Toddler Suddenly Afraid of the Bathtub!

I have a 3 year old neice that loves her baths. Does she have some toys in with her?? Maybe she is afraid of the water going down, my neice is sometimes afraid that she will go down the drain with the water. Maybe keep one of her toys in the tub to show that the toy will not go down, neither will she.

Shower :) My son did pretty much the same thing. We started doing a shower instead of a bath. He got in with whoever was taking a shower and got cleaned up and then got out. It made "bathtime" soooo much easier. Now that he's a little older, he gets in towards the end of the showers and after he gets cleaned up we get out and he gets to play with the water. We are still in the bathroom of course, but he likes that extra time by himself. He has also gone back to wanting to take baths all on his own.

OMG! I am having the same problem with my 23 month old son. He used to love taking baths, now he screams the whole time. He even screams if he sees water in the tub! I started giving him showers with me. He cried a little the first time. I held him, then gradually put him down. I put my swim suit on and sit in the back of the tub. He'll play a little (we have a crayola coloring board that he can play with standing up) and stick his face in the water. He seems to be doing better with showers. I'm afraid to try a bath again! Good luck!

S.

My 13 month old went through something like this for about a month. Now we are hit or miss. Sometimes she does okay and sometimes she just screams. I'm not sure what it's about. I thought it was because I stopped using her bathtub chair since she started standing up and falling out of it. Anyway, my daughter does much better when I put only a small amount of water in the bottom of the tub.

this may sound strange, but my daughter around the same age at the time did the same thing. she would scream, and at first i thought she was getting burned or something because it was such a terrifying sounding scream! then i figured out that she was afraid of a piece of hair floating in the tub! even still (and she is 2 and a half) she hates when there is a hair and will yell and scream "ahhh! a hair!" until i get it out, which is quite a workout for me if i took a shower right before her because i lose a lot of hair in the shower. so check to see if there is a hair, or other tiny debris floating around that she is noticing.

My 12 month old went through the same thing for about a month. He would absolutely scream and desperately try to climb out of the tub. Somebody suggested this inflatable duck bathtub that is sold for $9.99 at Target, and I SWEAR by it. It's really cute and when you squeeze its beak it quacks. It has been a lifesaver. Our little guy loves it and is fine at bathtime now. Let me know if it helps.
T.

Have you tried bath crayons? That worked like a charm for my son.

Dear J.,
This is not unusual at all. My daugher is just now getting over her fear of the bath tub. Just hang it there with her. She may have a fear of water getting in her eyes.
Sometimes they just come up with fears that have no reason to us.
My daughter was affraid she would be sucked down the drain. She also hates to have water in her eyes. I end up as wet as she is by the time I get her hair washed.
Have you tired putting some tub toys in there with her? Bubbles or something to make it a little more fun.
Just having some of my daughters favorite tub toys helps. She is getting to the point she will roll around and play in the water now on her own.
Maybe you could go back to putting her in a small rubber tub inside the tub and let her work her fears out there.
Put a swim ring on her or water wings and see if that helps.
Good luck

When my son was around that age and in swim lessons, I remember the instructor saying that there is a time around age 2 when kids suddenly start to understand the 'danger' of the water. She was telling us this so that we could help our kids get past that stage by continuing their exposure to the water - pressing ahead. Don't know if that sheds any light?

T.

My daughter, around age 2 1/2 started telling me that the drain was going to suck her down if she got in. She's almost 4 now and still tells me the same thing and won't sit on the end of the bathtub with the drain. maybe your daughter sees the water go down and gets nervous.

J.,

I know this may sound weird, but has your daughter had a BM in the tub? My daughter, now 20 months, is our "tub pooper". Unfortunately, we had a week not that long ago that she pooped twice in the tub in one night. The next night I went to put her in the tub and she flipped out. This went on for about two weeks. I kept reassuring her that the poopy was gone and all cleaned up and she has finally settled. We have also done showers - I have her in there while I'm showering in the morning and that seems to work well too.

It might be possible that she's relaxing so much that she feels the need to go poop and is concerned that she's not got a diaper on. You know, I think some kids really get relaxed to the point of getting ready to go and then they realize what's hapenning and it freaks them out a bit.

Just thought I'd share my experience. I think the bubbles and/or a new tub toy are a great idea.

Good luck.

I have an 18 month daughter and she was the same way and i had to get in with her but once i put her winnie the pooh toy in she was fine. Plus my sister-in-law said to try and use baby body wash to make some bubbles and it worked. So maybe you can give it try. Hope this helps.