I am young, just out of college, and I care for my mother with congestive heart failure. Is it wrong to not want to be the one to bathe her?

Unless there are some other hygiene issues, a bath once a week should be sufficient.
If you are just starting this journey, you will find that friends and relatives will have all sorts of "suggestions" for you...from a distance.
The next time your family gives you a suggestion tell them, in the sweetest voice possible, that you would love to give her more baths and you are so glad that they "volunteered" to come over and do it (or if they are out of town, pay someone for the extra time.) When people have to "put up" they usually "shut up." This may sound harsh, but you need to protect your health and sanity.
I am with you....I do 99 percent of my Mom's care, errand, appts, etc....there are just some things I am not willing or trained to do.
good luck
Lilli

Landry, it is absolutely not wrong for you to not want to bathe your mother. I felt the same way when my mother was alive. Same for helping with toilet needs. This is what home health aides are for. We all have different limits, and you need to find and respect you own, and state your own limits so that other arrangements can be made to help your mother in the areas you cannot. You are a dear to be doing what you are doing for your mother. And it sounds like your mother does appreciate it. It's the other people in the family who may be putting pressure on you to do what they want you to do for your mother. Stand strong and do only what you feel comfortable with.

Thank you so much...I am going to remember this is upcoming battles....

It's tough when you are that young and have to deal with such an issue. I thought that I was going to have issues as well. But as my mom's needs increased I was exposed to her being more and more in the nude due to dressing, or doc visits, x rays and the like with helping to take on and off clothes so when it came time to give her a bath (cause before she was doing it all on her own..now she's become like some of the other folks that are mentioned here when they don't want to do it anymore..lol)...so I just put my gumption together got a BIG sponge and squeezed a ton of that lovely Dove moisturing soap on it and went to town...and you know it was not so bad I was amazed. I just had her sit on her little seat for the bathtub and remembered how much I used to love to wash my little dog cause she loved being clean and just pretended the same....a big puppy! LOL wink hope that helped a tad for the future.

I Refuse to be the one the one to bath my mom, both for own dignity and my sanity. But I got lucky. when Home health stopped coming and I was left on my own with it all, one of the health care assistants who bathed mom while home health was coming said ythat she does stuuf on the side on the weekends. she only chrdes me ten bucks a bath, plus I'm more comfortable with a trained pair of eyes looking for problems. also Mom doesn't give her the hard time she gave me

Amen Ted! Excellent problem solving I think! Many non-medical home care agencies will do bath visits or have a few hours minimum call time. That time can be used not only to provide your mom with a bath but to help with housekeeping, laundry, outings, meal preparation, etc. Sounds like you too figured out that sanity and dignity is worth more than money! Your mom is a lucky lady and you are a great son!

You know I never even saw my dads chest before I started bathing him,he was always so modest.Me being the daughter,I was very uncomfortable seeing more of my dad than I was wanting to see,o.k. that was a understatement.I was devastated when I bathed him the first few times,I cried like a baby.We got home health,I was elated. The sicker he got,the more I realized as unnatural as it was,no body loved him as much as me.I also new if it were me in that bed he would do anything to help me. I got a whole new attitude. It became our talkin time.We joked,laughed,I knew I did the job better than anyone.I felt good that he was clean. I understand how you feel, but its no big deal,its a mental thing.I must admit that havin baby experience helped me out. After my dad passed away,I even helped the nurses clean him,for the very reason that he was my DAD.