Hints for less traumatic hair washing in bath.

[mum101]

Looking for any tips about how to make hair washing at bath time happier. 

1 1/2 y o DD cries every time and is never comfortable with having her body lowered down so that DH can wet and then wash the shampoo out of her hair. 
She will not wear anything on her head, so one of the those shower hat/visor things won't work...

This is not a recent thing, she has cried every hair wash for months!

[stasztk]

Kait is like this too. It makes a fun bath a real pain doesn't it? With Kait I will have her look up at something (maybe you could draw something on the shower walls with bath crayons) and I will pour water over her head with a cup. This works sometimes. I'm looking forward to hearing from others on this!

[*Nicola*]

Ciara has been like this since day 1.  I wish now I had just dunked her and thrown water over her head more often, but it's too late now!  I will definately not be so 'careful' with lo 2 thou.

Couple of things that we do:

1 - we have a toy mirror from ELC that sticks to the wall.  i stick it on a bit higher up than Ciara can easily see.  She then stretches up to look in it, and her head automatically goes back.  Then I swoop in with a big plastic cup and get most of the bubbles out!

2 - bribery!  If Ciara gets hair washed with no nonsense she gets a treat.  Extra bubbles, bath toy, biscuit etc etc. 

3 - facecloth over the eyes.  Ciara will hold it over her eyes whilst I was the soap out and that seems to work pretty well.

It's such a stress isn't it.  I try VERY hard to laugh and joke about when I am doing it as I don't want it to become a big deal but it really drives me bonkers!

[GG]

Yep, I have trouble with ds as well. I try very hard to get him to look up so that I can pour water on his easily shampoo'd head (I say easily because he doesn't mind having it lathered, he just hates the water part). I don't blame him because, if it's done wrong, he can end up with soapy water in his nose and mouth. Bleah!

I haven't tried the mirror... that may be a good idea with lo. I've done the facecloth bit but water still goes in his eyes. I just try to be quick about drying his face as soon as it gets wet and, most of the times, I can get him to calm down.

I've also had dh come in and sing to him and, while ds is looking up from the bath, I rinse his hair. DH isn't always available at night, though. 

[Zoey]

How bout getting a shower head thingy thats detachable and bringing it down to their heads, sheilding their eyes and rinsing?  That's how we do Owen's head, but he loves everything about water.

Zoe

[mum101]

Thanks for the tips guys, we'll work on getting her to look up!  It's hard too, because she's happy in the bath until it's hair washing time, then she works herself into a state... very hard to stop her from getting v upset before the water hits her head!  Any tips for how to prevent that?

[GG]

My suggestion is to try washing her hair a couple of times with only water (no shampoo) but using your hand, that way there's only a little water falling (no soap to rinse out, so it's okay) and it's more controlled. That should help her develop some trust until you can show her more water won't hurt. Also, have a dry washcloth ready to dry her face in case water goes in her face.

[mum101]

GG that makes so much sense! We will give a try and let you know.  But sounds fantastic.

[GG]

How's the hair washing going for your little cuddlebug? 

[mum101]

Hi, Thanks for asking!
We've started just wetting the back of her hair, but as she has baths every second day it will take a while.  She hasn't cried or fussed with the small doses of water, which is a big plus. 
Fortunately her hair doesn't need washing often!
It helped that the first time we wet her hair, I was just getting out of the shower with wet hair, so I flicked my hair about and was generally silly.

I can definately see the gradual wetting of hair will be successful!   

[mum101]

Thanks for the tips!
DH has had some great success in getting Rory-girl content with hair washing!  GG thanks for the tip about getting her used to having her hair wet just with some water - it worked really well. 

Now that she is a bit more relaxed before the actual hair-washing, Hubby talks her through the hair wash and she listens.  So sweet to see her so trusting of him. 

I also believe that having a book read to her where we played up the fact that the little boy was getting his hair washed and 'wow look at all the bubbles in his hair' helped her ease with hair washing. 
Thanks guys!

[daniellechiasson]

My DD loves the water but on occasion has decided hair washing wasn't for her.

What we do is put only a few inches of water in the tub. This way she can lay her entire body on the bottom of the tub and feels very safe. We play the kick like a frog game while washing, she hardly seems to notice.

HTH
Danielle

[mum101]

That's a clever idea!

As a side, at my work I asked our Research and Development wonder-girl how to make bubble bath.  She made me up a concoction right then and there.  Was so glad as DD gets mild eczema and so I avoided buying a bubble bath (with god knows how many colours, fragrances or preservatives I didn't need to put on her skin). 
DD LOVES the bubbles and is so excited about bath time!   

[MrsKirky]

Mum101 - Ok, where do you work and how do you make the bubble bath?  Wow!

I have always told DS "we are going to rinse your head on the count of three, OK?  1...2....3.GO!"  He is not crazy about it, but seldom cries anymore.  I found that using less soap so it was easier to rinse was key. 

[mum101]

I was pretty impressed with the bubble bath!
I work for Ego Pharmaceuticals and the R&D whizz said bubble bath is basically high percentages of surfactants.  She put in 2 surfactants and one ingredient that mixes/stabilises surfactants. 
The only thing she said was to that because it's a high concentration, girls can get irritated tushes, but haven't had any problems with DD.  I don't use too much. 
I reckon we should make it!  The kids with bad skin conditions would love it!

[Shay]

We got one of those attachments for the faucet part of the tub and it is a hippo...so dd will put it over her own head and it makes it easier and hse feels less anxious about it.  Also, my hubby sings 

Hip
Hip
Hipp Hipp o pot a mus

now she sings it too...

[thedavies]

Hi
what works for us is to use a wet sponge with plain warm water to gently wash her head and hair - some people might find this a little weird but our 10 mth old has never had her hair shampooed, just washed in this way. She has always had a lot of hair too, and it is silky and lovely so not suffering through lack of shampoo - it really isn't very natural to use detergent in hair, ask any trichologist and especially babies' hair, apart from the odd bit of food smeared in it, it doesn't get dirty much! I realise some people might not be comfortable with this though. She also had cradle cap quite a bit and I just used a mixture of sweet almond oil with a few drops of lavender and rose essential oils massaged into her hair after it was dry. I know one day she'll need a little shampoo when she's older but hopefully she'll associate having her head massaged with being something nice.
mama d

[harveysmummy]

Hi, I had this problem with my DS but found out that he didnt like the feeling of the water in his ears as the air already in the ear mixing with water gives a strange sensation! My health visitor recommended using cotton wool in the ear to help with this, but I didnt like the thought of putting anything in his ear and bought a bath hat and now wash his hair whilst he is sat upright and have had no complaints!!  Dont know if this is of much help but good luck!!