Bath Time Shenanigans (18 mth old)

Cartman78

Hi all,

(Sorry if this (or similar) has been covered a zillion times already but I did a quick sweep on here & couldn't find anything)

Anyway, Cartman Jnr is around 18 months and for the last week or so he has started acting up at bath time in a big way (Note: he has ezcema so the bath needs to be a daily event).

Up to now he's loved being in the water, playing with a flotilla of boats, buckets, squirters etc. but the last few nights he's just starting screaming really loudly (almost like he's afraid :eek:) and nothing seems to calm him down.

Anyone else going/gone through this? We're hoping it's just a phase but not nice to see him that upset so a bit of a stress in the evening.

cheers cm

Xdancer

I've no advice really, but my daughter went through the same thing around 16 months I think it was. It lasted around a week and then stopped. I have no idea what caused it or what stopped it.

Maybe take him to buy a new toy for the bath??

Rose35

I usually bath my 19 month old daily, he loved it up until a month ago, he started to stand up and want to
wander around the bath, the toys didn't interest him anymore, from what I could gather he now saw bath time as
a hinderance to his play time, then past two nights he seemed happy again, I put it down to a phase, their awareness is
getting better all the time so bath time is probably now perceived as boring.

Cartman78

Yeah...hopefully normal service is restored soon.

Bathtime used to be fun and frolics so fingers crossed it's just a (short) phase

addob

We hit a point where the crying was non stop at bath time, so I got in. I put on a suit and got in the bath first and he came in, after 2 nights he was back to normal.

A few weeks later he was crying again but I got back in and he was fine again.

Sometime anything is worth trying!

john the one

3 weeks now, 20 month old. She is afraid to sit down in the tub for some reason.

She was pulling a suction cup off the wall while crying and standing in the bath, the suction cup came off and she flew into the water back first! Hilarious but she was like a scalded cat jumping out!

galah

Does it have to be a bath or could you mix it up and shower her for a change of scenery? Don't think you can get them here, but we've been distracting our toddler with bath colours, bath confetti (got them in Germany, called 'tinti') etc if he has a bad day, just to make it fun.

Could she be afraid of being sucked down the plughole or something?(sounds silly but who knows what goes on in kids' heads...)? Worth exploring...

willow tree

Its difficult at that age to know. Could you get into the bath & play & seem like your having fun. See if he becomes interested? Or keep offering without pressure & hope it passes soon.. good luck..

Sarah Bear

Could it be that the bath time hurts baby's skin? My friends son had very bad eczema and unfortunately bath time was horrific for her and her son, he would scream in pain as the water touched his skin. Thankfully he has since outgrown it!
If it's just a case of toddler tantrums there are bath crayons that can be used to draw on the bath tiles that wash away easily!

Lola18

With my little fella we tried everything. I got in with him and my partner was beside the bath and made a game of splashing me and lil fella started laughing and thought it was great fun splashing the two of us. He was around the same age and for a little while was still a little bit iffy but manageable..now it's a struggle to get him out of the bath!!

Cienciano

Do you use a thermometer? If not, maybe the water was slightly hotter than usual?
BTW, didn't see your username and read the post first, for a moment I thought you actually named your child Cartman Jnr :pac:

Cartman78

Cienciano wrote: »

Do you use a thermometer? If not, maybe the water was slightly hotter than usual?
BTW, didn't see your username and read the post first, for a moment I thought you actually named your child Cartman Jnr :pac:

Haha....that would be a helluva name for a young fella growing up in the Limerick countryside

Things have actuallly calmed down the last few evenings.....we've retired a couple of the older bath toys (which were annoying him for some reason) and got a couple of new ones so fingers crossed that whatever was going on has disappeared.

Onwards to the next phase of crazy

Mink

Similar phase here for two weeks. I got a tub of those foam alphabet/numbers that stick to side of bath and that interested him enough that he chilled out in the bath and then realised that baths were actually fun and all was fine again.

iguana

Whenever my little guy goes through a bath hating phase I just get into the bath with him for a few baths, which tends to calm him. Our problem at the moment is that he's learned how to climb in and out of the bath and just wants to do that over and over instead.