18 month old terrified of the bath

[HardlyEverHoovers]

Hi, my DS used to really love baths, but in the past few weeks has got more an more scared of it, and now just screams and tried to get out. I think he had started liking it less anyway, but we made the mistake of giving him a shower which absolutely terrified him and that seemed to make it worse. Anyone got any tips on now to get him to like it again, and how to get him clean without making him so upset? Thanks.

Ah, we've been through this .... Dtwins (same age as yours) decided they didn't like the bath a couple of months ago. We decided to accept it and assume they'd grow out of it. We put just a teeny bit of water in the bath, dipped them in and out really quickly, didn't try & persuade them to like it.

Also didn't bathe them every night (which I was worried about because I thought the break in routine might mean they wouldn't go to sleep - no need to have worried).

They just one night they stopped kicking up such a fuss, so we left them in a bit longer. (Just a bit mind you, not the normal ten minutes.) Gradually built it up, now they're back to loving water again.

Incidentally the histrionics did coincide with an unfortunate shower incident at Center Parcs. My DD doesn't like the noise of both taps running at once. I think they're at an age where it wouldn't take much to put them off again; we just try to second-guess what will spook them & avoid it (this applies to everything of course not just bathing, but you know that).

Apologies if this is all rather obvious ...

Thanks that's useful, my instinct was not to make a fuss, bath when necessary as quickly as possible, sounds like that's what you did. Think showers should come with a baby health warning...

DD won't sit down! I pop her in and she says HOT! even before her feet have touched the water. I think DP put her in a bath that was too hot about a month ago and she hasn't sat down since. Agreed it doesn't take much to put them off at all. Annoying really as you can't reason with them at that age. I'm hoping she'll grow out of it...

Have you thought about having a bath with him? He may enjoy it and be able to relax if you are in there too.

His dad tried that (wearing pants, amusingly) but didn't work unfortunately.

Try letting him play with water without being in the water, paddling pool or bowl in the garden with some cups etc in. Encourage him to stand in it and make footprints round the garden. Let him get in it at his own pace. If he's happy to do that try moving the toys from the paddling pool into the bath with just a little water and let him get in with whatever he was wearing in the paddling pool. Does he like swimming?

DD (also 18 mo) had this about 6 weeks ago, went from loving baths, to a couple of days of being a bit moany about it, and then suddenly seemed terrified, screamed. We never figured out why. It just went away eventually, DH getting in with her really helped though, and we made sure she did get bathed/washed when she needed it, and the whole drama just went away as quickly and mysteriously as it arrived, she's fine again now!