Hellobee Boards

My almost 2 year old also has hated getting his hair washed/water poured over his head for the last six months or so. We have a skip hop moby rinser with a little silicone lip that's supposed to keep water out of the eyes, but it doesn't work that well for us because he will NOT put his head back. We just try to do the hair washing as quickly as possible.

What has helped overall is making the tub more fun. We got bath crayons and the color tabs you can put in to dye the water. They've been a hit! So before he wouldn't even want to get in and screamed the whole time and now he only whines while we do his hair which is pretty brief.

I think a long time ago mr bee posted something about getting kids to like hair washing by using a small teapot for the water rinse. Possible I imagined this. But every time my 2yo refuses to tip his head I think I should do it (and then I forget!)

Mine doesn't hate the bath now (19 months) but definitely doesn't enjoy it as much as she was. I think it is largely due to her hair washing. I know it will pass. I just try to keep getting her to tip her head back and I hold a cloth where a visor would go / cover her eyes. She's fine if the water doesn't go into her eyes. We have several bath books that she likes (got them at the dollar store) and some alphabet foam letters that she enjoys playing with.

I agree with the suggestions of colour tabs or bath crayons, to make it more fun. You could also bring bubbles and blow them for him while in the tub.

@elljay: yeah he was in daycare so obviously I'm like red flagging this sudden situation and ped was like he seems fine, nothing physically obvious, toddlers go through stuff like this. DS wasn't verbal so I couldn't tell me what was bothering him. In a month he snapped out of it and it was fine.

@elljay: My 9.5 month old just starting having this problem last week. She would scream when I rinsed her hair. But I sort of just tried to do it as quickly as possible and last night she did not cry. I gave her a pacifier during the hair rinsing and that seemed to work. I don't know what else to do at this point because I'm a germ freak and must wash her hair every night.

@gingerbebe: I was also worried something might be wrong, like an ear infection or something similar. I'm glad to know you had such a concern, too.

Just wanted to say thanks for this thread. DD (2.5) as of last week had entered an “I hate baths” phase when she’s always loved them until now. Will try some of these tricks.