My 2 year old looses the plot!.......

[AnotherHelen]

Anyone any ideas??? my 2.5 year old has VERY suddenly and recently developed a MAJOR fear of the bath - he knows he's going in and cyies and pleads 'no no no!!!' he wont go in the shower either so although i have stripped washed him alot, he has to have a bath at some point! he is a very grubby little boy - but the second i put him in the bath he just stands there screaming! - but, its not paddy or just upset it is genuine fear, and to make things worse he stands there counting (although he cant count obviously, he does his own little version!) its as if he is having some major mental breakdown! - he holds tightly onto his willy and sobs as he is counting! its really heartbreaking to watch and i have no idea as to what is causing it! - he is fine in my mums bath, and the other day he was in my sisters very very large paddling pool and he was literally throwing himself in head first and people commented on how fearless he is (which he is normally with most things!) so i really am confused??? my mum thinks he is just playing a game with me or trying it on, but she has now seen him do it and she agrees its very upsetting to watch him??? he is genuinley disturbed by our bath????? i need help as he hasnt had a bath for days now and he beggining to look like no one owns him!

This happened with my DD and we encouraged baths by letting her get in with DH. Could you do this to show him baths are fun? It lasted a week or so but she slowly got better. As with you she was fine with everyone else.

We tried that the other day and it did seem to help alot! the trouble is my dp works til quite late most nights and by the time he gets home its too late for ds to get a bath, his older brother has never had any trouble at all, he LOVES his baths so i try and get ds2 to get in with him but it doesnt really make much difference to him, this has been going on now for about 4 weeks! im running out of ideas, he is one of these little kids that within minutes of getting out the bath looks grubby and neglected! you can imagine what he looks like now he hasnt had a bath for a few days! - yuk!

Tescos were selling little paddling pools for about £2.99, they are very small with an octopus on the bottom of them, why not put that into the bath and fill it with bath water and bubbles? (They have a plug thingy on the underside so you can unplug and drain easily)

Probably a very daft idea, but when you are desperate...

Would he go into the bath if it had no water in it? If so then you could use that as a first step to helping him get over his fear. Put some warm water in a jug and let him pour the water into the bath with him. Giving him some control over it might help him. Once he gets past the first stage let him try it with ankle deep water and slowly increase the water each time. It may take a while but he should get there in the end.