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Original poster

2 1/2 year old petrified of the bath

8 replies

Dizzylizzy · 03/10/2004 19:24

Hi all, was wondering if anyone has any words of wisdom out there.

My dd is 2 1/2 and has NEVER liked having a bath, but just recently she has got worse and as soon as I put her in the bath, with all her toys etc, she just stands and screams to get out and by the time her hair is washed etc she is barely breathing from crying and is hysterical, it takes about 1/2 hour to calm her down.

I double check the temp to make sure its ok and have differed between having bubbles and not having bubbles I have even tried to colour the water, all to no avail. I also have tried to bath her with her sister and without her sister and also with me, but she still gets hysterical.

I hate having to bath her as she gets so upset and obviously it upsets me too.

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Poo2 · 03/10/2004 19:36

Silly question - have you tried the shower?

poppyseed · 03/10/2004 20:11

Poor her and you. DD still is very dramatic about having her hair washed and is 5.
Can you narrow it down to to anything particular about the bath or is it everything?

yoyo · 03/10/2004 20:17

Have you tried letting her play in an empty bath and then graduating to playing with increasing amounts of water? Perhaps she could even wear her costume so that she forgets the fear she has and bathtime becomes fun again.

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Original poster

Dizzylizzy · 04/10/2004 16:22

Thank you for your replies, we don't have a shower, but whilst on holiday last year we tried her in the shower and she was the same, I may try both the playing in an empty bath and also using her swimming cozzie.

Any more tips would be grateful.

OP posts:

PandaBear · 04/10/2004 16:26

What about getting in the bath with her and making it more like a play time - at least for a while until she get's less scared?

Azzie · 04/10/2004 16:33

If she's getting panicky about the bath I think you're going to have to back off and not push it for a bit. I'm not able to suggest how to wash her hair (the only thing that helped with my kids was getting older!), but on the bathing front - why not buy a washing up bowl and sponge her down standing in it? Sounds odd, I know, but when we were having our bathroom refitted when DS was 2, he adored his 'washing up bowl baths'.

whitefeather · 04/10/2004 16:57

my niece is also terrified of the bath, it stemmed from when she was 2 she was violently sick all over herself and everything else in sight she freaked that she was covered in sick so we stripped her off and ran a bath to get her cleaned up, while she was in the bath she was sick again, since then she will not calm down in the bath goes histerical, she was ok until this happened, i think its because shes had such an awful experience that she assosiates with bathing, has your dd had anything happen while in the bath, slipped or something? we did the coloured water thing we turned her bath bright pink it did the trick for a while but she still is clearly nervous about it x

Copper · 04/10/2004 17:11

I agree with Azzie, don't do it if she hates it. Toddler's hair can go a very long time if its not jammy. It's not worht the trauma for you or her

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