Help! DD HATES the bath!

DD is 16.5 mos and absolutely LOATHES bathtime! She claws at my neck when I try to put her down in the tub, and tries to climb the whole time I have her in there. I feel like i've tried everything and nothing makes it better..

I tried turning the water on, turning the water off, I tied that inflatable duck, I tried putting her baby tub in the big tub, I tried getting IN the tub with her, toys, no toys, bathing suit on.. NOTHING WORKS! Even when I was sitting in the tub with her, she was climbing on me and SCREAMING!

Bathtime in our house is now done in the morning,(because she got herself so worked up over it that she wouldnt fall asleep if we did it at night) and it lasts MAX 2 minutes. Just long enough to wash her down FAST, wash her hair and get her the heck out!

She was fine when she was in the baby tub in the sink, but shes just too big now for it. I'm afraid she will try and stand and fall out.. so thats not an option. We went to an indoor waterpark last weekend and she was terrified of that too. So it's not the tub itself, its the water. I'm at a loss... please help.

Re: Help! DD HATES the bath!

If she is scared of the water you should try to slowly get her comfortable with water, sort of like a gradual desensitization. As an example, start out by filling the sink with water and letting her put her hands in there. When that's fine move on to her arms, wet them. Do the same with her feet. Let her wet her feet and then slwoly fill up the sink with more water until you get her legs wet. With your hand wet her face, amybe her hair, etc. If she's comfortable with these things then start putting some water in the tub, just a little, and sitting her in there until she's comfortable then slowly increase the water level until she's ok with it. It sounds long and tedious and probably will be but if she's really afraid of the water for some reason, your best bet is probably to slowly let her get comfortable with being immersed in water. Has anything happened or has she seen something that might have made her afraid?

Re: Help! DD HATES the bath!

Eva is the same way ! I bathe her in the kitchen sink in one of those mesh seats

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Re: Help! DD HATES the bath!

oy, we went through this in the fall (same age about) and dd is STILL not 100% thrilled with it, but this is how we got her to at least tolerate the bath:

We laid a few thick towels on the kitchen floor and put the toddler tub on them and had bowls of water ready to rinse her etc...

Then we let her walk up to the tub and sit by it and play with the water and gradual got her in it. then we sang her favorite songs and played with the washclothes submerging them in water and pulling them up making funny WEEEE sounds - (She still likes this) and let her play with the bowls of water so she could see the water pour out in front of her (making the WEE sound again).

It took us at least a month to get her back in the toddler tub in the big tub, and the kitchen needed to be mopped up every time - we still only do bath time 2x week because she still hates going in, but now once shes in and once we finish washing her hair, I can't get her out of it!

Whatever you do - DO NOT waste your money on the summer bathtime bubble machine...it doesn't work well...

Re: Help! DD HATES the bath!

"Has anything happened or has she seen something that might have made her afraid?"

Not that I know of. I myself have issues with being in pools/water, but she has never been around anything that *should* have scared her. But i'm amazed at the things that scare my daughter... like the sound of packing tape being pulled off the roll She can't get away fast enough. She's a walker, but throws herself to the floor and crawls at warp speed

Thanks for your responses.. i'm going to try them ALL lol

Message edited 2/25/2010 11:14:52 AM.

Re: Help! DD HATES the bath!

Posted by josie919

"Has anything happened or has she seen something that might have made her afraid?"

Not that I know of. I myself have issues with being in pools/water, but she has never been around anything that *should* have scared her. But i'm amazed at the things that scare my daughter... like the sound of packing tape being pulled off the roll She can't get away fast enough. She's a walker, but throws herself to the floor and crawls at warp speed

Re: Help! DD HATES the bath!

What about taking a shower with her so she won't be alone in the water. This helped with ds. I would bring him in with me, clean him and let him play a little if he wanted. Then Dh would take him out and dress him so I could wash my hair and stuff. Now I can't get the kid out of the water.