Water on the Head Equals INSTANT PANIC

We had this problem when my son turned around 2. We solved it by putting him in swim lessons at Tampa Bay Turners. (another mom suggested this). He has no problems now with washing his hair (took about 2 weeks in class before he was fine) and as an added benefit at 3 1/2 is a really great swimmer. He can dive in from the side, swim across the pool and pull himself out at the other side.

Does he lay down in the tub? If so you could try having him lay down in the tub and then rinsing the hair. Most likely the cause if the fear of soap getting in his eyes or ears. To help elevate this fear of the eyes they have these cool cups at Walmart in the baby diaper isle that has a rubber part that you place on the forhead that keeps the water out of his eyes. My 4 1/2 yr old grandson has just became afraid of water on his head he gets mad. But if we let him do it he is fine. Good Luck

Hi T.
I put my daughters favorite sticker(s) on the ceiling above the tub. I would tell them look up at your stickers and ask them to keep looking while I gently rinsed they're hair. The water easily flowed backwards away from they're eyes and in the meantime they were distracted looking at they're stickers. It also
taught them that they could feel safe to keep they're eyes open and it assured them that I wouldn't get soap in they're eyes. It may take a few tries, and a little reasurrance. Now, I do it with my grandaughters and it still works!

Hello T.! The instant panic problem stems from the feeling he cant breathe if the water is on his face in his eyes possibly getting in his nose. I am a greatgrandmother so I have had lots of experience with babies and children. From when all my boys were just babies I would put them in the tub with me and put them securely on my lap so that they fell comfortable. I would then geantly use a woash cloth to wet their hair for soap being careful not to get any in the eyes or near there nose or mouth. As they got older and naturally could sit in their own or in a tub holder for kids like a stationary walker only smaller I would let them play giving them cups and they would fill them and eventually pour water on their own heads and I would just giggle and say oohhhh thats fun and they would do it again just to get me to respond. Children and pets are alot alike in that they love praise for doing good things. This way they learned on their own the water did not hurt them and it was not something to be afraid of. If you son is already two then sitting with him while he is in the tub and just making it mild playtime right before a book and bedtime maybe you could try a few times seeing if the cup thing will work. Or maybe even a pitcher since he is older. The important thing is to let him experiment becuase if you pour it on his head he is going start to distrust you if it gets in his eyes. All of my sons are spectacular swimmers and so are there grandchildren and I know my greatgrandchildren will be as well. Be patient my best guess is from experiencing it on my own is that once he can do this himself he will more or less learn how to respond to the water being on his head. Summer is coming and he wont want to miss out on playing in the sprinklers or playing at Buschs water park. Enjoy your son every single minute, they grow up so quickly. Take care and God Bless! T.

i have a 4 year old lil boy who SWEARS the soap, even water hurts his eyes. So we got him some goggles. Like for the pool. I took te straps off and he holds the goggles over his eyes while i scrub with soap and then just pour the water over his head. He thinks its funny. You can make it fun by letting him pick out his "bath eyes" (goggles). Hes only allowed to have his "bath eyes" when we wash his hair. Now my son LOVES washing his hair~

My daughter used to wear a foamy visor that had velcro in the back. It's made for hair washing. No water gets in their face. Try babies r us.

I also had good results with getting my step-daughter to lay down in the tub to rinse the soap out of her hair when she was that age. It was a little rocky the first few times but -
I didn't fill the tub very deep so that the back of her head would touch the bottom before the water got anywhere near covering her face. Then I would hold on to her (one hand on the back of her head) as she leaned back telling her the whole time I wasn't going to let go (she whined a little the first few times). I think I left my hand under her head at first too but I kept telling her, "this is the bottom of the tub, this is the back of your head, your head can't go back any farther and this is as deep as the water is going to get."
Now she's six, takes showers and does cannon balls into the pool at my in-laws.