Bath time, 11 month old suddenly scared!

[bongabees]

Our LO has ALWAYS absolutely LOVED the bath - since he was weeks old he has gone mad in it and it was the highlight of his day.
Suddenly, last night and tonight he seems scared of the bath - I put him in and he was trying to get out, screaming, shaking, grabbing hold of me and would not let me lure him in with his ducks, singing etc. I checked his bum for soreness, and although a little red, he has been worse than that before with no fuss. Plus, it is as soon as his feet hit the water. I checked the temperature, as always, but it was not too hot or cold. He's slipped and bumped his head in the bath a few times but was not that bothered at the time as it was not very serious.

Any ideas what could be the problem, is this normal?

Thanks!

[Lolly]

I think it's one of those phases they go through just to keep us on our toes! My DS did the same thing - went from a water baby to totally freaked out by the bath overnight and he was about 11 months too.

We wiped him down with washcloths for a few nights and in the day I spent some time playing in the bathroom with him. We played beside the bath with toys and then moved on to playing inside the bath (clothed - no water) with toys. Then I put him in the bath with just a nappy on when I was changing him and a bowl of water to splash around with and I *think* we did some bubbles too. That really helped and the bubbles were so exciting he was keen to get in the bath with water to get more bubbles. Once he had had one bath it was ok again, we did keep baths quite short for the first few days and didn't bother with hair washing until he was happy to get straight back in!

HTH!

Laura

[bongabees]

Thank you for the reassurance and the tips - I will try them

[ZacsMumme]

We also have had this on and off. Its somewhat developmental I think. Something that helped for us was me having a bath with him for a few days (usually DH has the bath with him)

[bongabees]

I tried it all today - dry bath play, me and favourite toys in the bath, playing by the bath, playing in the bathroom, with bath toys, but I could not get him to sit in the dry bath with me even - he's still petrified!
How long does it last!?