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Original poster

14wk DD hysterical at being taken out of the bath

23 replies

Newmamatobe · 24/05/2016 23:11

Hi,

Looking for some advice hopefully, first time mum to DD and the last week she has reacted hysterically when I take her out of the bath each night. I can't leave her in longer really as the water gets cool and I'm worried she'll be too cold..

I'm talking lose your breath screaming, deep red face, whole body tense, takes me a good twenty minutes to calm her on my shoulder with her dummy.

While she's in the bath she's smiling and kicking around...

I freaked a bit myself tonight as thought she had stopped breathing which made her worse of course but I couldn't help it. Such a shame in the middle of our really calm and otherwise gentle and cuddly night time routine...

#help

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happyis · 24/05/2016 23:17

Probably doesn't like going from warm environment to the cold air. Heat the bathroom up or wrap her quickly in a warm towel

With the holding breath, a short blow on her face should make her breath out again. My DS was a nightmare for breath holding!

maiii · 24/05/2016 23:19

Exactly this ^^

QOD · 25/05/2016 06:24

I'd actually stop bathing her daily too - isn't great for the skin and it's clearly upsetting her at bed time

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mumonarocket · 25/05/2016 06:27

Yes my 10 week DS is like this and no amount of warm towel makes him better. Two things that have helped:

same as pp - don't bath everyday. No need at this age and does dry the skin out. DS gets a bath 3 times a week, sometimes 4 if he's sicked loads or got poo everywhere.
do you bath at night? If so maybe try another time of day. Once I started bathing DS in the morning the post bath screaming stopped. I was doing bath as part of his bed routine but not a big deal.

mumonarocket · 25/05/2016 06:28

Sorry, didn't read properly - saw you do bathe at night. Yes it is a shame but it's fine - you can have a bedtime routine without baths.

BrandNewAndImproved · 25/05/2016 06:31

I think a nightly bath is a good thing. Babies are sat in pissy nappies all day and milk gets everywhere. My dc used to get milk all in their neck. It helps them sleep as well.

Have you got a towel heater or anything to warm the towel up in the bathroom? Warm towel and baby grow with a feed as soon as your dc is dressed could help.

mumonarocket · 25/05/2016 06:50

You can top and tail them in between baths. Baths do dry out the skin. My GP mentioned it at my six week check.

mumonarocket · 25/05/2016 06:51

She also said some babies get overstimulated by the bath which I have to say is what I've found with my DS, hence the hysterics so close to bed time.

Thataintnoetchasketch · 25/05/2016 06:54

Our DS started doing this but I think he was overtired by the time we took him out the bath - he'd scream the place down & work himself into a state.

So we made sure he was bathed no later than 6.30 and took him back to just 5 minutes in the bath & extended it from there. Worked really well & now its rare he gets upset at bedtime.

FreedomMummy · 25/05/2016 06:55

We found this at a similar age. Our DD was overtired after the bath so we moved it to a morning thing and not everyday.

ALongTimeComing · 25/05/2016 06:56

A combination of over tired and coldS. Can you get a heater so she's going straight in to some where warm? That helped mine.

ProseccoPoppy · 25/05/2016 07:06

My DD does this - loves bath time hates getting out. Looks really cross and screams! I'm pretty sure it's not a temperature change thing for her (we have a warm bathroom and towels but that wasn't a complete solution for us). We found these things helped:

not bathing every day (top and tail in between, not bathing her as frequently has also been far better for her eczema)
bath in the morning not at night
pull the plug out of the bath with her still in it (she has a seat thing that sits in the main bath). It's like the gradually decreasing water level gives her warning that the bath is ending.

FIS2016 · 25/05/2016 07:13

I would make sure her bath water is warm enough too. Too it up if you need to. Imagine you are in a bath that's a bit too cold and then you get out, it feels horrible! Also make sure the air is wam and put towel on the radiator to warm too.

IronDuchess · 25/05/2016 07:17

My DD did this. These are the things that worked for us:

We put a noisy movement toy hanging where she could see it when she got out of the bath and kept making turning it on to keep her focussed on something.
Wrapped her in her towel and immediately have her bottle when she got out of the bath, then dressed her afterwards.
If we didn't want to feed her we would immediately pop her dummy in her mouth.

All these worked and she is now fine with getting out the bath and we don't have to do them anymore.

Thereshegoesagain · 25/05/2016 07:24

My DCs did this.
I just got them out quickly into a fluffy warm towel ( warmed on the radiator) and sang a quiet soothing song.
It's a phase and it will pass. Try and stay calm and not worry, the singing helps with this.

00100001 · 25/05/2016 07:50

agree with PPs, just stop the baths before bed.

Loraline · 25/05/2016 07:59

Make sure there isn't a draught coming from somewhere. All the warm towels and warm rooms don't help if cold air if coming in under the door! We found that helped ds.

lornathewizzard · 25/05/2016 08:10

We still pull the plug out on 22mo DD getting out the bath or she freaks out. Enjoys it too much I guess!

LottieDoubtie · 25/05/2016 10:00

We had this issue, switched to morning baths and it was pretty much instantly solved!

I think it had a knock on effect of making the 'bedtime routine' really quick at night and even though we are now bathing at night (20 months in now) he still goes to bed really quickly- I think a quick and simple approach to bedtime is best if your baby will accept it!

Araminkin · 25/05/2016 10:35

We were recommended not to give DS (15 mo) a bath every day as it dries his skin out. The only thing that worked with us was that one of us had a shower before we bathed him to warm up the room. No amount of other warming made him happy.

AnotherStitchInTime · 25/05/2016 10:40

Ds still does this aged 2.5. We bath every other day and pull the plug out and drain before taking him out, but at 14 weeks she will probably get too cold doing that.

Warm towel, warm room, lullaby music playing or sing to her for distraction. I used up my whole repetoire of nursery rhymes with my 3 children whilst getting them dry to avoid the post bath meltdown.

Original poster

Newmamatobe · 26/05/2016 01:02

Thanks - will give these suggestions a go and cut it down to 3 baths per week... So much easier!!

OP posts:

HalfStar · 26/05/2016 07:12

Do you get her changed in the bathroom or bring her to a bedroom? If the latter get her changed ASAP in the warm bathroom and maybe make her bath a bit warmer too. If she has a dummy definitely stick that in for the moments she's getting changed, should help a lot.

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