What can I do to help my son during bath time?

Question

He's one years old and loves bath up until I have to rinse the shampoo out of his hair. He screams when I pour water over his head. I don't know if it's because the water gets in his ears or what, but he screams. I tried covering his ears and he still hates it. Sometimes I quickly pour water over his head so I can rinse it off quickly but everything I do to try to rinse out the shampoo makes him scream. What can I do?

Answer 1

Maybe it's too cold or too hot? Try changing the temperature to lukewarm instead. Make sure his eyes and ears are covered, the water might be bothering one or both of those areas.

Answer 2

Give him his own cup and let him pour the water over his own head while you pour it at the same time, or take turns.

Answer 3

you can buy plastic brims (like the brim from a top hat) that you put on a kids head to keep the water and shampoo out of their eyes and out of their ears

https://www.amazon.com/URToys-Adjustable-Shampoo-B...

Answer 4

Tilt his head back and then pour the water over his head. 

Answer 5

He screams because he knows once you start to rinse his hair its time to take him out and he wants to stay longer taking a bath.

Answer 6

Do not wash his hair every day,, but when you do wash his hair, use watered down shampoo on a wet wash cloth, rinse the cloth and use it, very wet to rinse his hair.

When my children were infants, I always laid them down, face up of course, in a couple inches of water and sneaked in washing their hair. This way they got used to water and it was never an issue.

Answer 7

He doesn't like the sensation of the water on his head/hair, nor does he like it going into his eyes either! How would you feel if I took a bucket of water and dumped it on your head? I doubt you would like it either, empathy is key here!

I think the easiest thing to do is use a cloth (mixed with a bit of water), and run it over his head to get the shampoo out, this way it doesn't bother him.

Easy.

Answer 8

Is the shampoo getting in his eyes? You can try getting him to put a clean, wet washcloth over his eyes and tip his head back. 

Another problem could be the water coming over his face, especially if he doesn’t know it’s coming. The solution above could work for this as well. 

Also is washing the shampoo the last thing you do before bath time is over? It could be he doesn’t want to get out.  Try doing it at the start and then let him play for a bit. 

Answer 9

Don't wash his hair every time.  When you do just use a little shampoo.  Use a wet washcloth several times to get the shampoo out. 

Answer 10

Let him scream. A few seconds won't hurt him. He'll out grow it soon.