Hi everyone-- My daughter is 21 months and recently has fits every time we try to get her in the bathtub. She has always been fine in the bath and then one day she suddenly started having complete meltdowns. I have tried everything including getting into the bath with her myself. Tonight my husband and I had to hold her down and rinse her off. I don't want to traumatize her but she needs to be cleaned. I'm considering going back to bathing in the kitchen sink. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks
How about buying some fun things for the tub, like the crayons or something to chnage the water to a different color, that might work. Good Luck
I agree with the other posters. I would go out and buy some new tub toys and maybe try to get a different routine. My son picked up a bar of Dove soap that was in the shower and touched his eyes. Well of course they burned, he was so upset but it only took a few days for him to love tub time again!
The suggestions below for getting your little one into the tub are great ones. If the issue is water in the eyes/ears though Wal*Mart has a pitcher that has a flexible front that fits up against the forehead to wash shampoo out. Worked wonders with my kids (although 3 our of 4 still fight me and freak when they get water in their faces. It's lasted a lot longer than a couple of months for us!)
My daughter did the same thing around 19 months. She is 2 now. It lasted a couple months and then she was fine again... no worries. Try using a new toy for now. My daughter loved the washable crayons they make for the bathtub. Now when we say bath, she yells color and runs to it.
If your daughter is anything like my daughter, she will do that off and on. I know one time she freeked out cause I was draining the tub and it made a gurgling sound and for about a week or two she would not get in that tub. Then she slowly got comfortable again.
I think if you just give it a little bit of time, she will come around to taking her baths again
It is just a phase, but one you do need to get thru (sorry). We bought my son a tub toy, it's a basketball net with three balls. It got him into the tub, and then we just kept the water low so he didn't get too nervous. We sing in the tub too...I start singing when I am getting him undressed and it seems to distract him. Good luck!
My 14 moth old daughter stopped liking the bath a few weeks ago. Sometimes I just wipe her down with a wet cloth. If she's really dirty, I sit in the bath and let her stand between my knees and I wash her that way. Its a more challenging way to do things, but I figure its not the end of the world. She seems happy to wash like this for now, and I'm sure when we perfect this method she'll be ready to go back to the old way!!!
We're going through the same thing with my son. He loved baths before, but then my husband took him into the shower and now he has a complete meltdown if we try to put him in the tub. I tried getting new bath toys and that didn't work. And there was no safe way to give him a bath in the tub because he would flail around so much he would hit his head on the side of the tub. Then I found out from my mother-in-law that my husband went through the same thing at that age, so I took her advice and switched to the kitchen sink. At first my son would just sit on a towel with his feet in the sink, but he quickly decided going into the sink was fun. We're hoping to switch back to the tub soon.
Good luck!
K.
Have you ever tried showering with her? We do this all the time with our kids (2.5 years and 9 months). They enjoy being in there with us and they are busy with the toys on the floor of the tub. Your daughter might enjoy the novelty of it? Good luck
My son was the same way when he was little. He hated being in the bathtub. I ended up switching to giving him showers while holding him and he loved that.
Talk to your daughter if she can communicate with you verbally ,If not ask her why .Im sure she will get her message across to you in her way. This could be something serious or nothing at all . There is a reason, childen just do not freak out over normal behavoir or routine over nothing . There is a reason . It could be something as simple as the drain . She does not need to actually take a bath you can fill a bowl or pan with bath wash and a face cloth and wash her gently even in her room . Is she potty training right now ? Maybe theres a connection . Good luck but you do need to address this peculiar behavoir . If all else fails take her to her dr and your concerns she or he might have ideas . M. M
special toys, bubble bath (not too often for a girl though), those soap crayons, soap fingerpaints.. and just muddle through.. My son hated baths for the first 2 years of his life.. have her stand and do a quick washdown between baths. hold her good with one hand and just have an inch of water or just even run the water and splash her down. My son eventually got over it and now I can't get him out of the tub! good luck
MY son started to flip out about the same age about taking a tub I couldn't even hold him in there to clean him. So I bought an inflatable snug tub at toys r us and washed him in the middle of the kitchen. I didn't know what else to do. He handled this fine and after about a month and a half we were slowly able to transition back to the tub. At first we let him play with the water from outside of the tub and eventually worked him back in to the real tub.
