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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

Fear of Bathtime

14 replies

hayleybayley · 16/08/2006 19:48

My two year old who until last week, loved his bath, is now refusing to sit down in it and insists on standing up and just wants to get out. i think this behaviour has something to do with him having pooed in the bath a couple of days although i didn't make a fuss of this. Does anyone have any tips as to how i can coax him back into sitting down again?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Trippitaka · 16/08/2006 21:13

Um, I think just persistence? Or maybe reintroduce him to water a different way? My ds got funny about baths, but was fine about going to the swimming pool, so I let him go into the bath with his swim nappy on, and after a while he's happy to strip off again.

Ponka · 16/08/2006 21:17

My DS had a slight slip. Nothing bad. The next time he refused to go in the bath so I stripped off there and then and got in with him!

PanicPants · 16/08/2006 21:20

hb I could have written your post!!! (except the poo!)

Tonight I put some floating confetti bubble bath on top of the water and ds (aged 1) began to reach down to try and touch it (he was stood in the bath refusing to sit) and eventually he plopped down so he could get closer to the confetti!

shatteredmumsrus · 16/08/2006 21:26

Try taking his favourite toys in there and get in with him. My son loves that. Dont make a big deal of it tho. It wont last....

CrocodileKate · 16/08/2006 21:28

Let him stand up for the next few baths and get his confidence back. If you are relaxed he will should calm down soon and go back to enjoying bathtime.

BettySpaghetti · 16/08/2006 21:31

My DS did this a few months ago -we think it happened after he did a wee when standing in the bath and his older sister over-reacted and made a big thing of it.

We just progressed from strip-washing him to showers and then baths again.Some fun bath toys enticed him back in too.

However he didn't mind the paddling pool or going swimming during this time so maybe do lots of other water play here.

It does pass though, honest

Orinoco · 16/08/2006 21:45

Message withdrawn

7in1971 · 17/08/2006 01:15

Hi, my Ds went right off baths for no obvious reason at @ the same age, it took two of us to grapple him to stay safe and he loathed it for months. COme the summer, come the paddling pools and with no pusausion from us he was splashing around again, chucking water over his head with a watering can. Now, well we can't get him out of the bath, although we'll see what that's like in the winter months...

fussymummy · 17/08/2006 02:14

All three of my children have gone through this.
We found that letting them and us blow bubbles in the bath worked.
They eventually bend and then sit down so that they can have the bubble wand.
Also, letting them help get bath ready encouraged them in.
Like other mums i used to tell mine that if they were going to waste the bath water then i'd get in, they soon joined me.

Blackmail works well if all else fails!!

Lizzie4 · 17/08/2006 09:17

Snap! Exactly the same happened to me. Joyous bathtimes turned to a complete nightmare overnight but persistance got us through it. Eventually we found bubbles and toys to be the answer. We made bathtime the best, most fun part of the day and didn't mention the "accident". Eventually, it was just forgotten and I'm sure this will be the same for you.

Original poster

hayleybayley · 17/08/2006 09:30

Thanks for the tips. In the past few weeks my dh has often got in the bath with him which he loved but that offer wasn't accepted last night. Am going to wait and see what he does tonight before I pick a strategy although I'm sure I'm in for another 'stand off' .....we'll see what happens!

OP posts:

PanicPants · 17/08/2006 11:40

and don't do what dp tried a couple of nights ago, I heard ds screaming from the garden, and after 10 mins I could stand it no longer so went upsatirs to find dp forcing ds sit down, and not letting him out of the bath until he did .

I was mortified, that way is guarenteed to make bath time a turn of for everyone

Original poster

hayleybayley · 17/08/2006 12:49

I have just bought a Thomas the tank bath toy. I'm not going to try and force him but will see if a bit of gentle bribery will work

OP posts:

fussymummy · 17/08/2006 15:00

Another thing you could try is to bath at a different time of day. We found that to work in the past!

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