Oh, the joy of a toddler mind. He is now convinced that while in both the tub and the shower, he shall be sucked down the drain. So far, showing him that the toys don’t fit do not help, my standing on top of the drain in the shower seems to help slightly (but doesn’t slow the flow of “no want to ball down the drain, no I don’t, I want stay here, mama, help, no drain….”) – so I need your creative ideas!!
Conquering the bath tub drain
Lisa over at lil duck duck (which by the way the site looks great) has a problem. Her son is afraid that he is going to get sucked down the drain. The problem has become so dire that she is enlisting our help to come up with a solution.
I, of cours…
Toddler fears – the scary drain!
Since my little guy was convinced that he was going to be sucked down the drains, I asked for some advice from all my bloggy friends and got some GREAT ideas! Tonya suggested having him stand on the drain while holding under his arms to show him that h…
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Hmmmm …. have you tried having him stand on the drain while you hold under his arms to show him that he’s not going to fall in? If you could start with that then gradually remove your hands so its not like your “holding” him up.
I don’t know if that would work or not but it was a thought. Nate has never worried about that so I’ve not delt with it.
Good Luck!
Try putting a small toy – which is too big to go down the drain – in the tub (or other object if he fears for his toy) and watch the water go down the drain, while both of you are standing outside the tub of course. Then you can reason with him.
“Did the toy go down the drain? Are you bigger than the toy? You won’t go down the drain either.” My dd was also terrified of going down the drain and this helped her. Good luck!
My son still has fears of the bathtub.. his fear consist of getting his hair washed though. So I try to wash his hair in the sink so he doesnt associate the two.
One thing I found that excited him about tub time was to let him pick a toy to take in the tub.. whether it be a toy car (not made for the tub lol , nothing electronic of course)… or a stuffed toy.. yes they can dry! He loves doing this. Happy meal toys work great as well.. cause their free.. so who cares if they get all nasty.
Also maybe dont mention the drain anymore.. change the subject… instead be like “Lets take your toy elephant into the tub!” something like that
Hope this helps. My son is 2 yrs old BTW.
Hmmm … maybe you can find a miniature baby boy and show him that when the drain is plugged, and water swirls down, the baby boy doesn’t get sucked in.
a drain cover? this is why i’m not a parent. I’d just say, yep, there’s nothin’ I can do about it.
Our tub’s drain mechanism doesn’t work, so we just have a rubber drain cover. I’m with Carmen: appeal to his black/white sense of logic. If there’s no drain, there’s no problem.
Try inverting a small bucket, like a sand bucket, over the drain so he can’t see it. Then, face him AWAY from the drain and get his attention with some fun little bath stickers, like vinyl tub decor. Add a little water gun toy or soap paint. Let him decorate the sides and opposite end of the tub so that he is not concerned about the other end…..with the bucket “protecting” him. Take him out and dry him before emtpying the tub. Pull the plug as you are leaving the room, while distracting him. Just a thought….
My 8 year old has been terrified of drains since he was 3, I have tried all your suggestions in the past and nothing has worked in fact he is so horrified he wont even go number 2 in the toilet because of the drain ! Any ideas?
My daughter is 29 months old and for the last 4 months, shower and bath time has turned into MELT DOWN TIME!!! She used to love taking baths and she loves to swim. She has no problem washing her hands in the sink and playing in water.I have tried covering the drain with a towel, using bubbles, showed her that sand is small and water is small and that it goes through a strainer but she dont fit, talking calm to her doesnt work. She will put her foot on the drain and say “no baby drain, only wadder mommy?” If the toys are brought into the bathroom, let alone the tub, the melt down gets worse!!!! To her, THOSE WILL GO DOWN FOR SURE!!! She stresses out soooo bad that she screams about all this from the time she walks in the bathroom until she is sitting on the couch after she has been dressed – sobbing and sniffling. I have tried the sink in the kitchen – same thing happens. I have even tried just having her stand outside of the tub and wash her down like that, she still screams. She has never slipped under the water and we try out best to make sure the water doesnt run over her face to make sure that she dont have another problem with the shower. I keep looking for new ways and trying them, to deal with this before she associates bath or shower time with horror and fear and altogether not want to get clean at all. I have talked to the Dr.s and have told them everything that I have tried. They say that I seem to be covering all the bases and that I need to stick with it and keep letting her know it is ok…… And now it is 4 months of this and I am not sure what else ot do… Does anyone have any other ideas that I could try….