I dont know whats wrong with her but shes always loved baths until 2 weeks ago, nothing has happened so I dont know why she is doing this.
Everytime we are running the bath shes all excited trying to climb in then it comes to getting in as soon as her feet are in the water thats it she screams and is frantically trying to climb out.
Ive ruled out anything to do with the water we have a water themometer and its the same temp and claire says its the same its not to hot or cold.
I havent been able to wash her hair for 2 weeks only a quick wipe over with a face washer as i dont want to force her to stay in and make her more scared (if that makes sense) her hair is really thick and curly and now so notty because i simply cannot wash it, we've tried making a game out of having a bath, claire has over exaggerated the "fun" of the water and toys and nothing.
DH is threatening if she hasnt settled and washed her hair by sunday hes going to shave it off (and hes deadly serious) because its so matted together.
Any suggestions before he shaves her hair or am i over reacting to the shaving hair? Even if i am she still needs to like the bath!
What's she like in a shower?
Or can you put very little water in the bath and then see how she goes.
Or even put her in the bath with no water, wet her with a facewasher and soap her up and then let her rinse herself with a few cupsful or icecream containers?
We have a shower-hose thingy that fits on to the bathtap and turns it into a really gentle hand shower - one of those might be really useful here too. Ours was about 10 bucks from safeway.
Is she having any other issues with her feet? Not overly sensitive to anything else, socks etc?
Is she ok in the shower, or not liking that either, could you maybe wash her hair in the sink, make pretend she's at the hairdressers or something, let her help do everyones hair in the sink and see if she lets you do it afterwards?
Maybe it is just a phase, i hope so for your sake.
I'm probably no help because I started with the gentle approach and got fed up with my dds behaviour. (although shes older than yours). As soon as she gets in she carries on like we are pulling her nails off one by one! I swear the neighbours must hate her bath time some days. I just plonk her in and tell her to sit...most of the time she doesnt. As soon as the water goes over her, she screams blu murder. I just keep going as quickly as possible til its all finished. Some days I get dh to help hold her still and wash her... Its sounds mean and probably is but she needs a wash. And I am not hurting her. I cut dds hair to a bob because she wouldnt let us brush it or tie it back. Much more managable now.
Its a hard one, especially if her hair is knotting up. You can either try the tough approach or cut the hair short. Hair will grow back and she might be older when it does and start liking the bath! Its funny how they love it one day and loath it the next!
It is just a phase. My DD and so many others on here have gone through the same thing at one time or another.
She will get over it. Just praise her lots and keep talking to her all the time as she is having her bath. I know its hard on both of you, but believe me it is a phase.
If she likes the shower I'd just stick to that for a while. I have the shower hose off my bath tap too & my kids love it. Alot easier for hair washing.
My DD2 went through this phase too
DD doesnt have a problem with the bath but she REALLY loves having a bath in the laundry trough, its because she sees her new sister having a bath in there...its a bit squishy but she looks so cute lol she also likes to take her little doll in there for a bath too. Hope you get her hair washed soon
Do you use bubble bath? My DS HATED bubble bath, he only liked bathing in plain water!
Or alternatively, make it a bubbly bath or use one of those bath gels that changes the colour of the water on hairwash night.
As for the hair...maybe you could comb out all the knots using a plain white conditioner (like you would for nits). She doesn't have to be in the bath then, and then you'd only have to have her in the bath long enough to rinse it off. If you load up her hair with conditioner, it could be a work in progress over a couple of hours if you can't get her to sit still long enough to sort out the knots in one sitting. Put her in front of the TV maybe, while you work on it.
Would she like playing with one of those hand held shower head hoses that you attach to the bath hose?
ETA: DS went through phases where he suddenly didn't like the bath and wanted a shower, and then one night all of a sudden he'd want the bath again...that would go on for a while and then we'd be back wanting a shower again. No warning.
Find out if it's because she's worried about getting sucked down the drainhole - I remember being terrified at one stage of that very early on.
Or maybe she had an ouchy experience - like shampoo going in her eyes or pulling scalp if you were shampooing her hair - and that's put her off?
Also (cos I'm assuming it's your youngest DD we're talking about) maybe her depth perception is kicking and she's now aware the water seems 'deep'?
SUGGESTIONS
Put a rubbery mat in the bottom so it's not slidey & she can see the bottom
Add bubbles or food dye - provide a 'fun' distraction
Use a hand held shower tube (you know, the rubber ones that fit over the tap) and sit her in the bath (with the plug out) and wash her that way
Hop into the bath yourself and sit her on your lap (so she feels secure)
Take her thru the shower with you.
Put a toy over the drain hole when you're letting the water out so it drains out slower and doesn't make a loud scary noise.
Re the hair - perhaps it's a good idea to have a hairdresser cut the matted parts out (instead of shaving!) and try again but use conditioner & a wide comb *every* time you wash her hair.
The drain is ruled out as i take her to the louge room dry and dress her then go back for DD1 then take the plug out so Bellah doesnt actually know there is a hole lol
I will get one of those shower hoses and see if that makes a difference, I wont put her in my shower as its crap!! Its either freezing cold or boiling hot and constantly changes i think that would put her off more!
I thought it was because i still used her bath seat but i tried without that and ive tried bubbles/no bubbles
I might try having a bath with her too, it may help show her its a safe place nothing scary
DD went through the same thing for a couple of weeks - I would just pop her in and give her a quick wipe over with a flannel and then let her get out (luckily for us, she still doesn't have much hair, so that wasn't an issue). I also bought a bigger rubber mat than the one we were using, and it had ducks on it. I don't know whether she just got over the phase or if the mat helped but she was soon back to loving the bath again! I'd persevere (sp?) - a friend of ours has trouble getting her daughter anywwhere near the bath now because when she went through the same phase, they gave her showers instead.
My DD went through a phase of not liking the bath. As soon as her foot hit the water she'd scream. So I got in the bath one day and got my DH to pass DD to me. Then I slowly put her feet in and she got a bit upset so I lifted her up. Then I slowly put her feet back, up again, etc. Until she was happy with her feet in the water. Then did the same with her legs, belly, etc. Until she was all the water and then we played in the bath. I didn't worry about washing her. Then next time she went straight in with me and happily played and I could wash her. I went in a few more times and then she was happy to be in the bath on her own again. HTH. Good luck.
Probably right off the point here, but DD1 went through similar and it turned out she had really dry skin that we hadnt picked up on..
Check her legs to see if they're dry, if they are we just rubbed on the moisturiser every day constantly (all day) and after a couple of days she was right again!
Maybe no help but thought I would throw it out there!
Everyone else has given the same suggestions I would re: the bath. Can I suggest you put a 'leave in' conditioner in her hair rather than just normal one that would still need to be washed out. We use one for my son as he hates having his hair washed/water over his face, etc. and it is fantastic.
Please help me bath my daughter
only a quick wipe over with a face washer as i dont want to force her to stay in and make her more scared (if that makes sense) her hair is really thick and curly and now so notty because i simply cannot wash it, we've tried making a game out of having a bath, claire has over exaggerated the "fun" of the water and toys and nothing.
- I remember being terrified at one stage of that very early on.
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