Toddler Started Hating Bath-Time

yersp

Mon, Apr 12 2021, 6:55 am

Yes I had that. It happened suddenly from one minute to the next. My then 7 year old wanted to help bathe his younger brother. He filled up a bucket of water (small toy bucket) and instead of spilling it his brother's back, he splashed it onto his face. For the next few months it was torture to bathe him. Dh bathed him, dd bathed him, he refused to sit in the tub and would cry and scream the entire time. Until a good few months later he "by mistake" sat down and as suddenly as he started fearing bathtime he started loving it again.
Hang in there OP.

amother

Rose

Mon, Apr 12 2021, 10:39 am

I've had this with a few of my kids. I think it lasted for months, probably from at some point when they were one, till they understood better. And it was not always just one thing that bothered them...

The water running was scary or loud for one of them, so I think we would put the water on and only after the bath was filled and water turned off come in to the bathroom or go into the tub, I don't remember exactly.

Also I think the drain was scary for some, we had to keep reassuring that they can't go down it, and show how only the water goes down and not even the toys.

I think also at least one or two would get scared from the dust or dirt floating around in the water that came off the bottom of their feet. They were scared they were bugs, and we had to scoop them out, but trying to reason with them about that one took some time. If I recall correctly, at least one child would start coming out right away if he saw it and the bath would be over.

I think with one child we realized that it was water dripping down the front of her face that bothered her (when her hair would get rinsed) so we would put a dry washcloth at her forehead or have her hold one there to absorb any water going down her face... After this went on for a while with either her or another child, what finally got her to sit down in the tub was showing her that her baby brother takes a bath so nicely in the (baby) tub and she realized that if he takes a bath so nicely, she could too!

And I think with one of my sons we would give him a bath standing, he refused to sit. He liked playing with the bath toys and eventually understood it is much more fun to sit and play than to stand and play, so he started sitting again.

Good luck, I hope it does not take you long to figure out what is bothering your son, or that he just decides on his own that he is ready to sit and take a bath again!

amother

Tue, Apr 13 2021, 1:13 pm

Thanks for everyone’s advice!

A few specific responses:
1) He only stands to try to get out, he doesn’t calm down.
2) Don’t think it’s too cold/hot…it’s not always the same temperature. I try to make it warm but sometimes it ends up cooler and he still doesn’t like it. Maybe I can consciously play with that though and see what happens. We’ve tried different baby baths which he also doesn’t like so don’t think the actual tub is too cold.
3) Don’t think anything out of the ordinary happened to traumatize him. If it did, is there anything to do aside from hoping he’ll end up calming down about it?
4) No sinks big enough…
5) Super interesting about the strep. Don’t think so but good to know!
6) This is definitely not a thing where he’s only now knowing how to express his dislike for baths, he’s absolutely loved them until now.