Hi all,
I need your collective wisdom. My 2 year old DS started having problems with bathing a few months ago. Not sure what triggered it but may have something to do with him being afraid something is in the water, like a bug. It worsened acutely when my MIL gave him those capsules that have the sponges inside-they melt in water and "grow" the sponge that looks like an animal. She thought my son would love these-he hated them!! I have tried many things from sponge baths to showers (awful!). I first just let him go about a week without a real bath (baby wipe baths!) thinking he'd get over it... no suck luck. I tried the pool...would not even let me hold him in baby pool (it's a zero entry pool that he previously enjoyed). I then started letting him use bath paints and slowly adding water to wash him quickly and that helped some. Then we started with a bucket full of water and bubbles (Thomas bubbles!) and tried to get him to help me wash the paint off the bath tub tiles. Sort of worked. Then we started filling tub with bubbles slowly or just letting the water run. Tinted the bath water color of his choice with food coloring even! He seemed much better and would even "swim" and talk about swimming while bathing. I thought we were over the hump. Then he saw the washcloth submerged in the water and freaked out! Back to square one! He has toys out the wazoo, a bath doll, paints, crayons, you name it. Any thoughts on how to get this kid more comfy in the water??
Input appreciated!
TIA Amy