2yr old scared if being washed down plughole

[baileyslover]

2y3m DS has been less keen on baths for a coupleof months. Couldn't put my finger on why, thought it was farting/ poo related. However a couple of days ago I started emptying the bath with him in it, as we do occasionally, and he became hysterical. Tried to climb out and then he was trying to grab his parrot face cloth to rescue it. My DH put his hand in to show it was ok, and DS became more upset pulling him back.
Since then he refuses to go in the bath and sit down. DH got in with him today and DS was just as worried that he was in there.
He is fine with pulling out the sink plug and watching the water go down.
Going to stop baths for a few days but wondered if anyone else had experienced this fear?

Yes - my DD1 (now 4yo) experienced this at a similar age. I actually thought at the time 'she's never going to want to have a bath again' - and far from being as amusing as that statement might sound, it was actually very upsetting for us, particularly DD and I. Bathtime is so relaxing, I was upset that she'd never properly enjoy it again. She also had a big thing about having her hair washed, too.

I think you've done exactly the right things. Don't 'make' him go into te bath. Either you or your DH get in with him when he's ready and don't make a big deal about his current fear.

Things we did to entice her into the bath were: letting her choose new bath toys; her own bubble bath for the time she was ready to get back in. We bought her a plasti doll an let her bath her own 'baby'. We let her run her own bath and I allowed her to bath me i.e. I'd be in the bath and I'd let her wash me under my DHs supervision.

It took a few months - maybe 2-3 - for her to want to bath again. I think she took a bath in her swimming costume for the first couple of times. Even then, it was a 2 minute dip. But she learned to enjoy it
again, but it was when she was ready to. It's a task to get her out these days!

Don't focus on negatives, don't remind him of his fear. Just retrain him to remember what fun the water can be :)

Yes - my DD1 (now 4yo) experienced this at a similar age. I actually thought at the time 'she's never going to want to have a bath again' - and far from being as amusing as that statement might sound, it was actually very upsetting for us, particularly DD and I. Bathtime is so relaxing, I was upset that she'd never properly enjoy it again. She also had a big thing about having her hair washed, too.

I think you've done exactly the right things. Don't 'make' him go into te bath. Either you or your DH get in with him when he's ready and don't make a big deal about his current fear.

Things we did to entice her into the bath were: letting her choose new bath toys; her own bubble bath for the time she was ready to get back in. We bought her a plasti doll an let her bath her own 'baby'. We let her run her own bath and I allowed her to bath me i.e. I'd be in the bath and I'd let her wash me under my DHs supervision.

It took a few months - maybe 2-3 - for her to want to bath again. I think she took a bath in her swimming costume for the first couple of times. Even then, it was a 2 minute dip. But she learned to enjoy it
again, but it was when she was ready to. It's a task to get her out these days!

Don't focus on negatives, don't remind him of his fear. Just retrain him to remember what fun the water can be :)

Yip! DS(4) went through a phase of this too. He seemed to feel much better when I put a face flannel over the plug so he couldn't see it. He won't have baths at all now since discovering the joys of showering .