suddenly hating the bath?!

[ratfly]

Ds is 6 mo. He always loved baths, splashing and laughing and generally having a fab time.

He has eczema, and I tried a bath additive - balneum. When I put him in, as soon as his toes touched the bath he screamed. I gave him a couple of minutes and he didnt stop, so took him out and he gradually calmed down.

I thought it might be the Balneum, so I didnt add it the next time, and he still screamed.
So then I thought it might be cos he was too tired, but the same thing happened.

I keep his baths on the lukewarm side, but they have always been like this, as hot baths aggravate his eczema.

Nothing bad has happened in the bath for him to be scared of. And we are still using an over-the-bath one, not a full size bath.

Any ideas why? And how to get past it?

[oxocube]

All of mine did this (a long time ago as eldest is almost 12!) I just didn't bath them for a week or so then tried again and kept trying. They grew out of the fear within a few months although I don't know what triggered it in the first place. Think its quite common as lots of my friends had the same experience.

[brimfull]

yep,both mine did it,god knows why.They eventually grew out of it but it did take some months iirc.

[QueenofBleach]

Have you tried hvaing a bath with him, this may give him some confodence and I know that our DD loved having a bath with eiother me or DH.

[ratfly]

ok so it's just a phase
and a relatively normal one then...
I like the idea of having a bath with him, will try that after the weekend.

[GryffindorInARiffindor]

My DD did this around 6 months - DH did finally admit she may have slipped a little under the water one evening

she did get over it though and was back to loving them in a couple of weeks.

[tigerschick]

Agree that it seems to be a phase. Dd went thru it at about 6 months. We carried on as normal but with a tiny amount of water and gradually increased it until it was back to where it had been.
Just persevere and he'll be fine.
Bathing together is a good idea - just try to make sure you're not on your own so you can 'pass him out' to someone when you've finished.