2yr old gets hysterical when having hair washed

[Happybutknackered]

I avoid washing her hair too often, use J&J baby shampoo and try my best not to get water in her face but she just gets hysterical. Any ideas please? I wondered if you can still get those halo type things that go around their head to keep the water away but I haven't seen them anywhere.

you sure can!

I also use one of these

Stick pictures on the ceiling to get her to look up.

My dd went through this so I used to get her to wash her own hair. I do her hair wash at the start of the bath and get her to lie back to wet her hair and then give her the shampoo to put in her hair and for rinising she lies back and swooshes her hair. I sometimes have to help a bit, but she's so pre-occupied that she doesn't mind. I wash her hair ever night so it doesn't matter too much if its not done perfectly one night.

I also got a bath mirror which I hold up so she can see herself when she's lying in the water and I can show her where she needs to wet her hair.

Hope this helps.

is normal. both mine went/ are going through it. my tactic is just to be firm, only do it once a week or if strictly necessary between times. be as gentle and kind as poss. and any excess winging in my bath gets the punishment of having it happen again! pandering too much just prolongs the agony in my view. they need to learn to be a bit stoic about things which are necessary in life- as long as the adult minimises the discomfort as much as poss they just have to accept it.

Hi there.

Am not sure how well this would work on a two year old but this is what my mum used to do when I was 4/5.

She would give me 5p to hold in my hand while I had my hair washed and tell me that if I was brave and didn't get hysterical then I could keep the 5p.

Is there something she really likes which you could give her to hold?

Will she lie back in the bath and "be a mermaid" instead of having water poured over her head?

You can get these jugs which have a soft ridge which fits to the shape of their head so if they tip their head back, no water goes over their face. My DS used to sound as if he was being murdered if I tried to wash his hair, got so bad I had to let the neighbours know that I was only washing his hair before they called the police/social services!! Good news is that he is fine now, it's just a phase.

Thanks all for your advice. I'm going to try a few of your suggestions - hopefully something will work!

Ditto sheas. I dread Sunday nights

My dd was awful at having her hair washed. No tears formula my ass!

She eventually started holding her head back by herself - though it took almost a year for that to happen!

Hope you come to a solution.