My 1 year old daughter is having worse and worse tantrums in the bath and it's got to the point that I now dread bathtimes

I take her swimming (which she loves) and will happily sit and play in the bath but starts crying as soon as I try to wash her, progressing to kicking and screaming tantrums when I try to wash her hair.

The problem is I can't even wash her hair gently and try and stop water getting in her eyes as I have to restrain her to stop her from hurting herself and/or climbing out of the bath so the situation continues as it does turn in to something horrendous

Has anyone got any experience of how to get past this? It's honestly driving me crazy and I have no idea

Not sure about the tantrums, as Paige enjoys bathtime and when I wash her she just ignores me. Does she play with toys in the bath? Maybe she would be distracted enough then you could wash her?

As for hair washing, Paige doesnt enjoy that, but she tolerates it and I usually dont bother trying to avoid her eyes and just pour thejug over her head. She doesnt like it, but doesnt moan or cry or anything, I guess shes used to it! I think if you just persist and try to get it over with as quickly as possible, she will be fine and can get back to enjoyign playing in the water!

We have had this with our lo recently - he turns 1 next week. Basically I stopped washing his hair altogether for a week as I think he started to associate bathing with hair washing which he hates. I also put him in the bath do a quick wipe over then just as he starts whinging and about to scream I give him a chewable tooth brush to play with. Then after he started being more settled in the bath I started washing his hair but with just water no shampoo. I only washed it every 2-3 days and then eventually reintroduced the shampoo. I also wash the soap off using a flannel and not a jug which means less soap in his eyes as its easier to control the water and he doesn't squirm so much.

I don't know if any of that is practical for you depending on how much hair your lo has. Good luck I hope bath times get easier for you x

Thanks ladies,
MrsMurphy2Be she does play with toys in the bath and is more than happy until I try to wash her and then it all kicks off. She used to only be upset with hair washing but it seems to have extended to washing in general now, although her hair washing is what she objects to more than anything.
Happilyhappy my LO has quite alot of hair and I'm not sure how long we'll get away with not washing it for but I'll give it a go as it sounds like taking it away for a while worked well for you. I guess even if her hair looks a bit dirty for a few days it will pay off in the long run,. Perhaps if I do 5 days from tomorrow and wash it again before she goes to nursery on Wednesday afternoon.
I think I can get her playing happily again after having her body washed but not her hair. At the moment the only possicle cause of action after hair washing is getting her out of the bath as she's so upset

How about buying a cute little bath visor to shield her eyes from water and soap?

Here's one I found online: http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Shower-Sh.../dp/B002JH7NXO

Ooh I've not seen those before! Such a cute idea

I don't have any issues with DS in the tub. Like MrsMurphy I just pour a bucket of water over his head to get the shampoo out and then wipe his face with a washrag. Now that he knows the washrag is coming he stands still and waits for it. I think it's just conditioning really. Similarly it seems as though your DD has associated washing with something negative so you have to show her it's not.

When he was about a year we laid him down in the tub and got his hair wet that way. Obviously there was on only maybe 2 inches of water. I'd lay him down, wet his hair and sit him back up. To rinse, I'd lay him down again. They make cute little terry cloth hand puppets that you can use to wash. Maybe try one of those...play with it first and make it sing a silly song or tickle her or something (maybe even before bath time so she can get used to it) and then put some soap on it and wash her. Maybe try taking a shower with her if you have one for a few days. Is the soap/shampoo you're using tear-free? Maybe it's irritating her?

The hair washing phobia is a phase most kids go through Tegan still doesn't "like" having her hair washed but she will tolerate it. We still use toddler shampoo and I know it doesn't hurt/sting the eyes, so after a while I gave up trying to be gentle and I would just dump a few jugs of water on her head, wash her hair, and then rinse. As she got older I explained that of she would be calm it would be much easier. I always wash her face with a face cloth afterwards.
Not she's older and understands me I ask her to look at the ceiling, and close her eyes and mouth. She does it very well and doesn't mind getting water on her head etc.

Thanks for your further suggestions ladies.
We do have a shower but she's always hated the shower even when she was happy to have a bath to be fair because of this I haven't tried it for ages though and it will be much easier now she can stand in it with me so I'll give it another go.
I've always used no more tears formula but to be honest she starts screaming before even plain water gets anywhere near her eyes. Even when I use the sponge to just wet the back of her head.
I bathed her last night and we didn't do hair washing and things didn't get hysterical. She played with her toys for a bit but was still unhappy with having her body washed. I couldn't keep her in the bath and comfort her, I had to take her out but it was easier to stop her crying than when hair washing is involved.
I'll try a cute wash mit and see if that makes a difference, especially with a silly song as my LO loves songs.
The other thing I wondered was whether it would be worth trying bathing her (or even showering her) in the morning instead of at night as she's going through a phase where she's resisting napping and is very tired by the time we come round to bathtime. It won't help us when she comes home from nursery filthy but she only goes 3 days out of 7 and we could always have a shower or strip wash before bed on those days.
Tempted to try taking her in the shower with me in the morning

DD reacts in a similar way, I started getting in the bath with her. We play and splash, I did row-your-boat further and further until her head would just dunk in the water a little, when it did I would cheer and clap. Then started lying her back onto my chest and kind of hugging her while we play with toys, eventually progressed to hair washing very gently in this position