Afraid to take a bath??

Twice now when we have given Josiah (he is 16 months) a bath he is fine when he starts gets in it...Then once we wash him and he sees the soap floating on the water he FREAKS OUT! I am talking screams bloody murder.

Have any of your kids all of a sudden freaked out during bath time? If so - was it a phase? How old were they? Any ideas how to make bath time fun again? It breaks my heart...

He normally goes to bed incredibly well - we say prayers, shut the light off and that is it. Tonight he screamed bloody murder when we were getting ready to leave... DH is in there now rocking him. UGH!

Any thoughts, suggestions or ideas?

TIA!
Erika

My daughter is 14 months and she used to love baths... but then she started doing the same things as Josiah. We realized that we had too much water in the tub. She still refuses to sit down, but will at least play a little and squat without screaming and she's starting to enjoy them again.

    Good luck!

 Hi my friend.....

I am so sorry that little J is scared of the bath....I have no idea what could be causing it nor a suggestion to help. Does he have favorite toys he does not want to play with too. Did anything happen at daycare? I know Nathan has been scared to wash his hands  but now is fine. And he will not sit down at all in the tub....ugh....

Nathan has also been extremely clingy....he wants to be carried when we leave for daycare, freaks out at daycare when I leave, etc. I really think he is going through separation anxiety...could it be the same thing with J?

I hope it gets better soon....I love that you say your prayers....I try with Nathan and he is not too cooperative....

xoxoxo,

Ann 

Does he have diaper rash?  My niece did this when she had diaper rash.  Apparently the water made it hurt worse.  They ended up buying one of the inflatable Winnie the pooh tubs to help her get over the fear.

I hope he isn't getting sick!

I remember my daughter LOVED taking baths and then all of a sudden she started getting scared from the shadow of the water moving. I think she was a little over a year also, maybe 1 1/2. I just kept reassuring her that it was ok and telling her what it was. It passed after awhile. It helped when I put bubbles in the water cause then she couldn't see the reflections as much in the water.

http://www.whattoexpect.com/baby-bathtime-basics/baby-bath-t ime-challenges.aspx

I am a FTM so no advice here, but I did receive this email just today about bath time fears and tips.  Hope it helps.

i dont blame him.. sitting in dirty water makes me want to scream also... no really... im sure its just one of those irrational kid fears that they cant express due to lack of verbage... do you have more then one bathroom?.. try the other tub if you do... and jayson also screamed and cried all night... at 530 i gave him and brought him to the couch with me

Thank you all for your replies... tonight's bath was a success and he is sleeping like a baby. We have 2 bathrooms so we switched it up and put him in my tub and my husband took a bath with him. We let him play a lot before washing him and no fuss. Thank God!