Dramatic Apology

I have read 50 websites of moms arguing over whether drinking bathwater is bad for their child or not. The overall consensus is that it is gross, but is it really bad for them? A lot of opinions and misplaced facts seem to be circulating about drinking bathwater and diarrhea. Hopefully this will set your mind at ease. Pediatrician Dr. Tanya Altmann, speaking to BabyCenter, recommends discouraging this behavior, but says you don't need to be too concerned about it. Drinking soapy water could cause an upset tummy. But this is unlikely; most kids spit water out if it has that unpleasant soapy taste. And the amount of soap your child would actually ingest is pretty small considering how much water it's diluted with in a typical bathtub. As far as cleaning products, the amount of chemicals used to clean a tub, which is usually rinsed well afterward and then filled with water, is less potent than in swimming pool water. Still, it's better to give your child clean water from the...

Editor's Note (2026): This article has been updated where medical or scientific recommendations have changed since it was originally published. Updated information is marked with an asterisk (*) and explained in the Update Notes at the end of the article. I have searched for food allergy information through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and many other sources. Honestly, of all the research I have done, this topic seems to have the most variance. Even today, food allergy research continues to evolve, and medical recommendations have changed significantly since I originally wrote this article. Rather than pretending the science has always been settled, I've updated the recommendations where necessary and documented those changes in the Update Notes at the end of the article. In ...