Bathtime hassles are getting me down

[divabell]

DS now hates his bathtime. :( He used to love it. First it was just the washing the hair part he hated--I tried every trick I read to keep the water out of his eyes and nothing worked. Now he refuses to sit down at all. It is nearly impossible to wash his hair with him standing up and he's cold and miserable the entire time. Any advice? Should I start putting him in the shower? He doesn't seem to like water in his face at all so I'm not sure how that would go over. I am just tired of bathtime being such a fight.

[momma_boo]

I'm starting to encounter this problem myself. DD has also spent the last few baths standing up the entire time. I just bought one of those bath visor things. Hopefully it helps.

[jadamom]

Could you try new fancy bath toys? There are bath fizzes, bath crayons, bath paint, foam numbers and letters to stick to the walls, bubble-blowers, etc.

The visor used to work for us, but then she started ripping it off. Now I just use a cup to pour water over her head and make sure that her head is tipped back and I pour very gently and slowly from the nape of the neck going up to the top of her head with my other hand shielding her forehead to keep the water from getting into her eyes. It works pretty well (provided that she sits still). Maybe you could also have him hold a towel over his eyes?

[divabell]

I bought the visors... he likes to carry them around the house but at bathtime, forget it. He hates having anything on his head. I tried putting a washcloth over his face and he just batted it away or wanted to put it in the tub. He refuses to lean back far enough to have his hair rinsed, and now that he won't sit down that's out of the question. Even with DH and me teaming up we can't get him to stay sitting, and I don't want to make a bad situation worse by using brute force. Maybe I'm just going to have to suffer through this until he is old enough to explain what is going on or have him help. Or maybe this is a phase that will pass... one can only hope.

I will have to try the new bath toy idea. Maybe that will help. Somehow it's comforting knowing I'm not alone, so thanks. :)

[lisams]

DD went through this phase not long ago. She flat out refused to sit and so we just let her stand and tried not to make a big deal about it. I don't know what helped her get through it but she did and is back to loving her bath. We did get this really cute bath toy http://www.toysrus.ca/webapp/wcs/sto...roductId=11833 and that kind of encouraged her to sit to play with it.

Hang in there, it will get better!
Lisa