My DD has always LOVED her bath - right from the start. I mean up until a couple of days ago she would cry when we had to take her out! We have toys, books, bubbles, her own towels, a Dora toothbrush - it is a whole fun process.
Now all she does is SCREAM and SCREAM. We have to was her quickly and get her out. Her hair has not been washed - we only got to wet it, no shampo - in a few days.
I'm at a loss.
Any thoughts?
We had this happen around that same age. I believe my Mom ran the bath just a touch too hot one night and she got really scared for a few nights after and refused to go in. Eventually I got her in by going in myself with her. Poor sweetie.
Good luck.
Check all the obvious things.
0. Does she have a urinary infection. Is she burning in her private parts when she's in the bath?
1. Do you have a water filter (For example, the govt has guidelines for arsenic levels in the water. But sometimes those levels fluctuate and burn tender skin. Those acceptable guidelines were set according to tests done on adult males and environmental averages.)
2. Do you have the hot water temperature set at the water heater to a lower number, so there is never a chance of accidentally turning up the hot water faucet.
Then I also agree with the mom that said check with everyone if an accident happened. Or if a story or something she saw on TV about water might have frightened her.
Good luck,
S
Hi G.,
Who else gives her a bath other than you? I would ask that person if anything happened in the bath. Maybe she fell back or hit her head or swallowed water or did something that frightened her and now she associates the bath with that one frightening incident. Good luck!
Hi G.
My daughter went through the same thing right around two years old. It was awful but we just did the bath as quickly as possible and washed her hair maybe only once a week. Now at 5 she likes her bath not as much as before but no complaints. We could never figure out what caused the change; but gradually over time it got better. I think it is a stage they go through.
Good luck
S.
We had a real bath and shower hater for a long time, so we stopped giving them. May sound gross, but she was fine and eventually we were able add them back in. Our daughter preferred to shower with one of us (still does prefer that for the most part), and we gradually started talking about getting hair wet and hair washing. Honestly it took quite a long time before she was taking a fairly regular bath, but now (at 3.5) she'll happily wash hair in the shower, stay in the shower herself, and take a bath (or sometimes use the bathtub as a swimming pool).
You might try a shower instead of a bath or getting in the bath with her yourself. We also had a lot of luck in general when she was younger with telling stores about a lion or a giraffe that had the same fear as her and was able to tackle it.
