My 11 month old son HATES the water. I have tried different things to get him interested. Any suggestions?

my son wouldn't go into a filled tub or sit while it was filling. so we tried filling a small bucket in the sink and slowly pouring it into the tub. we would hold the bucket as low as possible. my son slowly got used to it filling up around him. i think the sound of the faucit scared him. he was young when we were doing this and he got over it by 1 1/2 years old. my husband and i both told him every time that we wouldn't do anything that would hurt him and we were the ones putting the water in the tub. so with him i think it was sort of a trust issue. he was still afraid of the water draining until he was about 3 years old. my son is 5 now and i also have a 2 1/2 year old and they both take baths and showers. the shower idea is good and the kiddie pool idea. maybe try putting him in those little swimmers pull-ups for the kiddie pool. my boys always wear water shoes to the beach. let him know in words he can understand that you would never put him in harms way. a comparison might be good also, like, a glass of water while you and him are both sitting next to the kiddie pool or bath tub. take a drink and tell him in a way that he understands that water is good for you all over. talk to him about it while he is looking at it even if he doesn't understand completely he'll get the drift, just be very positive and make it sound exciting. if he does touch the water in the tub or in the kiddie pool show him where it touched and that he is ok especially if he didn't even notice he touched it. this is where the sponge idea is a good one. you might just let him sit in an empty tub with a small bucket of water and a sponge and let him take charge. let him give his toys a bath and show him that they are ok. i hope this helps. you'll find something that works. he will grow out of it.

Try giving him a shower. Get dad in the shower, then hand off your son to him and let them both get wet. I think he might warm up to the idea if he's held by a parent the entire time. My 11 month old son loves to shower with either of us. Just make sure one person is holding while the other is doing the washing. If he's still out of sorts, you could also try to distract him with one of his favorite toys... something you know will catch his attention. For my son, eyeglasses always work like a charm (just make sure you don't care about them). If he seems to like the shower, put him down (he should be able to stand at this point with assistance). Let his feet touch the bottom of the tub/shower and have dad sit down to his level. Spend some time in that position just playing and talking. Make sure he's got something in his hands to play with. I'm sure after a few tries, he'll come around. As for the beach, my son reacted the same way... the water was cold. But after some coaxing, and watching mom or dad go in, he soon followed suit.

Good luck! Hope this helps.

Kids are so funny sometimes. My daughter use to freak out if there was hair on anything, especially in the bath. This is going to be just one of those things that you will have to talk him thru. How about putting a kids pool outside for him. Sit him on the outside of the pool and give him some toys to put in when he wants.He may just not like it because he doesn't know that it can be fun yet.Go to the library and get some little books that have to do with water. Like Duck and bear take a bath etc. There are a few others that I cant think of right now, The other thing that you might want to do is let him stay in his walker or bouncy seat while you take a bath. I don't know, these are probably silly suggestions. He will for sure grow out of it, just be patient and don't try to force him to like it, that usually just makes it worse. I have 4 daughters and they all have had there little "Things". lol. Good Luck. p.s. your little one doesnt have aquaphobia like the guy above me said, he's just learning about his new world, and I forsure dont recomend that you just put him in the tub and make him stay there.

One approach would be to put him in the tub, and simply leave him there. This could have positive or negative effects though. He could develop a phobia of water that he may never grow out of, or he could learn that the water isn't going to do anything to him and he learns to live with it.

You may also want to make sure that no water is running at the time you try to put your child in it. It should be calm water, clear as possible.

Here is a good site on what aquaphobia is and good ways to treat it:

http://swimming.about.com/od/sportpsychology/a/aqu...

Have you tried distracting him w/ bath toys? Do you have a toy that moves such as the chicken dance elmo or something that he could watch to get his mind off of having a bath? My daughter is the same age and does this as well. I occassionally put her infant tub in the living room while she watches a Baby Einstein video. It works well....or play some soothing classical music or sing to your son before putting him in the tub. Good Luck!

Try wet sponges and toys when it's hot out. give him wet toys and toys that are fun in water (like that foamy stuff they make for kids now to doodle on shower walls with). Put him near a bucket of water and let him try it out. If that gets better, try a kiddie wading pool and give him more fun toys. Try to make sure the water is luke warm (inside) or cool (outside) so it isn't as shocking to him.

My daugther is the same way. Some children just don't like the water. What we did was filled a little pool with about an inch of water. We let her get in on her own and play as long as she wanted. It took over an hour for her to get in. Once she saw that it wasn't going to hurt, she played for about a half hour. Also, try putting sand in half the pool. That way they can play with the sand and the water. Just let him do it on his own. He will learn to like water when he is ready.

Take him into the tub with you. (Mom or Dad, either one is fine.) Then he will have the security of you being there with him. You could also try showering with him. Maybe he would like that better than being immersed in the water?

what does the baby dr say. My neice had a condition that made her hypesensitive to things like carpet fiber. she would not sit on the floor. she cried in certain clothes. once her Mom understood the problem she helped her find things she can tolerate. maybe the baby is hypersensitive to getting wet might a bath oil help? i would ask the dr. or go to a pediatric allergist.

try bubbles, bathtub colors, maybe getting in the tub with him and playing in very shallow to start? also invite some other children over and buy the smallest baby pool you can find....maybe seeing the other children having fun will help.