Baby afraid of baths

[sparklesandsparkles]

So my 8 month old is afraid of water.
She sees a bath and will start screaming. To the point she can't breathe.
Once in the water, she will stiffen her body whilst crying uncontrollably.
We don't bath her enough.. but will bathing her more help the issue?
I've tried bath toys. She's not interested.
Help!

Has she always disliked baths, or this something new? How is she with water in other settings? Say if you let her splash her hands in the sink, or took a washing up bowl of water out in the garden for her to splash and scoop (fully clothed, no expectation that she gets in)?

Yes she's always disliked them. So we took her to the beach and even though we held her, she didn't like the water.
Washing hands is the same.

Hmm, that's tricky. How is she with other textures, especially wet ones? Handling foods like fruit, or eating things like yoghurt and soup? Have you tried any (taste-safe) messy play with her?

She's fine with food.. likes mushing up food.. 😶

That's good – she's okay with lots of textures, including wet ones on her hands. Will she get messy with something like yoghurt, dip her hands in? What would happen if you sat her in her high chair and gave her a little bowl with some water and some slices of strawberry, raspberries, or some other fruit in the water, something that she really likes? I'm just wondering what she would do in a 'food' context, where she's happy with different textures, and not in the habit of protesting something she expects to be unpleasant, like washing hands and baths.

If you can get her around other children doing water play, that may help – even at this young age, they do take note of what other babies and small children are doing, so if she sees friends/cousins/the neighbour's children splashing in a paddling pool or using a water and sand table or whatever, she may start to consider that this looks like fun. But very much go at her pace on it.