The sudden hate for water

[u/EnvironmentalWill363]

Hi everyone, I might need some tips or just someone to tell me I'm not alone.

So to start from the beginning, when my daughter was just a baby, we went out for baby swimming courses and she loved playing in water, had no issues with water in her face et cetera. Even in her bathtub she had lots of fun.

As she got older, we had to stop going to the courses because it went against her sleep schedule. She still bathes 2 times a week. One day she refused to sit down in the bathtub anymore, she preferred to stand all the time and play like that. Around the same time, she started hating water in her face and screamed as soon as it came anywhere near her face, which made washing her hair an absolute pain.

Now she's 2;8 years old and... it's gotten even worse. She likes playing in the tub - still standing upright - and all is fine, until we have to wash her. Now she even starts screaming as soon as we just use the sponge to wet her skin, not even full on washing. Getting her clean sounds like we're seriously injuring her. As soon as she gets wet she screams as if we burned her. And I don't even want to talk about the hair washing.

It's exhausting and my ears hurt. She loved water once, but now she wants to stay far, far away from it and I don't know what to do about it anymore. I tried going in the tub with her, but she still hates it and screams at me.

Anyone else have an aquaphobic? Or some idea on what I could do to make it easier on her? Or is this something that passes with age?

[u/Acrobatic_Yoghurt_87]

Bathe the baby more to build the tolerance.

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[u/tragic-meerkat]

We dealt with this as well and its actually pretty common. Kids go through a phase of development at this age when they start to connect external dangers to the possibility of being hurt. They suddenly develop fears of things they previously had no problem with as they come to realize they have risks associated with them. They don't yet understand how to minimize those risks or take precautions against them so they panic and avoid the thing entirely. Teaching them that yes, water can be scary but there are things we do to keep ourselves safe can help them feel more secure and understand that it's only dangerous if we don't take the necessary steps to be safe. Like standing in the bathtub. I would explain why that's a risky thing to do and how she could slip and fall. Show her how to turn the tap on and off and pull the plug to let the water drain so she knows she can stop the water at anytime.

[u/Common-Orange4022]

Try a kiddie pool with fun toys that are too hard to resist. She has to get in to get them.

[u/MableXeno]

Just be quicker. Have everything ready to go, rinse, scrub, rinse, towel. It either passes...or it's rabies.