I don’t know how it happened or when it happened..but my youngest has decided she just does not like having a bath. Where normally daytime baths were a wonderful affair, of soapy bubbles and rubber ducky fun all, blissfully spent singing Barney songs, has now suddenly turned into a monstrous affair. Instead of it being a peaceful experience for all, I have to use undue force to keep her in the bathing vicinity, whilst I attempt with one struggling hand to throw some water in her direction, usually missing. Ten minutes of vigorous screaming and screeching, I am as wet as she is and the bathroom has seen better days. At the end of it all I am as crabby as the sorrowful hiccupping child in my hands. Despite it being a necessity,I dread bath time.

As a baby, she was quite accepting of being washed and having her head gently doused in water. But as she got older, then the little protests started. She refused to sit in the bath, I have to hold on to her tightly to her as she is bathed, resulting in most times myself having a secondary shower, I have to constantly give her reassuring kisses throughout the bath. Of course we never use the shower since it would frighten her and everything is done in gentle doses of the bathing cup, but having water on her face has her in a panic. How did this happen? I am sure there are other mothers in the same puzzling predicament. Therefore here are some suggestions as to how to help the bathing averse child:

1. Bathing fears are common: According to the experts as our babies hit the 12 to 18 months of age, they start to explore different environments. They are also now able to stand or walk on their own. This discovery of new environment first offer your baby excitement and then fear. Having a bath is a quite a new experience all together, first they are physically apart from you, secondly then have water cascading down their faces, sensorily and visually their surroundings keep changing. Obviously they do not have the mental ability to figure out this is a temporary experience, once the bath is over all will be well again. Thus for the sensitive child this can truly be a traumatizing experience. 

2. It’s a phase: As with all fun and quirky behaviour that children portray, this is once again a phase. So do not get to worried about all the commotion during bath time. Try and make not an extremely vigourous  till your child gets over their fears.

3. Change the environment: Since they are so tiny you can possible change the place you bath. Try the kitchen sink, especially after messy meals time, this is a quick way to wash her or him down. So to attempt to make bath times fun, put a paddling pool in the garden and make bath times more fun. If your child still screams on water running down their faces, then try and use soapy wash clothes over their bodies and maybe head washes every other day to minimize the trauma.

4. See it from their perspective: For us it might seem like a trivial affair for them to be screaming over a wash, but if you look at it from their perspective, it can be a very traumatizing experience. Rather than push them through it make it as flexible as you can. Washes every other day, soapy wash cloths rather than buckets of water over the head. Plenty of bath toys for distraction. For the sensitive child if we do not take them over this phase, we might scar them and put them off water for life. Water phobia when learning to swim is not a good trait to have.

Well if you do happen to pass our house during bathing times, please do ignore the screams and shouts for help, the screams are from the baby and the shouts for help are sometimes from a harassed me! I hope this phase will end soon. Finger crossed!

By Mayuri Jayasinghe