Bathing - Peoria,AZ

My daughter decided she didn't want to take a bath anymore either. She acts like she's scared of the bathtub when she used to absolutely love it! We started giving her showers instead. She loves to get in and have it "rain" on her.

Paints for the bathtub...might be worth the $, I know my kids love them!

Also: Ask Dad is she has been refusing over there too? Maybe he allows her to shower and its more fun? I know my 4 yr old loves the shower!!

How about a shower with you ? You also have a posting about her having problems with BM. I wonder if taking a warm bath relaxes her enough so that it makes a BM easier and it feels uncomfortable to her since she isn't as used to doing that on the potty ? Is she having these same problems with her father? How is he handling these issues? Are you and your ex working on these solutions together? If you are not doing things the same, she won't know what her expectations are and will try to get away with as much as she can. You still have to work together as her parents even if you live apart.

Hi, My 13 month old went through a phase similar to this when he did not want to take a bath for a week or two. I bought him that same duck bath tub, tried to shower with him, nothing worked. Right around that time, his new nanny had started working and she had tried to give him a bath and I guess he developed a negative association with bath time. I probably just gave him 2 or 3 bath in a week (he wasnt getting as dirty). Ask your daughter's father if something happened in the past few days that might be a reason. Also, try to take a shower with her or get into the bath tub with her, along with some of her favorite toys, bath crayons, bubble bath, etc. and spend some good relaxed time with her...try to make it a little more fun....I tried that for about 2 weeks and now he is back to fun bathing time. Good Luck with everything :)

What about a shower?

Please take her to a therapist....to make sure NOBODY is bothering or hurting her....I don't mean to scare you but this just doesn't happen for no reason. It's save your and her sanity...

You have 3 different questions and it sounds more like you are going through a typical 4-year-old "power struggle". Four year olds are very difficult, especially little girls - I should know, I have one. EVERYthing, and I do mean EVERYTHING, is a struggle. And you will lose your patience now and then, but take heart! This too shall pass!

You are the adult. You are the parent. She will get away with anything she wants to get away with, especially if she knows you will give in. Sounds like all she has to do is cry, and she gets her way. Now, the first thing you need to do is TALK to her - seriously, sit down and explain to her that she is a big girl, not a baby anymore, and you expect certain things. Tell her that she is old enough now to go to the potty, old enough to take a bath and old enough to sleep in the bed without crying or acting like a baby. Then instead of promising REWARDS, you need to take steps to tell her there will be CONSEQUENCES. Maybe not with the sleeping part, but with the potty and the bath.

Now, for the sleeping - maybe try having her sleep with you in the bed - either hers or yours to start with. I don't understand why you'd sleep on the floor or a chair - those items are still in your house, so the noise won't be any better there than anywhere else. I don't know how long you've lived there, but you both will get used to the noise. I've lived several places in the Phoenix area and it seems like there is always some sort of airport traffic. It's something you both are just going to have to work through, like the rest of this "stuff". But you're going to have to be the MOM and get a little bit tougher - she's just going to continue to take advantage of you when she's knows all she has to do is cry.

I have 3 year old twin boys and 1 of them just decided one day that he hated bathes as well. I did fight him for a while, but realized that was not the best idea! I had him sit in the empty tub for a couple of minutes several times a day with a special toy or a snack he wasn't usually allowed to have. I also tried another tub to see if that made any difference and it didn't for him, but if you have a second bathroom you could try that. I also had to cover up the shower head with a washcloth. For some reason it scares him. Now he takes them pretty well. He still doesn't love them, but at least he doesn't scream anymore. However, you might want to talk to her father to make sure she didn't slip in the tub or the power didn't go out one night she was there while she was bathing. You can never be to cautious!! Hope everything works out well for you and your daughter.

I noticed that you posted several questions about your daughter, all of them including a strong fear. Not to alarm you, but it really sounds like something may have happened to shake her security. Has a recent change occurred? Try taking her to a peditrician and child psychologist to get to the bottom of it. Ask her yourself if somebody has hurt her recently or touched her where it made her feel uncomfortable. I would even ask directly if someone touched her on her private parts. Let her know that if someone did, she didn't do anything wrong so she's not too ashamed to talk about. I don't know if she would open up, even if you take her to professionals, but it's worth a try (my brothers were severely molested and didn't tell my mom until they were teenagers even though she had outright asked them before and she laid down by them every night so they had plenty of opportunity to talk to her. As a side note, my brothers are well-adjusted adults now who were able to heal for the most part). I recommend a book called "Those are MY Private Parts" that helps empower children and lets them know they are in control of their own bodies. I bought it online and I read it to my kids on occasion (not too often because then they become too obsessed with the subject, LOL).

If nothing's going on, maybe some simple watercolors to paint in the bathtub would help. That's what I do with my kids. They like to paint each other and the walls (sometimes I tape up a piece of paper) and I have taught them to pour water on it when they're done and it rinses right off.

I had a similar problem with my son, one day he loved baths then all of a sudden he didn't. It turned out that a babysitter one night gave him a bath one night and the water was way too hot(it was completely an accident)! Sometimes we don't realize that a temperature that seems comfortable to us is not for a small child who has more sensitive skin. Well, after many struggles my husband finally came up with "swimming" in the bathtub. My husband and my son both put on swim suits and got into a cool temperature bath to just play, the even took a couple small pool toys in with them...we do have a normal size tub so it was kind of a cramped "pool" but after a couple "swimming" baths he got over his fear of the bath and we were gradually able to warm up the water a bit and bathe without a swimsuit and dad in the tub...we do still bathe with a very small beach ball though, lol!

Yes, maybe a shower she would like instead.

If your daughter is under someone else's care, my 1st question would be WHAT'S HAPPENED?? Instead of getting her into the bath, I would be finding out why.

Good Luck