Is it normal for my toddler to be scared of taking a bath?

We went through it will all of our kids. Each of them previously had loved their bath. Suddenly, it was “Bathing Terror.”

There are major cognitive changes that take place, along with the development of walking. All of a sudden, your toddler can purposely move -- away from you, and known safety, into strange and new situations. Discovery of a new thing leads to excitement -- and then fear. This stage is characterized by the back-and-forth of moving out into the environment -- just until it gets a little scary – and moving back to be with Dad or Mom to get “refueled” for future discovery.

As my Parenting Guru Dr. Brazelton says, there is an upsurge in fears at this point, starting at about 12-18 months. The bath is a common fear. Think about it: your baby is just getting used to walking, and in the process, her sense of equilibrium and body control get messed up for awhile. She’s not quite sure what her body can -- and can’t -- handle.

This is your toddler’s perspective on bath time: The bath is slippery. She thinks, “I can get soap in my eyes. I can bonk my little head on the side, or on the faucet. If I have a scrape or a cut, it hurts in the bath, and I can’t always figure out why, or how to tell Dad about it. Then there’s this weird wall between me and the outside, and I’m not allowed to just jump in and out if I get nervous. And when the water gets sucked down into the drain, I wonder, will I fit down that thing? Am I going to get sucked down there too?” She’s still figuring out cause and effect, and she’s not quite sure how that drain thing works. But it’s powerful, it makes noise, and it sucks all the water into it.