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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

Bathing - why does he hate it?

17 replies

Frasersmum123 · 26/01/2009 12:40

My nearly 2 year old used to love the bath, but for about three months he has screamed whenever he goes near it, and physically shakes. I have tried bathing him with his brother, and even with me and his dad, buying toys for him to play with, and even putting him in the babybath in the front room while he watched ITNG (Thought it would distract him?) He has the same reaction to the hoover, and to a couple of adverts on TV?

He does have ezcema, but that hasnt been playing up of late. There hasnt been an incident to make him change.

At the moment im having to give him standing washes - please help!

OP posts:

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piratecat · 26/01/2009 12:43

mioght just be a very senstivie kiddy, with things kicking in only now?

my dd neverhad a problem with water, but she was sensitive (and still is) to noise, liked being overwhelmed by it. Terribel sleeper, hated texture in foods, wouldn't walk on grass, sand.

piratecat · 26/01/2009 12:43

'like she was being overwhelmed by it' i meant.

Seeline · 26/01/2009 12:44

Have you tried letting him play with toys in the bath without him actually being in it - it might relax him a bit. Or how about bathing a doll or toy?

throckenholt · 26/01/2009 12:45

try getting in the bath with him (or him with you IYSWIM).

RaggedRobin · 26/01/2009 20:57

i know lots of toddlers who go through this stage at around the same age. with all of the children i know, it hasn't lasted longer than a few months.

one night i just asked ds, "shall we fill the bath with bubbles?" and he was happy to get in again. no reason for it, but we didn't make an issue out of it and he loves his bath again.

gybegirl · 26/01/2009 21:12

You have my sympathy. You could say he'll be in there until you count to ten - that way at least he knows it's going to end. We have done this with the bath - it's not an issue any more. I do it on a regular basis with brushing teeth. If it's going well you just drag it out with 'oh is 2 next, okay then i wonder what's after that, what are we up to now blah blah..'
Alternatively you could try getting some bath paints - then he'll probably scream when you get him out!

SixSpot · 26/01/2009 21:14

I do sympathise.

DS3 (who has autism) has a love/hate relationship with water. Currently he is a hate phase and has not had a bath since August!

Niftyblue · 26/01/2009 21:19

DS went through this for no reason
It would take 2 of us to bath him screaming and shouting
In the end we just washed him top to toe from the sink for ages

Luckily (no good as its winter)a friend got him a paddling pool for his birthday .
He loved it and something just clicked with him and he went back to baths/showers

Hes 8 now and I can`t get him out of the bloody thing

Sorry NOT much help

theboob · 26/01/2009 21:20

have just had this with ds2 23 months,i had to put him in the bath with me washed him while he screamed and out.
one day he got in and sat on my knee in the bath and hugged him really tight and distracted him with toys ,he got more confident each time and now i cant get him out and there are tears because he wants to stay in

may08 · 26/01/2009 21:36

Just had this with my 16 month old, luckily it only lasted a month or so. He went from loving the bath to screaming and screaming (with what seemed like fear) for no reason at all. On the night that he snapped out of it the only thing that I can think that I did differently was that he stayed downstairs with my husband and I ran the bath for him so he wasnt watching. I undressed him downstairs then carried him up and plonked him straight in the bath with no warning, with some distraction from new bath toys it seemed to work. I have no idea whether not preparing the bath in front of him had any effect but I'm still doing it that way (just in case!) and we are back to loving the bath again!

notimetoshop · 30/01/2009 23:27

My ds 2.5 has just started this. Really odd. It's almost as if he's frightened of something in the water. If I can get him in, he scrambles out. I tried without bubbles, but didn't seem to make a difference. It just occurred to me that maybe he's seen something on tv. But now have seen this thread maybe it's a normal but unusual phase. Bath paints may well work. He loves drawing. I wonder if it's a boy thing?

Ezzitigger · 31/01/2009 08:04

My DS was like that at 18months screaming as soon as you mentioned bath and I started taking him swimming at the local toddler pool to see if I got the same reaction. He was a bit clingy at first and we had to sit on the steps the first few times but now he loves both bath and swimming.

TheOldestCat · 31/01/2009 08:15

My DD did this at 18months. I got a great tip on here which helped - we put lots of small plastic balls in the bath. She thought it was great and was back to happy happy bath time straight away.

It will pass!

nelix2000 · 31/01/2009 14:22

Does he have the same reaction when you take him swimming? My DS is a total water baby right enough but had the same reaction when he went in the showers at eh swimming baths, after a few visits he was fine tho. Maybe try a shower?or take him swimming and use that as a reason to give him a wash with you in the showers there?

bubblagirl · 31/01/2009 14:29

my son does this and started around the same age i can get him in and he'll be ok once in there now but for about 6 mths i had to bathe him in a paddling pool in the living room

gradually he got better i just didnt force it and gradually started putting him in washing really quickly and getting him out really praising him

even now he'll scream and say no but once in i cant get him back out until his really wrinkly lol

BigusBumus · 31/01/2009 15:04

My DS1 did this around 2.5 years as well! Funny how its nearly all boys!....

I just bathed him standing up instead and sponged down his body while he cried I never gave in though and did this every night for about 2 months.

Then one day, he just stopped crying and sat down and has been fine ever since. Weird!

freckles87 · 09/09/2009 00:22

Hello,

I need your help!

I am working on a brief for Mama?s and Papa?s to design a new range of bathing products. I would be very grateful if you could take a few minutes to complete the questionnaire below, as the insight of parents are essential in producing effective products for the range.

www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=OTyxopxbyAhpG3JqbZZWvg_3d_3d

It would also be a great help to me if you could forward this to other parents that you know, as I need to collect as much information as possible before Thursday.

Thank you so much (in anticipation of your help!)

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