Bath problem - how do i nip this in bud quickly?!

[OhWhatAPalaver]

hello all, so the other day i was bathing 10mo DD and she leaned right forward to grab a bath ducky and put her head in the water and inhaled a bit, she was horrified and screamed for ages even though i got her out straight away. she calmed down eventually and i thought it would just be a one off but then today she pretty much did the same thing but when i was washing her face with the face cloth! she screamed loads and actually tried to get out of the bath!
she still keeps trying to lean forward in to the water as well and when i restrain her she gets really annoyed and screams again :(

not sure what to do, i really don't want her to start be afraid of water or hating bath times. it took us long enough to get her to like them! any advice appreciated :)

Any chance she might be thirsty when she gets in the bath? I know that sounds weird but my DS did that recently (probs when he was around your DD's age). He wasn't horrified by it but he did the same trying to put his face in the water. But turns out he was just wanting a drink. Gave him a good amount of water with supper and he stopped doing it. Might not be the same thing but worth a try?

Is it just when you put water near her face or does she cry through the whole bath?

she just cries when water is near her face and she gets really worked up so it's hard to calm her down without getting her out of the bath.
she could be thirsty! will see if she wants a drink next time :)

I think the way to stop her getting so panicky is to remain calm yourself. If she chokes a bit, laugh at her a bit, talk in a calm voice and then distract. You are supervising her so choking on a bit of water isnt dangerous when you are there to pull her out if it turned into a hazard. Pulling her right out of the bath after a tiny bit of water is only going to reinforce her fear.

Have you taken her swimming? Could you show her how to blow into the water?

DD1 did this all the time in the swimming pool around that age.