Daughter Terrified of Bath After Pooping in Tub

good grief what did you tell this child about poop! lol i kid, but seriously...little girls are crazy. i have a little boy and from about 1 1/2 to about 2 1/2 he pooped in the dang tub every chance he got! we have a removeable shower head and many times to avoid possible "incidents" i would just shower him. i LOVE the removable shower head for my own showers too - just a thought! also what the other said, let her sit on the potty before hand (although with my son this was only somewhat successful, he was not ready for pt yet), and definitely invest in some new toys, bubble baths, bath paints, etc. good luck!

Awe poor dear! Let her know that this happens to the best of us and give her the option of a shower or bath, my kids love the shower. Also tell her that your going to use the potty before the Shower or bath that way she wont have another accident.

Some new toys for the bath just may take her mind off the incident
my DD just turned 3 and she has Ponies and Little petshops for her bath. I have a large pink colander from the dollar store and when shes done the toys are collected and the colander stays in the bathing area.

You can let her sit on the potty before her bath. Even if she is not potty training at this point, maybe telling her if she sits there and needs to poop, it'll happen before the bath, she will be calmer. If need be, bathe her with a swim diaper on - then after the tub bath, give her privates a wash with a washcloth.
I hope she is over the trauma soon. Happens to everyone!

Lay off the baths for a couple days--get her hands/face/feet/privates. Kind of make a joke about it. Show her that its not in the tub and tell her if it happens again you will get her out of the tub lickitysplit!

Well. The first thing I think is, how did you react when it happened? Were you freaked out? If so, then no wonder.
Regardless, the next time you want to have a bath maybe you can have bubbles that she likes, toys she likes, let her decide how full the bath should be (within reason). Or take a shower.
I can say that we no longer give our children nightly baths. On the days that they don't really get "dirty" we just let it go. They won't get too stinky.

In response to "The minute we give into the irrational fears of our children we inadvertently support them and make it much harder for them to get over."

It seems completely rational to me that a young child would fear pooping in the tub. Children see human waste being contained and disposed of, they are encouraged not to touch it and are possibly told that they may get sick if they touch or consume it. I makes sense to me that a child would be afraid of unintentionally pooping somewhere or potentially coming into contact with poop. Also, perhaps a child may fear not being in control of where or when he/she poops or pees. These fears may seem irrational to an adult, but put yourself in your child's shoes and they may seem like reasonable conclusions.
In this type of situation, perhaps it would be best to accept the child's fear and responding in a positive, creative, non-stressful ways. In my opinion, accepting the child's fear supports the child rather than supporting the fear itself. I would think that the child's fear would be supported if the parent shared and/or demonstrated that fear.

Have you tried a shower instead of a bath?

Oh my dear do I have experience with this one!! LOL

When my now 9 1/2 year old was just 2, he found sock fuzz in the tub one night. He FREAKED. He thought it was some bug or something that was going to get him. I hate to tell you, but this is not going to pass quickly nor are you going to just be able to keep force bathing her. That isn't going to deal with her fear. It was literally a process for my son and it took a couple of months, but it was not traumatic for either of us and he went on to love baths again.

First, I started just running water in the tub but not closing the drain off so it would fill. My son still wouldn't sit or stand in the tub though so here I was quite pregnant at the time. I'd have to strip down to my underwear and sit on the side of the tub with my feet inside. Then sit him on my lap and wash him.

After a week or so of that, I would start having him stand in the tub at the far end of it, again, still not letting the tub fill up at all. About a week after that, I would let the tub fill just in the lower end of it so literally, there still wasn't any water towards the back where he stood. Through all of this I tried to get him playing to distract him. By the time I was letting that little bit of water in the front of the tub, I would splash or play with his toys at that end. Eventually he did the toddler at the beach thing where he would squat at the edge of the water and start splashing a bit. You have to follow her cue but I think the gradual reintroduction at her pace will help. It definitely helped my son. As I said, eventually I was able to start filling the tub up again and he'd get right in and take his bath but it took time and patience. Trust me, this is just one of many times you are most likely going to have to deal with something like this. ;)

Oh! The other thing I did was make a spray. I got one of those spray bottles at the store and put water and - oh boy...I can't remember what else I used. :-| It was something to make it smell like tea tree oil or lemon or something. Doe she have a scent she really likes? The point is, before each bath I would let my son watch me spray the tub with the no more sock fuzz spray. (Of course I'd have to make sure his toes were clean before he got in too.) But the spray thing is a psychological thing. We later did the same thing when my son had bad dreams and it became bad dream go away spray. You could spray the tub with something and make it no more poo spray. ;)

Good luck. This is something if you are patient about it you are going to be able to look back on with huge pride in yourself later. I'll tell you, it's a great feeling to know that my son was so petrified but through my patience and steps I was able to help him overcome it in a way that worked for him. I hope it works for your daughter.

My kids are 16 months and 4 and we don't do baths every night except in the summer when they are dirty every day from playing outside. The little one gets food everywhere so she gets more frequent baths but my older one only gets about 2 per week.

I'd do showers or washcloth and bucket type baths in the meantime. My son started trying to use the potty before baths around 2.5 (full on potty training was later). We never had a poop in the bath incident but my son got soap in the eye and then cried for months when he got a shampoo (even though it was baby shampoo). He eventually got over it but it took a while. Is she talking enough to tell you why she was so upset when she is calmer? Maybe if you have something specific it will help you to get past it.

HI

It is a typical age to happen. Happened to all of my three little ones (4, 2, 2 years) at around 2.

We just switched over to the shower for a while. Luckily the bath and the shower is not the same. It resolved itself after a couple of days.

Forcing them into the bath is not as easy and in the long run will not work.

Good luck.

1-try a hand shower, no water in bath
2-get in with her to alleviate fears
3-tell her it happens to everyone once and now it already happened to her
4-tell her a story about someone you know who was scared of....make something up and how they got over it. Make sure its a kid, not an adult so she can learn a lesson
5- tell her u spoke to her doctor and he said its normal
6-get her a mermaid doll and tell her its a special bath toy. Can only play in bath!

These are just a few ideas. Find one that u think will help her, for this incident andf from now on!

Hi C.,

We just went thru the same thing. Our 2 yr old son pooped in the tub just before Easter and then would freak out anytime we tried to bathe him. I bought him a cheap watering can (lots of stores have them out with the Spring toys), and he loves playing with it in the tub. He refuses to play with any of his old bath toys - he doesn't even want them in the tub, even though he watched me clean all of them. I also now keep a bottle of bubbles in the bathroom and I will blow bubbles for him while he's in the tub. Maybe you could bring your daughter to the store and let her pick out a new toy for the bath. Just make sure she knows that she can only play with it in the tub. Good luck!

Hi! Sorry- this situation STINKS! I went through the same with my daughter. My mom overreacted to the mess, I think, and made it worse. The only thing to do was to have the quickest baths possible and also to just ignore the situation and not talk about it- "extinct" the behavior of her crying over baths. I think she will forget about it soon, but it could take awhile. I'm sure others might have some good, maybe speedier tips for you, I hope..Good luck! (It also helped nixing toys to help with sanitation and easy clean-up, and not using too much water)

I have an 8 month old and a two and a half year old. We have pooped in the tub. The baby doesn't even realize it, but it freaks his big brother out. My oldest sond does talk alot about it, but he isn't scared like your daughter. If I were you I would endure the next couple days of tough 'force bathing'. The minute we give into the irrational fears of our children we inadvertently support them and make it much harder for them to get over. I feel this situation is different than being afraid of say, the dark which is more of a concrete reality. We have to teach our kids to do things they are afraid of, of course without traumatizing them--but I don't think a bath after poop is going to traumatize her. Kids are far more resiliant then we give them credit for.
Maybe get in the bath with her tonight? Then at least you can hold her when she gets scared instead of being off the side of the tub. After a few days I am sure that she will realize that it was nothing to freak out about.
Also maybe put a small potty in the bathroom so you can put her on it in case she has the urge to poop again. it might make her feel 'prepared' incase it happens again.