Baths

[Gina S]

My 2 month old suddenly started crying immediately after baths. He's very content & happy during his bath. About a week ago though he started crying as soon as we put him in his towel. Anyone else's LO do this? The room temp hasn't changed & bath time is pretty much the same time every evening. We're just a little baffled at this new behavior.

[lyndsy_p]

OMG....You are describing my LO to a tee. At just about 2 mnths she did the same thing. She is now 13 weeks and still cries off and on. I have two ideas....Either she is just now aware of the temp change (I, like you didn't do anything different, she just started crying one day), so I make an extra effort to keep her held in her towel longer to absorb the water that is possibly making her cold when I put on her diaper. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't. The second reason may be that she doesn't want to get out. I think this is it. She understands now that I have the ability to vary the amount of time she's in there, so she's upset when it's done. My LO loves her bath and splashes like crazy. I try to distract her by singing. Again, sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't. If she's really crying I quickly put the diaper on and then hold her. Once she's stopped (almost immediately) I tell her "we just have to get dressed now", and try to continue. It usually works....I follow that with a massage with lotion and she gets quite relaxed.

[Erin M]

I would ditto the thought that he doesn't want to get out -- just a change in sensation that he probably doesn't like.  You can start to warn him when the bath is almost over, probably won't make a difference at this early stage, but it doesn't hurt to get into the habit early.

[Gina S]

Thank you for the input. I have a feeling that he doesn't want to get out.

[FiK]

My DD is now 6 months and 12 days old - and she liked her bath till about 8/9 weeks, then suddenly changed and hated going into and coming out of the bath.  We tried bath books and plastic ducks which worked for 2 or 3 baths, but she still cried when she came out.  We tried a dummy for when she came out, but she spat that out - the screaming was outrageous!!  We even tried to bath with her - again no luck.  We tried moving the baby bath to the lounge to see if it was the environment - but you've guessed it, no change.  So we decided to stop having baths altogether for a few weeks and just to use a cloth to wash her, I was worried she wouldn't know when bedtime was, as this was part of her going to bed routine - but she still kept to her nightime routine.  After 2-3 weeks we introduced a bath during the day - and although she never laughs or smiles in the bath she didn't hate going in or out.  We now do swimming classes - and she loves it.

A friend had exactly the same problem as you - and resolved it by always warming the towel, and keeping their LO in more of a seated position when they were drying them.

Perhaps you could try some of these things to get your wee one used to it again.  All the best,  I know how difficult it can be when your LO suddenly changes the rules!

[lyndsy_p]

I echo the seated position as well. I put her on the towel seated, pull the hood up around her head and rub her to dry her with the towel. Because the seated position is realtively new to her she is too distracted to cry. It takes a bit of practice but worth it if your LO screams as mine does!

Lyndsy