For the entire 32 months my 6th child has been in this world, he has been absolutely terrified of water. So much so, that I'm surprised neighbors have never called 911 during bath time, that's how blood curdling his screams are. We tried bathing with him, putting him in the tub with barely any water, with no water, showers, bribery, making a game of it……..you name it, we tried it. Nothing worked and since bath time was so stressful on both him and my husband and I, we resorted to sponge bathing him daily and giving him an actual bath about twice a week. It took both me and my husband to bathe him, one of us to wash him while the other held onto him. He refused to sit in the tub and would kick and throw himself around violently.
Yesterday I was giving my 10 month old a bath (he's like a lil fish, he Loves water) and when he was done I decided to take on the task of bathing my 2 year old myself. I got a few of his cars and lured him into the bathroom. One of his cars floated in the tub so I covered it with the wash cloth and tried to get him to get in there and find it. He was curious, and he wasn't screaming yet. But he refused to get in. He fought me as I undressed him, but didn't cry or scream. I put him in the tub and he stood there looking around……..still no screams or cries. This was odd! He started playing a bit but refused to sit down. His 4 year old sister wanted a bath too so I got her in there with him and kept telling him to sit down and be like Sissy. And then I witnessed a miracle…
He's sitting! IN water!!! And he's………….Smiling!?!? Who is this child and where did my Gavin go?
Even more surprising, he was still smiling even after I washed his hair. He fought me tooth and nail on the hair wash but never cried.
I really don't know what caused this sudden change but man oh man am I thankful!! From here on out I'll put him in the tub every day or at least every other day (with 7 kids and 1 tub those who need it most get it first) to hopefully keep this trend up and prevent him from regressing back to the fear.
