Hello!

Hi Guys, hope you can help me, i have a 18 month old the does not enjoy having a bath. He screams and cries the entire time he is in. Most kids i know love it but not my son. Does anyone have any ideas on what i can do to make it fun or even enjoyable for both of us! Please help….. How do you get a child to like the bath?

Posted by Jo, 30/05/13

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  • My youngest didn’t like bath either and would freak under the shower. I made the bath very undeep and made sure I had plenty of interesting bath toys. Floating bath blocks were a big hit.
    If all fails I wouldn’t make it a battle and just wash the body without emerging into water


  • My youngest hated the bath too as a baby so we didn’t force it and just showered with her instead. When she turned two she just started asking for a bath and now wants baths all the time and not showers….


  • My kids love those fizzy bath bombs. Also you could get one of those contraptions where you have to pour water in the top and it makes everything underneath it move. That is hours of entertainment. Personally I actually would just take him/her into the shower.


  • My daughter went through the phase at about the same age. We just found it was easier to have a shower with her, then one day she asked for a bath- now we just give her the option. She always chooses bath now! Maybe hop in the bath with your son and have lots of different toys, we have bath books as my daughter loves to read. Good luck!


  • Bath time only toys, bubble wash (lots of bubbles!), bath songs all helped. My younger one had a special bath toy that would be “bathed” at the same time to normalise the bath.


  • My first loves it my second won’t have a shower! No ideas just empathy lol


  • Have some fun toys in there and you could also read him a book


  • Get some bath toys.
    We have a little plastic net & floating ducks. My little boy loves “fishing” in the bath, & even big brother uses it during his bath time!
    Make bath time fun, not feel like a punishment.


  • By making it fun of course! Introduce done play time involving water. Speaking in puddles, beach visits, creek wading, maybe set up a paddling pool with toys. Hopefully they will see water and bath time as fun then


  • Hi JO what worked for you? Maybe he doesn’t like the sensation of the water? Song singing and bubbles and splashing are my suggestions. My daughter cries when she isn’t well, even in the bath which she usually loves.


  • Some kids like it if you hop in with them, our son does. Glow sticks are great fun in the bath, food colouring to change the water colour can help too.


  • Hope you have found the answer for you, for us it was getting said child to play in a empty bath and then over time slowly full it up


  • will probably be trial and error until you work out why he’s scared.
    It may be the sounds in the bathroom or the cold. Try you hopping in bath first then putting him in with you. Try getting him to choose bath toys. have a thermometer in the bath so you know it’s the correct temperature. good luck.


  • Hope this issue has been resolved


  • hopefully you guys have come to some kind of solution, my friend ued to bath her daughter in a baby pool outside due to fears of the bathroom


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