Inhaling bath water...

[explosioninatoyshop]

My DS is 3, thinks its funny to stick his face in/drink his bath water, and often ends up choking and breathing it in. We try to discourage him, but that doesn't always work. On sat night he breathed in a mouthful and has had a nasty cough ever since (he had just got over 1 cough / cold). He had a dreadful night last night, I was up and down like a yo yo with him cos he was coughing so much - could the water he breathed in be causing the cough? If so any advice on what I can do about it now, if anything? Any advice much appreciated!

I'm not sure it would cause the cough but it certainly isn't a great thing to do. My DS sometimes does this - a classic giveaway is when he says 'Mummy I haven't drunk the water' . I have a zero tolerance with it - he gets a warning and told if he does it again he will get straight out. You need to follow through and get him out immediately if you use this. You will only have to remove him once or twice for him to get the message. Of course that only works if he loves the bath; if he's not that bothered then a consequence ie removal of toy works a treat.

Good plan, the 'don't do that, it makes you cough and mummy doesn't like it' routine has no effect whatsoever - he loves his bath (mostly), so yanking him out as soon as he swallows the water would prob be the best way to stop him. Will try and see how we get on with that! As for the cough, prob being a hypocondriac (sp?) mummy, but I phoned the doc this morn and they basically said don't worry about it he should be fine.