Bathtime battles

[NotGeoffVader]

Can anyone offer any advice please? Up until three weeks ago DD was quite happy to have an evening bath.
She's 16 months, and we put the baby bath in our bath (v small bathroom), and fill it 3/4 full with warm water. She's then put in, soaped, and has plenty of toys to play with. Hair washed, rinsed off, out and dried. No problem

However, she had a nasty cold a couple of weeks back with a hacking cough, and, as our place isn't very warm, I dropped the bath in favour of a wash down from the old top and tail bowl.

Now the cold has gone, I'm trying to get bathtime back on track but she now won't get in the bath at all. We've tried making it very shallow, we've tried making it very full. We've tried making it warmer, cooler, soapier, plain water, with toys, without toys...
All we get is screaming, crying to the point of near-hysteria. Tonight we tried and she wouldn't sit down - got her stood in it for 30 seconds (DH was holding her) and I managed to wash her legs. She was already crying as we were undressing her. She screamed and sobbed so much she nearly made herself sick. Had to take her out, wrap her in towels and sit her on DH's lap whilst I went over the dirtiest bits with a warm damp sponge.

I really don't know what to do to get her back to liking the bath.
I was thinking about trying a different time of day. I was also thinking about getting her bath out of the bathroom, and introducing sitting in it (Dressed and the bath dry) as part of play time.

Any suggestions welcome please, I can't have a filthy baby!

Put the baby bath on kitchen floor(fill with a bucket) surround by towels, add some toys, let her sit beside it in a t-shirt and nappy,let her reach in for toys, when she is distracted undo nappy, add new toy(never seen before) , add baby in t-shirt,

for some reason change of location of bath often helps.

you do end up with a clean floor as a bonus.

A 16 month old does not need a bath everyday,

I think most children go through this phase of bath time battles. Just wipe her over with a flannel in the evenings. Once a week try the bath again. But don't force her or make her more scared.

A few days until her next bath might just make her forget what she was scared of or you'll just have to leave it and slowly introduce it again later.

Also have you tried her in the shower?

Yeah i was thinking try the shower, or have you tried getting dh to bring her in when your in the bath, seeing you having fun (playing with her toys :P) might make her want it more? and then see if you can get her dipping her hand in, splashing while your in? Maybe the next time you might get her in with you?

good luck

Second holiday's suggestion - get in the bath first, her father can bring her in so that she can see you playing with her bath toys. Or, both of you get in the bath - she might then want to get in because she feels left out.

Upgrade to tge big girls bath? Or time for her fab toy to be given a bath?

Thanks for all the suggestions!

Just to clarify, Gallant, she doesn't have a bath every day anyway - it's 2 or 3 times a week - usually. :/

We did try the shower when she was last in the bath and she didn't like it, but it could be because she was tired.

Will try out all the suggestions and see how we go. The bathroom is tiny so it's a squeeze for all of us, but well worth seeing if she'll get into the 'big girls' bath.
I will also try the bath in a different room although that'll probably result in wet carpets; not that that's bad in itself as I'd rather bath water than what the cats wet it with this week :(

Just work on getting her to play with the bath in different rooms without water in it first. After a while she might climb into it which would be brilliant. Then get her to sit in it dry with no nappy on.

When she's happy with that move it back to the bathroom but again let her play without water.

Once she's relaxed with that reintroduce water but don't put her in it. Eventually she will probably choose to get in it herself.

The key is to let her lead the progress. If she feels in control she will not be frightened. Don't push her to do more than she wants and don't, whatever you do, sit her in it without being very sure she is happy to do so.

This seems to be a common thing - my 20-month-old, who always loved having a bath, went through a stage of screaming every time he went near it, and he was about 16 months old then too. I think standing up is something every toddler wants to do - sometimes DS takes ages before he sits down. I just had to weather the tantrums and, on the nights when he absolutely refused a bath, do my best to at least get his feet/legs/bottom/hands etc clean and then just leave the rest. He came out of that stage quite quickly though. Occasionally still has repeat episodes but I can usually now distract him with his toys so he forgets why he was screaming.

I would definitely recommend trying the big bath too.

Have you got any baby friends that enjoy bath time, invite them round for a bath party, when she sees others in enjoying themselves she will want to join in,

make sure you have slip mats, sometimes the insecurity of the surface can be off putting.

Our LO outgrew the baby bath pretty early - by 12 months she couldn't lie in it comfortably and I think pouring water over her head whilst she sat up in it was unpleasant for her. We haven't got a bath but we put her in the shower and though she still wasn't particularly keen initially, she didn't protest very much and a shower is over a lot, lot quicker than a bath. Suggest you bath or shower with her, rather than using a baby bath. I started to shower with our LO at around 16 MO, as around that time she seemed to develop a strange dislike of seeing water going down the plughole! She seems to be frightened by it! If I shower with her she doesn't see it though, as my leg is in the way. It's nice as we can play with stick on foam animals and sing and she likes washing herself with her own soap. At 21 MO our LO still doesn't enjoy hair washing, but it takes a few seconds in a shower and is the last thing we do before we get out. Last night she even put the shampoo on her own head and attempted to lather it. Defintely bin the baby bath and try the big bath or the shower if you have one.

No baby friends to invite round and no bath mat - but we can go shopping for the latter tomorrow and then try out all of the very helpful suggestions. :)

She just got home from nursery half an hour ago - so I put the empty bath in the lounge in front of her toys. She climbed straight in and kicked up a fuss when I got her out to have a snack! :)

Fantastic!

ha knew it, change of scene always works, so how boring is your bathroom?

Boring bathroom? How very dare you quote!

It has different coloured tiles in different sizes on the walls, mirror tiles, mirrors, African masks in heavy dark wood, and a curvy shower bath.

However, I shall persevere with the bath as a play thing for a day or so. Going to get a bath mat tomorrow, so even if she just puts her feet in with me, that'll be a plus. Not for me, her feet are filthy!

Do you still need a baby bath at that age? DS loves having bathtime with me and has empty bottles etc to play with. Try and get her to have some water play time in normal bath during the day or paddling etc. I am sure she will come round. With a good mat she will feel quite stable and have room to splash and wriggle.

Might it be a good idea to move the African masks just to see if it's those which are upsetting her. I remember my godson suddenly becoming terrified of being in his bedroom as a toddler and we eventually worked out that it was a picture of a Clingon from Startrek which his dad had put on the wall which was scaring him.

Thanks again for all the tips and advice. Definitely going to get a bathmat tomorrow and will try 'calming' the room somewhat.