Toddler won’t bath

[FionaB83]

Hi there.

Looking for some advice please, my almost 21 month old son has suddenly become somewhat fearful of the bath, screams blue murder and literally won’t go in the bath, full or empty. Our shower is over the bath and we have tried the shower but to no avail, we’ve also tried the kitchen sink and again that’s a no no, at the moment he’s being sponged down but even when we start sponging him he jumps onto the nearest person, either myself or my husband and clings on for dear life. He’ll happy play with water so I’m not sure it could be classed as a water fear. Our Health Visitor is also baffled by what’s happening, she said this bath resistant phase normally only last a few weeks and this is going on much longer and showing no sign of changing.
Has anyone else experienced this type of situation or does anyone have any advice?

My daughter did the exact same thing when she was 20 months old. It lasted about 2 weeks. One thing that helped her with getting over the fear was having new toys in the bath.

Thanks for the reply Plantsandwine.
This has been going on now for about 7 weeks and doesn’t look like it’s letting up, we have tried new toys and he’s just not interested xx

Have you tried going in the bath with him so he has you there for comfort? Maybe just doing a quick few mins and then build it back up to a full bath time (avoiding hairwashing/water on head and face at first). I find giving DS advance warning of something I know he wont want to do helps too so he knows its coming and accepts it ("we'll play on the swings next and then after that we'll get back in the buggy and go home for lunch, ok?"). My DS was a lot more interested in the bath once we put a load of bubbles in there too - perhaps framing it more as going for playtime in the bath or a swim in the bathtub, rather than going in the bath for a wash might help. You said he likes water play - maybe you could try that GelliBaff stuff to get him back in the tub. You could try different times of the day too - if its a negative association that bath precedes bedtime, for example. I find it easier to get my son ready in the morning if we're going out that day - e.g. "Quick! We need to get you all nice and clean for the Zoo or the monkeys will think you're too stinky to come out and see you!". Books like 'I don't want to have a bath!' might also be helpful. Hope something helps you soon, don't despair it will pass eventually one way or another!

Thanks for your reply. Yeah we have tried going in with him, even my mum tried but he just got so anxious and was screaming. I did add some crackling water changing colour stuff but as soon as he sees bath he scarpers. I’ll give the zoo thing a try but he’s still so young there seems to be no reasoning with him. Like today at football he just didn’t want to be there and he screamed until we left. I feel like it’s something I’m doing that’s making him be like this x