Fear of the tub.... -

Fear of the tub....

My 1 1/2 year old boy has recently developed this screaming terror filled aversion of the bathtub. He especially hates water running into the tub with the spigot or the hand sprayer and also water running out of the drain. He also refuses to sit in the tub (if we are lucky enough to get him in the tub in the first place).

I have tried sitting on the edge of the tub, in the tub with him, and going back to an infant tub. None of that has made it any better. The only thing that even temporarily distracts him is blowing bubbles...but then I have no hands to wash him with.

A kid can skip bath just so many nights...and sponge baths just don't cut it. Anyone have any suggestions?

Stinky kid needs help in Austin.

See also: advice, bath, fear

Written by Tiffany

Posted on 07/24/2007

See all posts by Tiffany

Answers:

Have you thought of taking a shower with him? Maybe since it's a little different the water coming out of the showerhead won't scare him.

We were running late to a graduation reception and our son needed a bath so my husband took him in the shower with him and held him while I washed him. He absolutely LOVES them. He crawls for the bathroom now whenever he hears the water running whether he needs one or not! :-)

posted by Jenni on 07/24/2007

The shower sounds like a very good idea, I saw in home depot they had kid showers. It looked like an animal and attached to the regular shower head with a suction cup to hang it at kid hight. Unless there was something that scared him, did he get water up his nose or maybe slipped at sometime?

posted by on 07/24/2007

This same thing happened with my DD but I knew what happened to create the fear. She slipped in the bathtub and went under water for 1 second but got water up her nose and after that she refused to get into the bathtub. There were a few weeks of difficulty but what I did was got a special rinse cup so that water wouldn't go onto her face. (I got it at Wal-Mart) Then I would put her in the bath (kicking and screaming) get her completely washed really fast and tell her she was all done and take her immediately out. The whole time I would take to her very soothingly. "Shhhh. It's ok. Mommy's hear. I know you're scared but Mommy won't let anything happen to you. Shhh" That kind of thing. It was over with before she knew it and gradually she got better. She would scream while being washed but once it was over she would want to play. So I'd let her play for a little bit. Also, one thing that helped was she learned to climb in and out of the tub by herself. And she is now trying to wash herself, so I give her the washcloth and soap first and she has a turn before I do it. Just be patient.

As for the water going down the drain fear, I read awhile ago that some children are afraid that they will go down the drain with the water. Seems irrational to us but for a small child it could be scary. Maybe take him out of the tub before you drain the water or if you have a stopper maybe you could not take it off all at once and just open it a crack and let it drain out slowly.

posted by Kati on 07/25/2007

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