“Throw the baby out with the bath water.”

This cliché probably originated by G.B. Shaw. He used the same image several times in his Pen Portraits And Reviews. In 1909, he wrote “Like all reactionists, he usually empties the baby out with the bath”

Another interesting explanation goes thus. Before the custom of daily bath came into practice, the gentlemen had their bath in the stored tub water first, the ladies were allowed next and the children last.

By the time the children bathed, the water would have become so dirty that often the baby could get thrown out with the bath water!