Our 19 month old daughter has always been happy to take a bath, take her iron supplement and brushing her teeth until just recently. She now screams and cries when she has to take a bath, she holds on for dear life and attempts to run away. She has never been put in water that was too hot or too cold, we always test it first. She has plenty of tub toys and used to like bubble baths. She also is screaming and crying when she has to take her iron supplement that she has taken well since she was about 6mo old. It has been a battle to brush her teeth. We have tried letting her choose her new toothbrush and toothpaste. She will get each for us then fight it. It all started right around the same time. Is this normal for her to have a change like this in her behavior? Is this just her asserting her independance? Any suggestions?
Totally normal! I found that if I tried to make things fun at that age it was a lot easier (such as pretending there are birds in her mouth and making noises when you brush her teeth, or singing a tooth brushing song). Also, there is a Barney video that has stuff in it about brushing teeth, washing hands, etc. and it was like MAGIC once she saw that!
My two year old did the same thing (bath insanity) at about that age. He eventually went back to loving his bath. We slowly got him used to it by taking him into the shower and not washing his hair or not using soap (which he hated). We were just gentle and took it slow. The fear will subside. Maybe try giving a bath in the morning so she doesn't accociate it with bedtime.
Welcome to the terrible 2s! She may go back to normal soon though. She may not. My daughter used to go to bed SO easily. The out of the blue one night she did a totaly 180! Screaming for 2 hours straight! It's been about 3 months of that and she is almost back to normal again. The most important thing is to stay consistant with her. It's boundry testing time. It's not going to be fun, for either of you.
My son is the same age and he's driving us crazy with screaming at the top of his lungs all the time. It's not just when he doesn't want to do something. It's when he wants something, when he's mad about something and sometimes I don't think he has a reason. We're trying to get him to use his words and tell us what he wants(he can talk quite well), but he isn't responding very well to any attempt at changing the behavior. He is also hitting a lot and we're having trouble curbing that behavior too. It's nice to know that it is normal at this age and that it will pass, but I think at the same time we have to teach them that it's not ok to hit and scream constantly. I hope this is helpful at least in knowing that others are going through the same kind of things you are, and maybe worse! Hang in there.
I hate to tell you this, but it is just the age. The terribles twos start before they turn two. My son did the same thing. He normally would like something and suddenly he needed to assert his independence and would scream. I just kept the routine up and tried to find new ways to make our old routines fun again. For instance, I bought finger paints and would only let him use them during bath time in the tub [easy cleanup :)] and I changed his toothpaste to a new character and got him a new toothbrush. He is now 2 1/2 and we still have small battles of wills going on. I think it is just their personality trying to find a way out. My son does better now too, I think because I give him a bit of alone time. I put him in a room to play and I stay a safe distance (just outside the door) letting him explore (I have childproofed)and feel like he gets a sense of independence from this.
Good luck!
It only gets better!
Welcome to the terrible twos. yes it's all very normal, unfortuanatly it's something that you have to wait for them to outgrow. a slight deviation is routine might help, like a bath right after dinner and then she can play for a little bit before bed or whatever works for you. good luck.
Yup, sounds like it's her age. We have twins and they would communicate using twin talk or simply by screaming loudly. We began repeating "use your words" in these instances. Eventually, they began to articulate their needs and together, eliminated these types of situations entirely.
