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DD has always loved having a bath, often we have had to encourage her into the bath, but once she's in there she doesn't want to get out.
But now, she cries when she hears us running it, and if you put her in, she will only stand up and not sit down...
does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do to get her to like the bath again? She doesn't really like showers either, so thats not really an option. Her hair is filthy but she won't let me wash it!
Any way you can make the bath seem more 'FUN' for her?
* Lots of bubbles
* Maybe she can choose some bath toys next time your at the shops ($2 shop is perfect for these kinds of things)?
* They have that new jelly stuff that changes the color of the water?
* Have a bath with her?
* Go in in her bathers?
These are probably things you've tried or thought of but i hope she's back into it for you soon.
Re: her hair can you use a spray bottle and give it a quick wash that way?
Do you use bubble bath? That could make it more fun...
There is a brand called Mustela which you can find in some pharmacies (I see you are in Melbourne, they had it at Pulse Pharmacy in Southland) and it turns the water blue.
But my son was opposite boy and HATED bubble bath LOL! Would scream at the bubbles but happily play in a plain water bath. So if you are using it, maybe get rid of it?
What if Mummy gets in the bath too? DS loved having a nice deep "swimming bath" with Mummy.
Or a couple of cool new bath toys?
The hairwashing can be tricky...you might just have to grit your teeth, get a big plastic jug and get the job over with as soon as possible. DS knew that 3 jugs of water would be used to rinse so we would count them and after 3 it was all over and his face was dried with a towel. Now he has a shower and he agrees to stand under the water to rinse his hair while I sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and as soon as the song is over he can come out and get his face wiped - it's all about knowing how long he has to put up with it. And then afterwards make a fuss of how beautiful her hair looks and smells.
The standing up I don't see as a huge problem as long as you have a non slip mat, a standing child is very easy to wash...once again, the trusty plastic jug to rinse them off.
It's more than likely just a phase...DS has gone through phases where he hated the bath, and then suddenly one day decided he hated the shower and wanted a bath again.
it is just phase, my dd was the same. I'd just bathe her kicking and screaming.
Others have already suggested getting in the bath with your DD and I wanted to say that's what helped my DD! She loved the bath and then suddenly would get upset at the thought of the bath. I went in with her a few times and then she was happy on her own again. The first time I went in I got my DH to pass my DD to me and I slowly lowered her in, like put her feet in for a bit, then put her legs in, etc. If she started grizzling I pulled her back up a bit and waited for it to pass then moved her slowly down again. It seemed to work and the second time she went in slowly but with no grizzling until we moved to getting straight in. Then she was fine to be on her own. HTH!
At one stage we put a bucket in the bath (or lounge room!) and DD stood in it.....
Lu has suddenly decided there is a monster in the tap. :rolleyes: (i didn't even know she knew what a monster was!) so we had a good look, and put magic bubbles in the ward off any monsters. ;)
No advice really, but just wondering if she is afraid of something imaginary...... :dunno:
Max went through this too.....I have a bath with him sometimes (which is more fun coz we make it DEEP) and lots of bubbles. We play teasets too...where he makes me either a coffee, tea or babychino!
Did she have a negative experience with water recently? The reason I ask is I heard some really interesting info at a seminar for my DD's swimming classes last week. They were talking about how children become fearful of water and often it's because trust has been broken (like being dunked too early and against their will) and the trust needs to be reestablished with the child in order to get past the fear, if that makes senses.
It makes so much sense now that someone has said it out loud to me but I just didn't think about this when DD suddenly started hating the bath at around 9 weeks of age. I had taken her to a swimming class at my physiotherapists that week so it was DD's first time in the pool. It was a hydrotherapy pool and she seemed to be ok with it but was clinging to me a bit - understandably so. The class, which had babies from 8 weeks to 5 months (so a massive age difference) started and we were singing songs and lifting the babies in and out of the water. DD's neck strength wasn't the best at the time and she was scared out of her whits when I raised her slowly out of the water (holding her under the arms but supporting her neck too) and slowly lowered her back in again. I'll never forget the look of fright on her face and then she burst into tears. I felt terrible! She calmed down and we were encouraged to stay in the water but told to hold her close and take it very slowly, which we did. I didn't realise it at the time but I had lost DD's trust. She had shown me signs of being scared and I had ignored them - I had tried to make her enjoy the water and bob her up and down like the other babies. From that day for about 2 weeks she screamed every time we put her in the bath. It was horrible and I just couldn't work out why this was happening given she had previously loved the bath. It wasn't until the seminar last week that the penny dropped, she didn't trust me and it took 2 weeks to rebuild that trust with her.
Anyway, I'm not saying your daughter doesn't trust you but maybe she has had something happen around water recently that has freaked her out. Just a thought. Good luck with getting fun bath times back.
just wanted to say i'm having an issue with my DS. with bath time too.
he was fine until i tried to put him in the big bath tub. he screamed bloody murder.
we been given him a bath in the sink. so i figured since he can now sit up pretty well on his own. that i would try the big tub boy was that a mistake.. anyway we tried the sink again and he screamed. so what i did was distract him with toys and said Oh my what a big boy you are and he smiled at me and was happy once again. try lots of praises once she gets calmed down and plays with the toys. just keep trying different things you will find something that works. :D