Ever since he was a little baby, Isaac has loved his baths. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights he’d happily get in his bath, splash around and get clean.
Then…it happened.
One night it was time for his bath and we walked him into the bathroom. Next thing I know he’s screaming, grabbing on to our legs and crying legitimate tears to not get in his bath. We tried to show him it wasn’t scary, to no avail. We tried to slowly lower him in, only to watch him lift his legs higher and higher in order to not get in the water. Erin got in the tub to show him it was okay, no dice. Erin held him while I bathed him, still screaming. There was absolutely nothing we could do to make him okay with taking a bath.
It came out of nowhere and it’s showing no signs of slowing down. He gets upset if you even mention the word “bath”. He’ll get worried, grab your leg or walk away from you. He’ll happily play at his water table, he still loves drinking water, he talks about playing outside in his pool, he’s fine with me splashing the water in the tub, he’ll let me pour water on his hand from the tub when he’s standing outside, but getting inside the tub with it? You must be out your damn mind!
But I think I understand what’s happening.
One of the blogs I read is MannlyMama. Her son had a pretty serious issue with taking baths. Then, recently she posted THIS on Facebook.
So why do I mention this? Because April 26 is right around the time that Isaac started freaking out. Which means that the movie Fallen isn’t totally off base. Landon might not have touched Isaac like in the movie, but it must have been the blog reading. DAMN YOU INTERNET!!!
(In all seriousness, anyone have a suggestion for how to end the freak outs? They’re no fun)
Ok first..bwhahahahaha. Second, wait it out. We moved from nightly baths to every 3 days. We settled on standing on a stool and washing him while he drew on the wall. It worked. Just no feet to go in the water.
Turning point was going away. Different tub, different circumstance. We got him naked and didn’t say anything. He climbed in. Done. Been going every since.
I took him for a bike ride today and then took a shower afterwards and he just stood there watching me. I asked him if he wanted me to pick him up, he said yes and let me hold him in the shower. We’ll see if it changed anything…probably not, but fingers crossed.
It was in our room though, not his usual tub, so maybe that had something to do with it?
First of all…kudos on the Fallen reference. Brilliant. Second…try adding more toys. Or let him turn the water on and off. Or if all else fails, bribe him.
He’ll eventually snap out of it or he’ll end up being the smelly kid no one wants to sit next to on the bus
Thank you, I thought it was a nice touch.
The toys won’t work, he flips out if we even pick up a toy to put it in the water. He doesn’t mind the water being in the tub, just being put in it.
And you’re final sentence made me think of Big Daddy.
i think this has some great advice: http://www.janetlansbury.com/?s=bath+fear
Thanks Chrissy!
We’ve had the same thing happen. Ella has freaked out about being in the bath, she’s been fine being in the bath but will freak out if her hands get wet, she also will freak out is certain toys are in the bath (still haven’t cracked that code fully yet), and sometimes she’s okay in the bath but wants to be bathed only while standing up. Overall, can’t ever find a pattern and the few times it’s gotten really bad it has passed after a few days or week or so. There are a few times I’ve bathed her where the whole time she’s screaming and standing there about not wanting to be in the bath. That feels a little cruel but we get done with the bath and she’s fine. The one time we solved it like a switch was when we got some of the sponge capsules that you throw in the water and they dissolve and expand into an animal. Those fixed it immediately b/c she loved them and she only got the capsule if she got in the bath. Of course we hove those days where she’s swimming around in the bath and doesn’t want to get out. Those days outnumber the bad by far.
[...] at the beginning of May I told you about how Isaac went absolutely ape over having to take a bath for reasons we didn’t know. Since then I’ve said nothing [...]
[...] After his nap he continued telling me that his diaper wasn’t scary, and he’s told me that a few times since then. I have absolutely no idea why the diaper was suddenly scary, since he’s been wearing it fairly often since he was about 6 months old. Who knows with toddlers, it’s probably just a freak thing, kind of like when taking a bath got scary. [...]