DS won’t sit in the bath….HELP

[missmarplesapprentice]

In need of advice. My nearly 18month old DS will not sit down in the bath. It’s now been like this for just over 2 months. He will just stand and sometimes cry if not distracted but not matter what we do, he will not sit down.

We have tried
new toys
bubbles
watching the bath fill and empty
Watching us in the bath and then having us bath with him.
playing games, trying to keep baths short and not always washing hair etc.

When he sees us in the bath he will start to freak out uncontrollably and this will also happen when we’re in the bath with him.
he visibly gets anxious when we mention “bath” and try to avoid it.
I think it started after we visited some family and it was just awkward using the bath (sunken) and he lost his balance slightly (didn’t fall as we were holding onto him) but still a little fright.

does anyone have any tips?

thanks in advance, from a desperate mum x

Paddling pool bath?

Kitchen sink?

Have you tried showering instead? Some children like my DS love the shower over a bath.

DT’s rarely had a bath - they came into the shower with us.

Stop bathing him.

There are other ways to wash. After a couple of weeks start playing with the bath very casually. It doesn't matter if it takes months to return to the bath. The important thing is not to fix the distress in him.

Can't edit on the phone.

Not fix as in repair. Fix as in establish, strengthen.

Have you tried a toddler bath seat so he feels a bit more secure?

Get a baby bath or any plastic box really and do it in the living room or similar as a water play session to break the negative connotations.

DD liked being bathed in the kitchen sink so she could see the birds out the window at that age but that tends to get very polarised views on MN

Neither of mine would sit in the bath either!! Drove me nuts at the time, can’t imagine now why I cared - I wish I hadn’t but the weirdest things seem to matter when they’re tiny!

My ds did this - we just let him stand up in the bath and washed him (he also hated showers) he was like it from when he could stand until we started swimming lessons when he was 4. We thought he would be terrified but because other children were doing it and it wasn’t a bath he was fine after a few weeks swimming he started sitting in the bath. Just don’t force it as we found trying to get him to sit/ shower just made the next bath time more stressful for everyone

I might be missing something but does he have to sit down? My 2 year old spends most of his bath standing up playing with his toys. I just pour water on him throughout and wash him?

I know you tried new toys but we had this exact same situation with DD2 and bought her this new toy she hasn't looked back and actually asks to go in the bath now

www.smythstoys.com/uk/en-gb/toys/pre-school-and-electronic-learning/tomy/tomy-toomies-bath-barista/p/224268

Does he need to sit? Maybe try letting him shower instead, or just clean him with a washcloth or water jug while he’s stood up

IME this is a very normal phase. Just wash him standing up, or do a sponge wash on a big towel. Can he stand in the bath or in the shower? Fill a washing up bowl, wash him all over and use a jug to rinse. He will get over it.

Thank you for all the good ideas. I’ll try to reply to as many questions.

The only reason it is stressing us out as I’m a bit anxious about him falling over so we are always doing baths when both my Dh and I are around.

We don’t force him to sit down at all. It became pretty clear it wasn’t going to happen so we’ve not pushed it.

Ironically he is really good when it comes to us washing his hair and face considering he clearly doesn’t want to be in there.

it’s a shower over bath so we use the shower head in the bath with him and it’s one of our distractions. We’ve only tried our shower cubicle once and while it was marginally better he was still anxious.

we used to use a bath seat from birth (angelcare one) then more of a seat but stopped using it long before this problem started. Though that was because his thighs are chunky and he looked uncomfortable.

a family member has a baby bath I can borrow. If we tried that should we do it in the bathroom or somewhere else in the house?

sorry first time mum anxiousness kicking in!

Ds was the same for a bit, I watered him with his toy watering can instead while he roared.. Can't remember how long it lasted, but he grew out of it

mine were exactly the same, we put bath mats down in the bath so they felt more secure, we only ran shallow baths and we just let them stand whilst we washed them. We didn't ask them to sit or talk about it, eventually as they got older they became more interested in the toys in the bath and started unconsciously sitting so they could play with them properly. When they did sit we didn't make a fuss when they did as they would stand straight back up again! We're now going through the same with our youngest, he's 2 and only just starting to sit occasionally

Thank you. I’ve asked his gran to buy him a bath toy for Christmas so I’ll send her that idea.

Sorry forgot to quote!

Mine is 20 months asn has been doing this for a few months. I managed to get her to stop crying and trying to get out by half filling a 5l bucket, putting the tap on trickle so she can fill toy buckets (skip hop brand) and pour them in and she likes animals in her bucket. The water slowly fills some bath while she’s gradually she got happier about it all so now we just fill the bath and her bucket.

Thank you. It’s honestly making me feel a lot better just to know there are lots of parents who have been through the same thing.
I think we thought it would just be a short term thing but looking more like we need to come up with a longer term solution.

Thank you. We’ve been doing that too. Lots of buckets and jugs but we’ve seen little improvement since it started.

Thank you. I honestly don’t think he would fit in our sink that well 😂😂😂 90th centile for weight and height but I think we will try a baby bath in the living room with lots of other distractions.

I really appreciate everyone’s responses. I think I’d be ok if he didn’t want to sit but I just don’t want him to be upset by the bath anymore.

Oooh I love this. I’m glad you were able to find a solution

I think if he doesn't mind standing and having you wash him with the water or shower head, just do that. Get some of those stick on mini mat things that you put all over the base of the bath as a) they're fun and b) they will help to stop him slipping. Then either stand him in the bath and use the shower or run the bath and stand him in it and splash him.

Just went to click on this and thought ‘he’ll be 18 months’.. clicked it and sure enough 😂 My son did the same thing and it got to the stage his top half would be coming out dry at times! We’re a year on now and he did stop it. He only has baths half the time though I’d say. I find it easier for him just to come in the shower with one of us instead. The shower is completely filled with toys but he’d happily sit in there for hours if I let him just pushing cars/diggers backwards and forwards. It is a very normal thing at that age I think