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Parenting

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Original poster

Hair washing meltdowns

10 replies

smornintime · 23/01/2013 12:07

DS is 3 and is VERY resistant to having his hair washed. I remember not liking it when I was little but this seems ridiculous. He has a massive meltdown EVERY time, it's awful. DP usually does bath time while I feed baby DD but he is away at the end of the month for a while and I am dreading doing it myself. At the very least I think DD will get upset by it and then I will have two of them shouting at me

Any tips on how to improve things? We have tried getting him to lie back so the water isn't being poured over him but he won't do that. He used to manage with a cloth over his eyes but now apparently nothing will help. I am tempted to try one of the jugs with a flexible rubbery front but I don't know if he'll even let me near him with it!

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JiltedJohnsJulie · 23/01/2013 12:41

You have my sympathy, I was like it and so was DH apparently so no surprise that our DS was like this too. It did get better though.

Have you tried one of those rings that go around their head? It did work for us, but not in the way we intended, DS used it for a bit but then was complaining about it so we told him calmly that it was the ring or leaning back and he chose having his hair washed normally

Swimming lessons have helped too.

Original poster

smornintime · 23/01/2013 13:07

Ooh I'll look into that.

Swimming is another nightmare tbh. He used to like going but now I can't get him into the pool at all. Even if we go with friends/cousins. The pool apparently is worse than being left out :(

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Metalhead · 23/01/2013 13:14

I feel your pain! DD used to love having her hair washed, but from one day to the next- when she was 2 or 2.3 - started screaming like mad everytime we even mentioned washing her hair. Nothing we did made any difference I'm afraid, but she has just this week suddenly stopped again (she's 2.7 now).

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Original poster

smornintime · 23/01/2013 13:31

Not what I want to hear Metalhead!
He's like that, you just have to mention it. If you assure him it's not hair night he will willingly get in the bath and have a grand old time, but if he knows it has to be done he is much more reluctant to even get in.

We are already down to once a week for hair unless its got food or paint in!

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Metalhead · 23/01/2013 17:42

We did the same, which was a bit manky at times as DD has really long hair, but just couldn't face the meltdowns more than once a week...

I'm already waiting for the next thing to set her off now tbh - in the past we've had phases of her screaming blue murder every time she had a bath, was in the car... I think she needs something to cry about just to let off steam! ;-)

majjsu · 23/01/2013 21:02

I sympathise too, as my little girl became scared of the swimming pool and also having her hair washed. She would shout and scream. It's taken well over 6 months to get her to enjoy having her hair washed. She said she didn't like water in her eyes. So the things I tried, which seemed to help:

Only washing her hair once a week
Changing who washed her hair ie from DH to me
Using only a flannel to rinse
Distraction techniques - finding old playthings to put in bath, kitchen utensils, bubble blowing and making, hide and seek in the bath, playing with the shower
Books and tv programmes on being scared of bath or watching them being bathed

Good luck

EmmaNess · 23/01/2013 21:09

Put swimming goggles on him. Put them on properly, the bit of hair under the strap still manages to get clean.

Put a mirror in the bath (you can get plasticky mirror bath sort-of toys) and have him 'style' his hair with shampoo.

And bribery!

LeChatRouge · 23/01/2013 21:10

Swimming goggles or snorkel mask? He might be so distracted that he doesn't notice. Or get him involved and say

'Look at your new mask! It's so clever, it stops the water going in your eyes. It's just for you now you are a big boy. Let's try......weeeeeeeee.......see, no water. Let's ring dad and tell him.'

Unacceptable · 23/01/2013 21:19

We used things with suckers to stick fairly high on wall and gave a water pistol to shoot at them while washed as well as possible using a sponge...only thing that worked for DS after trying many,many different ideas

Original poster

smornintime · 31/01/2013 06:56

Thanks for the suggestions...so far we have managed one hair wash using a sponge to do the wetting and rinsing and I think it was a bit better than usual. Made sure to do it while my parents were here so they looked after baby DD. I will try the same again at the weekend I think, although I may look for a jug or visor thingy today since we are heading to the shops.

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