9 month old hysterical at bath time

[Emmaaa1990]

Hi all

My 9 month old has a sudden fear of the bath it's like she's petrified! This has been the past 4 nights and even when we were standing in the bathroom she could see the bath filling up and cuddled into me. Her dad bathes her every night and she usually loves it. She was so hysterical tonight she threw up. I'm not sure why she's suddenly scared and obviously am reluctant to bath her as she gets in such a state right before bed. Anyone else experience this? Any advice on what to do? Is it a phase? Thanks!

Maybe he made it too hot or cold one.day? I'd do something exciting like glow sticks in the bath or new bath toys to pique interest.

Something happened. It must have. She got a terrible fright in the bath, or yes he must have made it too hot or too cold.

He's going to have to fess up for you to understand and help her.

My LO had a similar phase. I did a few baths with him that seemed to help. He also breastfed in the bath which calmed him. He is happy again now to bath on his own.

I would wait a week and just wipe down clean for now and try again in a week or two.

It is a very common phase. She has had a fright. Just do strip washes for a while and she will get over it. As long as she gets washed it doesn't matter.

Your poor baby - throwing up is awful!

Make sure it's just your for a bit. Water 37 degrees, so not too hot or cold. Really gentle, soft voices. I'd agree also wait a few days before you do it again. And please look out for any other signs she's not well or distresses.

Happened to mine at around that age, or a little later. Not as far as throwing up, though - your poor LO! We never got to the bottom of it, though surely there must have been a bad experience that sparked it. All fine now.

One of my DCs developed a fear of the plug hole around that age. She saw the tub drain and for some reason thought it might suck her down the drain if she got in the tub. I actually would shower, then fill up the tub and DH would bring her in to me and we’d have a bath together with me sitting on the plug hole end.

Thanks everyone we always check temp so nothing has changed temp wise it's just bizarre to me! I hate her getting upset I cried too. I'm not sure if it's something to do with separation anxiety because she's become quite clingy at the moment just awful. I'm hoping you are right and it's a phase, I definitely don't want to cause her any distress so will look at other ways to wash her 😓

@bourbonne how strange! I know honestly it upset me so much I gave her a big cuddle after. I'm hoping she's okay soon, what did you do? Carry on or do something different as to not upset them?

@PlanDeRaccordement oh god that did make me smile, isn't that weird how they think that, I don't think my little girl has even seen the bath drain away.

My DD did this! So odd, we got in with her for a few baths and held her until she felt more settled again

You bathe her instead, or get in with her.

One of my kids detested having her hair washed, could it be that ?

Yeah might try bathing her in there and cuddle to reassure I want to cry now thinking about it so stupid I know! Why do they make us feel so terrible at times? 😓

@DinosaurDiana she doesn't mind her hair washed moans abit usually but is generally okay with it

Drop the frequency and top and tail her for the rest of the time. It can't be a very relaxing part of your bedtime routine as things stand, so I might also move it to the morning so she's not tired on top of everything else.

@Emmaaa1990 I did the same as @PlanDeRaccordement and got in first! There was still a lot of crying to begin with, but the combination of a cuddle and the bath toys eventually worked. Took a couple of weeks at least though.

Hey OP.
This happened to us when one of our twins slipped in the bath and got a face full of water. He was 9 months at the time (9 or 10) and we treated it like a trauma. So we bathed his twin in the bath while he sat in our lap watching. He put his favourite toys in the bath. He didn't go back into the bath after a bad freakout session, he was bathed in the shower next to the plastic tub. Then we began filling the tub with a bit of water only (and his toys) and we would put him in gently, at first he would cry but then he would take longer and longer in the water and eventually he no longer freaked out and was happy to be bathed. It took about a month, maybe a bit longer. So, I'm sorry to say so, but this is a trauma and needs to be treated like one.

So
Be near the tub at first, without giving a bath.
Then
Get her used to touching the tub. Let her try to hold on to the sides, investigate it
Then
Put toys in the tub. Any favourite toys. No water is used yet.
Then
Add some water, about a centimeter, and add toys that can be inside water. (we used his stacking cups that he loves)
Let her play for as long as she can handle it without getting very upset.
A little crying is OK but very upset is unhelpful.
Then you reach a point (she's no longer screaming or crying when near the tub) where you put her into the tub but first for a very short time
Keep increasing the time at every bath until she's finally OK.
Give lots of comfort. Hugs and praise are important.

My DD had a similar thing. I ended up getting in the bath with her and holding her the entire time, then slowly introducing little splashy games to make her laugh.

I’ve no idea what caused the problem in the first place, but I now have to wrestle her out of the bath rather than in to it!

I’d try getting in the bath with her or taking a shower with her. My dd hated baths but loved taking showers.

Try to introduce play time into an empty bath. So introduce some really fun sensory toys which you play in the bath without water. Do that for a few evenings and just strip wash her on those nights. Try to get her to associate bath time with having fun

@WineInTheWillows yeah maybe I will go for every other night see how she goes. Definitely not a relaxing time right now bless her.

@bourbonne okay Thankyou I will do that, seems like it's going to take some time but I will do whatever I can to reassure her.

@ThrowAwayUsername8080 oh bless him 😓 yeah it seems as though something has spooked her I just don't know what! Thankyou for your response I will start that tomorrow with her see how we get on that's great! Thankyou so much - nice to know they eventually come through it.

@MuchTooTired Thankyou! Definitely seems like bath cuddles may be the way forward for a while! So strange isn't it but does seem rather
Common which makes me feel slightly better.

@MixedUpFiles yeah I said to my partner maybe we should try showers for abit Thankyou May give that a go also!

@PCar20 Thankyou I will try the empty bath and toys I definitely think she needs to see it's fun and not scary!

Mine (10 months) has suddenly realised that he has a degree of autonomy over whether he cooperates with things that he previously went along with without question. So, nappy changes that he used to obligingly lay back and hold his legs up for are now epic escape attempts, he won't allow me to hold any of his eating accoutrements up to help him at mealtimes, and halfway through having his bath he'll suddenly dissolve into great upset when I won't let him fling himself head first under the water. I assume he'll move on eventually!

@Persipan haha awww! They soon let you know dont they! Yeah hopefully all these things are just a phase