DD suddenly hates bath

[plantsitter]

Hello

we've recently moved house and DD (18months) hates having a bath in the new bathroom, though she used to love baths before. It used to play a big part in bed time. She won't sit down in it, or play, or be washed - she just stands and cries to come out. I've been trying not to push it, just doing a quick wash and taking her out but it's a bit sad because she used to love it so much.

The bathroom is quite different in that it's downstairs next to the kitchen so a bit more 'public' than before - I wondered if that had anything to do with it.

Anyway I am fine about her not having daily or even 2 or 3 days between baths - or even a week really but she's got to have one some time! Also I'm pregnant and I'm worried about what bed time's going to be like when the new baby's born in 6 weeks...

Anyone have any suggestions about how to make bath time nice again? In all other respects she's settled into the new house just fine.

bump

my ds suddenly stopped liking baths at about 15 months for no reason that we can see. we also didnt force it cause he was just got too upset. We did notice however that if i was in the bath or his dad he liked to stand at the bath and splash. So now we run he bath and let him stand and splsh til he feels confident with the water then slowly he will let you put him in again think he feels its his choice as apposed to being forced in iykwim. he still hates having water poured on his head though. Hope this helps a bit

No advice I'm afraid but my DS is 14 months old and has been the same for about a month now. He used to love his bath and would scream when I had to take him out. Now he won't sit down and wants to come out straight away. I quickly wash him standing up and take him out.
I've tried distractim him with toys, cups, etc., cooler/ warmer water, nothing makes any difference.
Will be watching this thread with interest...

All mine have been through this phase.

All I can advise is to do as you are doing. Dont make a deal of it. Run the bath as usual, give her a quick bath and out again.

Let her stand up and wash her down. Do it with a big smile and 'good girl'. She will be clean and she is technically still having a bath. This way you dont get stressed but you are not exactly 'giving in' to her.

She will get over it fairly soon. All mine have.

She may be worried about going down the plug hole, lots of kids develop this fear at one time or another

My eldest went through a phase of hating the bath (as a toddler, but can't remember his age) and we made the mistake of forcing the issue and it just got worse.

The thing that fixed it was getting MIL to do his bath when she was visiting one night. This seemed to get rid of the bad associations and he was fine after that.

Bathmat.

worked for us

DD also went through phase of hating baths, although for her it was related to an accidental poo incident which freaked her out. I think she had just turned 2, seems like ages ago now! At first we tried to push it, but that made things a LOT worse. So, after posting on here, we stopped her nightly baths, and when she had one we just let her stand in it and hosed her down. Eventually she worked her way back up to sitting in the bath and then back to enjoying it again. She no longer has a bath every night though, maybe a couple of times a week.

In terms of bedtime routine, bathtime has stopped being an esential part now (DD 2.6). I felt sad at first as bathtime was such a huge and enjoyable part of DD's day, but other things have taken its place e.g. extra stories/cuddles/songs. She will occasionally hop in the bath with me which she thinks is very funny so you could try that.

DS had this, although it had a more defined cause in that I split from his Dad when he was 13 months and up to that point he had only ever bathed with him :( I would have just got in with him, but I was breastfeeding and he just constantly wanted to feed when I did this which made it difficult to wash him.

Every time I tried to bath him he'd scream and cling around my neck trying to climb out of the sides. What helped in the end was my mum came round and did a few baths with him so it wasn't me (I don't know why, but he didn't do the clinging around the neck thing although he did still cry. I think he felt more able to show his feelings with me, or something.)

She also did lots of things like with him standing next to the bath threw a toy in making it splash, and got him to do the same, which he thought was funny. Then she held him over the water not quite touching it and let him throw/pour some water in, his feet got splashed, but he was having so much fun he didn't mind. This progressed to him standing in the bath. He still stands up now at 2 and won't sit down at all, but he doesn't seem to get cold so I just bath him standing up. He still hates having his hair washed so I am working on a slow build up to that as well. I'm having great success at the moment with letting him "help" by putting a flannel on his head to get his hair wet, and I just keep his hair short so it doesn't take too much rinsing out. Also I mix a very small amount of shampoo in a bottle cap with some water and use this rather than straight shampoo so it doesn't take as much rinsing. It works fine unless he's got particularly sticky and in that case I just use the shower head and we have lots of cuddles afterwards.

Oh yes and getting a new exciting bath toy, and a non slip mat with a character on (We got a Makka Pakka one from Mothercare) helped too.

Both my elder children went through this: it seemed to be related to a fear of wee-ing in the baths. I just put a swimming nappy on (and then washed down their bottoms out of the bath). It only took about three or four times of doing this and they were back to loving their baths!