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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

Hates the bath/hair washing

9 replies

bobsi · 29/12/2006 08:24

My 15 month dd has suddenly taken to screaming throughout her bath and will not sit down. I've read other posts on this and we've started to give her a strip wash in her bedroon for a while and will keep trying the bath until we've cracked it (hopefully).
How do I wash her hair though? She has to go into the bathroom/bath for this doesn't she? I try and wash her hair every other day, although it could do with a wash every day as she smears food in it at every meal!!! She hates having it washed. Do I just get on with it and do it as quickly as possible or can anyone think of another solution. Tried shower last night :-(

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foxtrot · 29/12/2006 09:27

Have you tried to make the bathtime fun? Maybe get some different toys/plastic bits and pieces to entice her back in to play? Try a different time of day too, if you suspect she doesn't want to go to bed and bathtime signals the start of the bedtime routine?
Wouldn't worry about hairwashing until you've got her back in the bath happily - give the worst bits a rub with a flannel. Then get one of those shampoo shield hats and let her choose some fun shampoo.
And don't worry about not bathing every day, children don't get that dirty. Good luck.

santamum · 29/12/2006 09:48

My dd who is just one is just the same.Ive tried getting in the bath with her when ive time which does seem to help a bit but isnt very practical!I put loads of toys in the bath but she just ignored them and carried on screaming..I have just taken to bathing her every third day or so and doing it as quickly as poss and and then just top and tailing her the rest of the time..She used to love her bath and she still loves to go swiming so its a mystery to me..I hope she will grow out of it in the end?

sleepysooz · 29/12/2006 21:34

I have 3yo twins DD & DS but the DS hated baths from when he was 2.4 till 3.1 we had to strip wash, I never forced a bath or hair wash. Its not the end of the world, he liked washing his hands in sink with his sister, so I usually got him with a flannel then, still a struggle but not total meltdowns making himself sick.

He just suddenly started to like his baths again, amazing!

DS1 who is 11yo next week grumbles more than the twins!!! can't win

Original poster

bobsi · 30/12/2006 20:02

I tried a bath this morning (have always bathed at bedtime) with an inch of water and every bath toy we own thrown in!!!. DD stood in it quite calmly and let me wash her and crouched down to play with toys but wouln't sit down. At least this is progress - will try and wash her hair tomorrow. I'll try and increase the amount of water each week and see what happens. It's good to know that this problem is not too uncommon - it's totally baffling me, didn't see this coming at all :-/

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BuffysMum · 30/12/2006 20:05

my friend borrowed dd to get her ds over this. Dd was in their bath having a whale of a time their ds was desperate to join in and in the end did, just couldn't resist temptation! HTH

Bekks · 30/12/2006 20:52

We don't wash hair that much because of screaming, doesn't seem to get really disgusting...also do flannel washes. Could you try to get in the bath with her? Dd has always loved bathing with me, and I can hold her down to do a speedy hair wash!

Original poster

bobsi · 31/12/2006 07:59

We've tried getting in with her but it didn't seem to make a difference. My problem with hair washing is that dd has this habit of tugging at her hair whenever she's anxious/frustrated. I've been a little worried about this but don't know what I can do about it. Anyway, she puts her hands to her head at every meal and smears food through her hair every day so I feel I need to wash her hair regularly. Any ideas on how I can get around this? Her hair is stiff sometimes from the food. I try to wash it out with a wipe or flannel and comb it regularly but it never seems to do a proper job.

OP posts:

mez656 · 06/01/2007 04:52

Was she ok with having her hair washed while in shallow water? If so, problem solved! If not...
Have you tried washing her in a bucket? Just thinking that maybe the size of the bathtub is scary whereas a bucket would be more... cozy.

Another thought, although she may be a bit too young, what worked for me when I was little (I was PETRIFIED of the bath, thought I would go down the drain) was all the stories my mom invented about dying my hair bright pink so that it matched my shoes or about my friend dying his hair rainbow, etc.

nannynick · 06/01/2007 10:05

Does she like swimming? I found that I could take the children swimming, then encourage them to stand under the shower. Once they had got used to being under a shower at the swimming pool, then introduced shampoo.

You mention that she didn't like a shower - but that may just be a shower at home. The children I care for will happily shower at the swimming pool, but home is another matter!

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