Mommy Needing Help with Bath Time

There are inflatable tubs, mostly for travel, out there. We have one and on a cruise with no tube bathed dear baby in it. Packs up so nice and out with little blow up time. It could be more like a pool and put it on one of those
Neat Sheets that are water repellent and he could bath anywhere at first moving closer and closer to the bathroom and the tub. Has he tried a bath with Daddy just play time with splashing and water approved toys. Reading a plastic tub book or blowing bubbles? Good Luck!

I too have been through this with my 2 year old, what promted the sudden fear? Did he poopy in the tub?
I invited a cousin over for a bath date she was 4 months older than my daughter.
Don't make him scream it out, it will only tramatize him more.
You can let him stand next to the tub, then "accedently" drop something in on the other side, tell him you need his help to get it..he might go for it! Praise, Praise, Praise.
If you absoulutly have to try the swimming pool.
There is always sponge baths.
Good Luck.

We went through this with our son too! He is also 2. Not sure what made it start or stop, but it just ended one day. We got him some new bath toys, and avoided baths for awhile. We also had him take showers with us, which he seemed to like much better than the tub at that time. Hopefully it is just a phase that will end very soon.

My son went through this for only a week or so when he was around 2. I found myself bathing him in less than 5 minutes! You can try singing to him/with him or if he knows his alphabets, get him to say those. I would basically do anything to get his mind off of the bath. I'd ask him random questions, sing lullabies, recite the alphabet, count, etc. He eventually grew out of it, by himself. Best of luck!

My now 12 year old went through this at 2 or 3. I just ignored the screaming and told him he was fine and that he was safe. When I didn't react to the screaming he quickly out grew it. Good Luck!

My now 3 year old daughter has never really liked bath time until now. She has always screamed and doesn't like water on her face. When she was about 1 1/2 I just started taking showers with her, that way I was holding her and she didn't have anything to worry about because I was right there with her getting wet. It was a pain, but now she will take a bath by herself as long as no water get in her face. Good Luck

H.,
Try letting him add a drop or 2 of food coloring... then once he is in add another color... woowwwww it changes!! It is truly amazing to them and starts them on learning yellow and blue make green etc.....
good luck
Tam

Hi, I went through this with my son, he's now 7 but he was afraid of the toilet and the bathtub. We bought a little plastic pool put it in the kitchen and turned it into play time but he also got bathed and wasn't afraid. But to encourage the whole idea we let him pick out a special toy while buying the little pool and eventually not long after we took him to the bath and assured him it was just like the pool. Later when he was older he told us it was b/c the water went down the drain in the bath and toilet and he thought he would go down too...

First, can you think of anything that may have triggered his sudden change in attitude about baths/showers? If you haven't already try to talk to him and see what he says, I know it may not be much since he is little, but you never know. Also try to make a game out of the bath time. See if he likes bubbles, has a favorite toy or 10 to bring in with him. My oldest son was afraid of the shower or water over his head when he was little. My husband used to get down next to him and have him help him wash his hair so that he would see that it was ok. We also got one of those visor things so the water would not run in his eyes. The toys helped too - we used to have this shower things for kids that hooked up to the faucet and he was in control of the water. It took patience, but he got over his fear. The key is to try to make it fun - like a game, that always worked in my house.

Good luck!

My son Blake went through this phase as well. I don't know what started it, but a friend gave me some great advice.

She said to make sure that bath-time is play time as well. I went to Toys-R-Us & bought new toys, bubbles & Crayola water tints. We played with the toys in the tub while he sat next to the tub, after a few minutes he wanted to hop in to the tub.

I forgot about this phase! My DD is 3 1/2 now and loves to bathe. Well, our first realization during that time was that she had a UTI and it burned to get in the bath. After that was cleared up, she needed some time to not be scared of the bath anymore. We gave her a lot of quick washrag baths, or would put her in with one of us in the shower to get scrubbed down quickly (while screaming). Eventually, she started liking the bath again. I remember one day I did a cool bath and brought in some pool toys and let her play in it. It'll pass, I'd have him checked for a UTI (rare in boys, I know, but it could happen) or bad diaper rash. Get some new tub toys to get him excited about the bath again. Some bathtub crayons or something. Good luck!

My son LOVES to shower with me. I hold him in my arms and we turn the radio on, dance and sing in the shower. I also put some liquid soap in his hands and say "wash your hair! wash your tummy!"
You can cuddle him close so he feels safe:)

My son is 2 and still uses his Safety 1st bath chair when he takes a bath. I know he feels secure in it. I've tried to give him baths without the chair, but he too becomes scared of the water and starts to cry. He will actually put the chair in the tub himself when he's about to get his bath. I've tried to get him to play in the water by letting him run through a sprinkler, play in his small pool, and taking him to a splash park to minimize his fear of the water. Bath toys help too because they distract him. Hope this helps, good luck.

MC

Our 2 year old went thru the same thing for a brief period. We use to rinse her hair using the shower head and had to replace the head with a new one. Not sure if that's what sparked her fear or not, but we just kept at our routine even though she cried and cried. She had some of the fastest baths EVER for a week or two and then suddenly she was fine again. We would try and make bath time more "fun" by putting new toys in there or letting her play with shaving cream. To this day (4 months later) we still cannot rinse her head with the shower head, we have to use a cup, but she doesn't cry when it's bath time. I'm learnign they go thru these phases for no reason at all sometimes and next thing you know, they are over it and have moved on to some other craziness!! Good luck!

This happened with my son also. He is three now. I tried to make bathtime fun. He loves swimming in a pool but hated being in a bath tub. So I acted like the bath tub was a pool. I just filled the bath tub up with like two inches of water and let him swim on his belly. He eventually warmed up. Hang in there it took a few months until he finally got over his fear.

both of my boys went through this at about the same age. Rest assured they do outgrow it around 3. I know that's eons away.

Just reassure him, don't get angry or punish him. for about 6months we sponge bathed our soon to be 3yr old, and only shampooed his hair when it was visibly dirty which in all honesty wasn't often (maybe every few weeks?) and for that we would just stand him in the bathtub with no water in it, and just run the water and put cupfuls of water over his head (we used one of those bathtime visors that is supposed to keep water out of eyes too) quickly shampooed and rinsed then did lots of cuddling.