Sudden fear of baths

PixelPosy · September 2014

So I've googled the heck out of this topic and am wondering if anyone else is going through this phase? About 2 weeks ago, K was happily playing in her bath when she started to scream and cry. I was sitting right there and didn't see anything that would have caused her pain or traumatized her. I took her out and she calmed down as she dried off. Ever since bath-time is a tortuous experience for all involved. She cries the entire time, refuses to sit down and is a complete mess whether we just sponge her down or slowly pour water on her. I dread days where her hair must be washed. She calls out to put on her diaper, to go potty, to get her towel, anything she can think of to get her out of the tub. She has zero interest in the bath toys she used to love. I tried taking a bath with her and that was worse. She calms down almost instantly when taken out of the tub and follows the rest of our routine before bed just fine.

From what I've read it sounds like sometimes kids develop an irrational fear of going down the drain, which could be it, but is something that K isn't able to verbalize yet. The internet advises lots of non-bath water play and is divided on forcing them in the tub as a control issue, vs. doing sink/sponge baths outside of the tub or even breaking out a kiddie pool or baby bath, which we have not tried yet. But most moms say this can take months to get over. The younger they are the longer... great... It's so awful to see her upset over something she used to enjoy.

PixelPosy · September 2014

It's hair washing night so maybe I will try a shower with her tonight instead. Thanks for the suggestion.

Wally3 · September 2014

Ds1 went through this. Try the things you planned and showers. Also maybe need thatch toys or bath crayons. You do have to wait it out. But ds reallyrd like these bath tablets we got that changed the color of the water.

BabyCarryingVessel · September 2014

I was just thinking about starting a post about this. For about three months now bath time has been torturous! They used to love baths and they didn't mind getting hair washed, but now bath time is so stressful that I have to mentally prepare. It's so bad that I skip washing their hair for some baths, so they may only get their hair washed twice a week.

I hope this phase is over very soon. Showers are even worse so I'll just have to wait it out. I'm going to try the bath crayons and tablets as suggested.

scrumpfy · September 2014

I second the shower idea. With C it's less of a phase and more her mood. Some days baths are great, others, she'll scream the whole time. I did notice not putting anything in the water helps - no bubbles, bath tabs, etc- because if she had even the slightest diaper rash she would cry that the water gave her owies. But I let her get messy with the shower sprayer. So now she thinks showers are the funnest.

PixelPosy · September 2014

We had a successful bath! Could be complete dumb luck and we'll see what happens tomorrow night.... but this is what we did.

1. I got into the dry tub and started coloring with her tub crayons. She quickly came over and helped me from outside the tub. After awhile I asked if she wanted to get into the still dry tub with me and she was okay with that. We colored for a few minutes.

2. I left the tub unplugged and turned the water on to a trickle and started to stomp in the bits of water like they were mud puddles. That was great fun and turned into her wanting to play with the trickle of water. I slowly turned the trickle into full blast watching her closely for signs of fear. She had a ball splashing in the running water.

3. At this point I thought we'd turn on the shower, but the curtain closing scared her. We don't have a sprayer. So I gave her more time and then tried plugging the tub and started letting it fill. I'm still in the tub with her, but we're both standing. After it filled a couple inches I sat down because she was still splashing around and bounced from sitting to standing a couple times. It was making me nervous she'd slip.

4. I let her continue to play in the stream of water until we had a decent amount to bathe her in. When I turned it off she was still okay and still splashing around like crazy. She even helped me soap her up and wash her hair. She sat down on her own a couple times, but stood for the majority of the bath.

Fingers crossed that the bath time meltdowns are really over and this wasn't a crazy fluke.Thanks for your input everyone, and those of you dealing with bath-time meltdowns too, I hope you find what works soon for your LO's.

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