I have caused my child to develop a phobia

[Taedareth]

Last week I was giving him a bath. He was laying on his back in the tub in a few inches of water (not enough to cover his body). Normally he loves bath time; he splashes and waves his arms and gets a huge grin on his face. Well, this time he decided to try turning over. He didn't quite make it, but apparently got his face in the water and inhaled some. I pulled him out and sat him up on my lap, where he promptly cleared his lungs. And then started screaming in abject terror.

I haven't even tried giving him a full bath since then. I may be doomed to giving him sponge baths for the rest of his childhood. But one thing's for sure - he is very afraid of anything that covers his face for more than about 2 seconds. Onesies? I don't think so. Shirts? Not unless I can pull them over his face really fast. *sigh* My poor child.....

[IncaMama]

awww...i'm sorry...that must have been so scary for both of you! i'm sure he'll forget about it soon enough...it's when they're older that you're really up a creek. LOL my son had a bath phobia for about 6months that just ended about 3 mos ago. that wasn't fun.

[mariposita]

oh mama.so sorry this happened. but like michele said, i'm sure he'll get over it. babies forget things fairly quickly. just keep trying working your way up to the activities that make him scared. don't avoid it entirely or else he'll never want to start later. but don't push it with him either.

[Geofizz]

oh no! how scary!

fwiw, both my kids have hated having anything on their face. i think it's a natural defense against suffication. i don't remember when dd got over it, but it was <1yr for shirts/turtlenecks.

i'm enjoying your blog, btw.

[Taedareth]

Thank you guys for your sympathetic responses. I'm so relieved to hear you say that DS probably won't stay terrified of water and things over his face for long. Whew!

And Geofizz - I'm so flattered that someone is actually reading my blog LOL. Thank you I was noticing in your blog that you just dealt with the inevitable "my child wants to be a barber" crisis.... awful for the mama, but too funny...

[amis2girls]

I just got a stand-alone bath sling for babies who are in between lying down and sitting up. The first thing Savannah did was roll over and off it into the water.