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Original poster

5 month old hates having a bath

28 replies

Boomerwang · 31/08/2012 21:36

My baby girl hates taking a bath. We use a standard ikea baby bath and fill it with water that is 38 degrees centigrade by the time she gets in it. She screams fit to burst and goes bright red when she's put in it. We paddle her feet first or just touch her with a wet hand but it doesn't seem to help. The room is 24 - 27 degrees every time, so I don't think she's super cold after getting wet. We talk to her, try to distract her, make happy noises while one of us gets her washed but the screaming continues until she's wrapped in a towel.

My mother said that all babies LOVE having a bath. Is she right? Am I doing something wrong? How can I get her to at least not hate it, if I can't get her to love it?

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Svrider · 31/08/2012 21:38

Can you have a bath with her??
My dcs all enjoyed this

Longdistance · 31/08/2012 21:42

When mine used to kick off. I'd ignore the screaming, and get on with it. We'd have toys in the bath to distract once they calmed down. Probably reacting to the screaming might make it worse. So, to our lo's we'd ignore, and get it done, and eventually over a few days, they'd love the bath.

DisabilEightiesChick · 31/08/2012 21:45

Your mum's wrong. They don't all love baths. Mine didn't till quite a bit older than 5 months. A lot of people seem to think it's the law to bathe a baby every day but you don't have to at all. As long as you are keeping the crucial bits (bum, hands) clean, the rest isn't going to get unspeakably dirty every day. So personally I would just bathe her less often and work around it till she's a bit older and can play with toys etc.

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violetwellies · 31/08/2012 21:47

ds hated it at that age, screamed fit to wake the dead. So we stopped bathing him. just washed thoroughly all over during late nappy change. Gradually re introduced a few months later. Now he screams when we take him out

FuckityFuckFuck · 31/08/2012 21:51

DS absolutely hated baths when he was small. Would scream, cry, kick, didn't matter if he was in the bath with me, or in his baby bath, hated hated hated them. So no, not ALL babies love having a bath

Things got a little bit better when I bought him a bath seat at around 7 months Like this but it still took a while before bathtime became fun and relaxing. He loves them now and would have several a day if I let him.

Keep the tone light, happy noises etc that you have been doing. Get everything washed as quick as you can. Basically try not to make too big a deal out of it and she will settle down

YouForgotToCallMePeppa · 31/08/2012 21:52

Mine both hated baths until they could sit up on their own, then they loved them - although DD2 did go through another hating phase a couple of months ago.

You could try some different things - make the water warmer? The water much shallower so she can lie down flat and you pour water over her? Take her in the bath with you and let her lie on your chest?

TiddlyBears · 31/08/2012 21:54

My 5 month old loves having a bath with me, so much so that our baby bath is redundant now. I find it much easier to clean him too. Certainly worth a try. Does your baby enjoy swimming? It may be worth it to help build confidence in the water.

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 31/08/2012 21:55

Get in the big bath with her :)

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 31/08/2012 21:55

And make the water warmer - is 38degs not quite cold for bath water?

BlingLoving · 31/08/2012 21:57

Ds went through this too. Main things we found were hunger and tiredness. Does she have milk before bath as well as after? Ds would not feed before but we realised he was starving. As we ff we were able to plonk him in the bath resting on one of those wire support frames and give him some of his evening feed. That calmed him right down.

We also found he was too tired by bath time so it was over stimulating. Bringing bath time forward helped.

Napsalot · 31/08/2012 21:57

Ds1 hated baths until he was around 1 year old.

Ds2 in the hospital they put a towel in the water with him and wrapped him in that while washing him -I use a hand towel (he is just little still!) and wrap him up as soon as he gets in the bath. I use the towel to clean him off but make sure he is pretty well covered by it as he lies there. He is very calm in the water.

Wish I had known this trick for ds1 instead of buying 3 different types of bath tubs in the hope that something would make him stop crying

Haylebop12 · 31/08/2012 21:57

My dd hated baths... In the bathroom! We moves her baby bath into her bedroom once it was filled abs problem solved! HV suggested it as bathrooms can seem loud and echoey and frighten babies.
Just a thought! Worked for us :-)

NellyBluth · 31/08/2012 22:07

DD went through a phase of hating her baths. The main culprits were hunger, so could you try a split feed around bedtime? - and also not feeling comfortable/secure how we were bathing her. We have the same bath seat as Fuckity and DD is very happy in that, we also have toys in a bag on the side of the bath to distract her.

But babies often go through phases of not liking something. If you try a few of the suggestions and nothing works then give up on the bath for a while. We did, and replaced it with a bit of a massage with baby lotion before we dressed her for bed, so she still had a 'bedtime' cue. A month or so later she decided she liked the bath again.

ceeveebee · 31/08/2012 22:23

38 is quite hot actually, should be between 36-37 I was told by midwife (body temperature)
You can get reclining bath seats/support things, we had the mamas and papas ones, they are very secure.
Maybe try at a different time of day - morning maybe when not so tired?

Lancrehotpot · 31/08/2012 23:44

My DS recently started kicking off when we tried to bathe him in his little bath, so he has baths with me or DH instead. I think being able to 'swoosh' him around in the extra space is lovely and he seems to really enjoy the sensation, plus, he can sit on my leg which is a lot comfier than plastic.
Just wondering what to do with the baby bath now:)

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 31/08/2012 23:56

Re temperature - body temperature water feels pretty cold once you are in does it not?

Original poster

Boomerwang · 01/09/2012 06:34

We don't have a bath, only a manky shower which gets cold after 5 minutes. I would have tried her in the bath with me otherwise. I only bath her once every 4-5 days, otherwise I just use wipes on her hands, feet, face and neck as she's into those baby rusks now and they make a mess.

I used bathtime as a method of getting her to sleep better. She'd have a bath at 7pm and then get oiled up, warmed up in a sleepsuit and by the time she'd got halfway through her bottle it'd be a struggle to keep her awake to finish it.

I use a baby flannel or baby sponge to bathe her and I'm very careful around her face and ears. The water is about two inches deep but I don't lie her on her back, I hold her back and head up. Often I'll bathe her together with my partner and he just laughs when she screams and says she's being silly.

I've bathed her at all sorts of times in the day in the beginning when I was afraid to do it by myself and had to make use of my boyfriend's morning time before work, but perhaps I should try bathing her in the mornings again.

The towel in the water idea is interesting, but it'll get in my way when I'm trying to wash her down quickly and I don't believe she'll even open her eyes to look at it. She scrunches her face up when she screams and she goes into some kind of zone where she refuses to interact with her environment. When she gets like this, the only way to make her stop is to pick her up and walk around the house.

I'm pleased to note that some people's children started out like this but grew to enjoy it in the end. I'm just worried that I've ruined a part of her childhood that'll become a trial for us both when she's older.

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Original poster

Boomerwang · 01/09/2012 06:37

About the temperature... I feel the water myself with my elbow as you should. 37 degrees quickly drops to 36 degrees, and that to me feels cold. It's her head I'm mostly worried about as she still has no hair and water that feels cold on your head is a very strange sensation. Anything higher than 38 degrees feels too hot on your head though. Even though I'm not pouring water over her head, I use it as a guide to how warm the water should be for the rest of the body.

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GoldPlatedNineDoors · 01/09/2012 06:40

Im another one who thinks the bathwater is too cold. dd (8mo) has baths that are only a little bit cooler than one I would do for myself. Never had a thermometer so dont know the exact temperature but definetly warmer than 38.

Napsalot · 01/09/2012 07:11

I wouldn't worry that you have ruined this experience for her -we now can't get our DS out of the bath and you should have heard him scream his way through tha first year (always took two of us to bathe him it was so bad!). I think that we may have had the water too warm in hindsight as when I made it cooler after a while he enjoyed it -made me think he had found it too warm all along. I know its stressful -hang in there.

fhdl34 · 01/09/2012 07:17

Perhaps she'd prefer a shower? I'm sure she'll grow out of it. Have you considered having messy play session on the floor with a shallow tray of water? It might get her more used to splashing in a less pressured environment. Also the bath could be too small and she wants more space.

ZuleikaD · 01/09/2012 07:18

Not all babies love baths, ignore your mother.

I think the water may be too cold too - try different temperatures. Both DCs always liked it hotter than it was officially supposed to be. But if she's screaming and hates it no matter what, don't do it to her - you can keep her clean other ways and why would anyone deliberately ignore their child's distress and force them to do something when it isn't remotely necessary? It's not like she's getting filthy every day. A bath a week is ample.

You could try the kitchen sink, too - both DCs loved having their baths in there when they could sit up.

BabylonPI · 01/09/2012 07:21

DS (4mths) comes in my bath with me and really loves it. Definitely hotter than what I would do for him but not hot enough to mark his skin IYSWIM.

Beautiful quality time with him too

wigglesrock · 01/09/2012 07:28

2 of my 3 of children have went through a bath hating phase usually around 6 months or so. It just lasted a few month. I just got on with it and gave a really quick one, but they were only bathed at that age around two/three times a week. Can you change the time you bath? Do it in the morning instead of night or the other way round?

NellyBluth · 01/09/2012 08:20

Another vote for trying the shower. We never actually 'bath' DD, she sits in her baby seat and has the shower over her because I can't be arsed waiting for the bath to fill. She loves it, she spends her time trying to catch the shower head and the water.

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