Melt down after the bath?

[B1PZNT49]

My 9 week old daughter absolutely LOVES the bath..and has since day one...these past 10 days or so we have not changed any of our routine at all..she has a bath while my 2 1/2 year old has a bath as well at about 645 in preparation for bed...she kicks and coos and plays and smiles...then i take her out, wrap her up nice and warm in a towel and then this hysterical cry starts and lasts pretty much for about 20 minutes or so...she refuses a bottle, a soother, i rock her yet she still screams.. after about 20 minutes of this she will take a soother, then dozes off then wakes up about 15 minutes later, has a bottle and goes to bed just fine?  what i'm trying to do is obviosly eliminate the melt down where she is hysterical and i cannot seem to calm her...could it be that she was enjoying the bath so much and is angry it is over?? (she's in there for a good 20 minutes)...could it be that the bath relaxes her so much that she feels so sleepy that she cries that hard? (the only other time she will "fuss" is when she wants to go to bed)...could she be cold even though i can't really get her any warmer?  any ideas?  i've tried washing her hair separately without letting water touch her ears thinking maybe she  had water in her ears, but same melt down either way...

[Nikki~Nathan&Danielle]

I wonder if it's developmental rather than any real cause.  How about as a test, not give her the bath one night (just have her in the bathroom with you and your other child) and maybe give her a massage and talk to her, get her dressed and see if the meltdown happens.  Maybe she's old enough now where perhaps she's feeling overstimulated at bathtime and just wants to be in bed.  My dd occasionally used to do this and I have no idea why, but it's passed now.

HTH

[notenoughshelfspace]

I have an eight month old who has always cried after her bath; she loves the water just like yours, playing etc... the minute I take her out and start getting her dressed she starts screaming ( and it is not the getting dressed which annoys her as during the day she is fine) it used ot be a lot worse now it is about 3 min and as soon as I give her the bottle she is fine. SOry not to have any words of wisdom for you but it does happen, and it wil get better. I love the massge idea BTW.

[B1PZNT49]

okay thanks gals..i'll give not bathing her at night a shot...what would be a good time to bath her, in the morning?

[tylersmommy]

That's one of the reasons we had to stop bathing Tyler at night around 3 mo. He just got so wound up that he'd get overtired really quickly and scream. We switched to morning or late afternoon baths every other day, since his skin was pretty dry anyway. HTH!

[littlegrasshopper]

Gosh... I was just going to post a question the same as this. My 8week melts down after baths. Last night I gave him one that was only about 10 min tops to try and avoid it... NOPE. He normall sleeps for two hours and then eats and he slept from 2-5 ate... then slept from 6-7 so I figured I might be safe giving a bath when he woke. I think maybe the 6-7 was an interrupted nap though cause eventhough he was gummy smiles in the bath.. It all ended in a 30 minute major meltdown. I guess I'll try no bath too although I thought that's supposed to help with the night routine. How do you know what time to start he night routine. I can't find a clear time it's starting??

[Cilla]

Hi my daughter Ivey, who is 7 weeks old, does the same thing no matter what time I give her a bath or how often.  I am guessing it is because she is a Touchy baby.  So after I get her dressed, I swaddle her and ssh her, or walk in the bathroom and run some water. That will usually calm her down so I can feed her and then put her to bed.  She is also the type who usually only crys when she is tired, dirty, or hungry.

[Mommy in Moose Jaw]

Hi there.  My dd (5 months) used to have meltdowns after her bath as well even though she was fine before and during.  For quite a while (almost to 4 months) I just bathed her in the morning.  Later when we were more serious about EASY, I found that if I held her for a while after her evening bath rather than put her right down to get changed she was better.  Also, the catnap right before bath helps.  Lastly, I changed our bedtime routine a little.  Bath at 6:30 or 6:45, feed at 7:00, and then massage and into bed around 7:20 (she had to become a power chower due to FAST letdown).  Having her feed in between bath and massage/getting dressed has been the biggest improvement.  I think while she really enjoyed her bath it was very stimulating and the holding or feeding helped her to decompress.  Baths go off without a hitch now.

[ava's maman]

My daughter, 9 weeks old, just like yours loves the bath but the moment we wrap her in a towel, she screams for the rest of the night and as much as I try to comfort her, she just gets so cranky from it!
Tonight I didn't give her a bath and she fell asleep no problem!  Great but also a bummer since I really wanted to have that routine of a bath before bed - I guess I can reintroduce that later on. 

I had posted this issue on the EASY board and someone recommended that I not have DD awake too long before the bath - no longer than 45 minutes before bath because it could just be overstimulating as she is getting tired so she is just getting overtired.  I think if I continue her nighttime baths I will give this a try.

[Stacie:Emma&Josh Mom]

My two thoughts are that the babies are either up too long and are gettting overtired by the awake time between that last nap and bedtime (cause even though they had a nap, it was only a catnap and doesn't last them thatt long) OR they are just getting hungry and are figuring out the routine and want that last bottle NOW!      Good luck!