DS suddenly hates the bath - help please

[Larski]

My DS is 16 months old and for the past week has been refusing to have a bath - as in, he starts screaming and crying, holding his legs up so i cant put him down and if I do get him down then he is trying to climb out of the bath straight away - all while screaming and crying out 'mamma, mamma, mamma'. He's fine as soon as i lift him out of the bath.

He used to love the bath, would play with his toys and we would have songs and stories about them. It was a very relaxing and pleasant time of day for me too, just being able to sit down for a while.

Nothing has changed, his toys are still there, I'm there, I've checked the water temp and its fine.

I dont know what to do.... any advice please? I'm desperate. There's noone else around to help entertain him or help him into the bath.

P.S. If you have any advice on how to change his nappy in peace, that would be helpful too, he always screams and twists and its very hard to change him! But this has been the case for ages whereas the bath is a sudden and dramatic change.

[Gabi]

My 14mo has had similar weeks, suddenly hating he bath. I never worked out what the problem was, but he did stop hating it after a bit.:yes: Perhaps have a shower in the evenings instead of a bath? Or could it be that he needs to have his bath a little earlier or later now?

As for nappy changes, wow they're a struggle!:laughing: I offer my son a book to read while I do it which sometimes helps, but not always.;)

[Aquillah]

My DS went through the exact same thing at the same age and he used to alternate between showers and baths. We worked out (we think) he was scared of the water 'going' away and I think there was a fear he would as well. This comming from a kid that LOVED baths and showers.

This lasted about 3 weeks for us and the only thing we could do was have hubby hold him in the shower or bath him in the laundry with lots of bubbles (a place he wast accustomed to) he even stood in that but he wasnt crying to get out. Usually in the shower we just tried at intervals to put him down and after 3 weeks was fine.

Now, we are back to loving shower and bath time! So I hope thats all it is.

Um the nappy thing. I either have to give something to hold or lay him on the floor and put my legs over his arms. I dont let him get hurt but he is pinned. We rarely have to do this as he is quite good but it is effective.

Goodluck!:flowerz:

[LolliLips]

try a bath seat or a shower nozzle that you can attach to the taps. They worked for me.

[Boobycino]

Does it help if your in the bath with him, its a bit of a hassel, but its nice bathing together sometimes. Otherwise I currently have a whole stack of toys in the bottom of the shower and Jasper just comes in with me and sits on the floor with his toys and comes out smelling like pantene. He's loving it more than a bath and its really easy, I just have a big fluffy bath robe to put onto myself while I dry and dress him.

Also we're starting to do a standing nappy change, it takes some practise, but it cant help and I think its a good progression to toilet training (not saying thats any time soon though) because its easy to teach a bub to take their own nappy off if they take it off standing. I get Jasper to hold onto either the edge of the bath or the play pen to change him so I'm changing him from behind. I'll admitt, it does take a bit of practise... not sure how I'll manage with it as I'm going back to cloth soon.. hmmm.... Otherwise I have a handful of toys stuffed in my change table, but generally the wipes are bubs favourite thing to hold and scrunch while I change him.

Hopefully he's just have 'one of those weeks'.

[biscotti]

One of mine went through this. We switched to getting in the bath with her, to bathing her in the laundry tub, to showering with her and then to bathing her in a blow up pool which she loved. Loves the bath again now! Good luck :)

[jembelina]

I havn't read all the replies, so hope I'm not repeating!
My ds did the same thing at a similar age for no apparent reason. I just started showering with him instead. We tried the bath every now and then, with no luck. One night my MIL was looking after him, ran him a bath and he has been fine with it ever since!

With nappy changes, I always had a little stash of things I would let them play with while changing, things they wouldn't normally be allowed to - a piece of my jewellyrt, a tube of cream, anyhting a little bit novel really.