step out. That should be fine. PS: We used to have a mat, but it was really bad about trapping dirty water and other things that otherwise would just rinse down the drain. We got rid of it and now just teach our two-year old not to stand up in the tub.

I like to clean the tub before putting them in but I fear the toxic chemical residue AND the germs. So I bought a non-toxic antibacterial spray by Method that you spray on and leave to dry so after I drain their tub I spray it down and the next day I give it a quick rinse before filling it. Maybe if you sprayed the tub after you shower then you just rinse it quickly before filling the tub.

Lol. Now I feel weird. I just figured the normal thing was to clean the tub before you run the bath water. :)
We also have a mat just for the kids. Who don't get bathed daily...because bath time is a LOT of back breaking work. Blah.

I have a horrible shoe phobia-if it makes you feel any better. ;)