2 year old DD refuses to sit down in bath-any suggestions pls

[wolveschick]

Since an awful bout of nappy rash around last Sept DD2 refuses to sit down in the bath. Luckily have got shower attatchment to taps so can hose her down but not the same as her sitting down in the bath imo. Have tried putting her in swim pants to sit, putting flannels in the water for her to sit on but stubbornly refuses to sit down. Any suggestions? She was 2 in Nov.

I would just carry on showering her, don't make it a big deal

My DS now 30 months was the same for about a month.

I just let him stand if he really cared about it that much. It wasn't a battle worth pursuing. I just lathered him up and rinsed the suds off with a bowl of water and whipped him out. He soon forgot he only wanted to stand.

Pick your battles, I reckon. Does it really matter if she wants to stand?

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I would try to ignore it. Make bath lots of fun with toys/bubbles/bath crayons or whatever and wait for this phase to pass!

Or could you borrow a slightly older but adored cousin/best friend and show your dd how clever they are in the bath? (peer pressure starting working for ds at this age!)

ds2 rfused to sit down for about 6 months, around this age. Tbh i just left him to it! He sits down now( 3 next month) but for the life of me cannot remember what changed!!

Ignore it - as someone else said pick your battles. It's not worth fighting over.

Ds has been going through this for about a year. He still gets clean and enjoys his baths, so it's not really worth battling to get him to sit down.

Bad bout of nappy rash set it off here too.

Tell her that under no circumstances is she to sit down in the bath .

That should do the trick

We dont have any battles with getting her in the bath and I appreciate the ignoring it comment but she subsequently had an awful infection in the follicles of her nappy area which caused her a lot of distress and am sure it is cos she clamps her legs together so cannot get that area properly clean. Appreciate the bathmat idea. She does go in bath with 5 year old DD1 so has the role model to copy.

OK, when washing her nappy area, lean her over your arm and lift her off the ground whilst sudsing the area. She may not like it but you'll get her clean. Swooshing with lots of soapy water will get the area clean enough whether she's clamped her legs together or not.

why can't you just continue giving her a shower? me and ds always have showers - never baths. it's personal preference isn't it really. i always think showers get you cleaner anyway - i hate the idea of sitting in my own grime.

ds went off bath for a while and had to have stand up washes for about 3 months - I decided to follow excellent advice about picking battles and it passed before I realised! I got ds back in the bath by getting in myself while daddy did his wash, and playing with all his bath toys and bubbles and "having a lovely time, do you want to join me?" could you try something similar? Maybe put just an inch of water in and play with floating toys that she can't reach unless she sits down!

But strongly agree - not worth making an issue over it, if she¡s not easily persuaded it'll soon pass.