Sitting in the bath

So over the last week we've attempted to get the twins to sit in the bath on their own without their bath lounger thingy's. It's not like they can't sit up well, they've been sitting on their own since xmas. Ella was a bit freaked out by sitting in the water on her own but she chilled out after a while whilst being entertained by a rubber duck, Ben on the other had was FREAKING out. He was instantly grabbing the side of the bath trying to get out, and even when i got in with him he was clinging on to me for dear life, genuinely freaked out. When he's in his seat thingy he's happy as larry but he was honestly petrified!
There's bath matt's on the bottom of the bath so they have grip and don't slide around, and lots of toys to distract them, but i don't really know what to do to calm him down, except persevere and hope he calms down. Do you have any tips?
Rachel xox

 

I think I'd just keep trying and if he freaks out maybe you can put him back in the lounger. It's probably just a phase.

 

My twin dd went through a freaking out phase. What I did was stand her up against the side of the tub right in front of me, with my arms wrapped tightly around her. The first couple times I just let her stand there and after a few mins I would hand her a toy or two to help distract her. Then I got some water in my hand or a cup for her to play with (this is with the water in the tub and her standing in the tub). Then I dumped the water on her legs, then her tummy. Once she was okay with that I quickly grabbed her legs with one hand, her armpit with one and sat her down. She was still right up against the side of the tub with my arms around her, she fought me a bit but I just kept talking to her and singing to her, calming her down. Gradually over about 4-5 baths I was able to let her sit by herself once she was distracted playing with toys. Eventually she was able to go straight to sitting down and playing, no fussing at all!

It's probably a combination of a phase, and you taking away his "security" object. Lots of patience, lots of calming words and songs, and take it slow, he'll be okay eventually!

 

I'm going to say it's a phase as well(and maybe taking away the seat). I remember at different times-my boys FREAKED out when having to take a bath. It came out of nowhere! It was soo unreal. I came here immediately and was like "what the heck is going on?!" And many moms here said it happened to them at one point or another as well!

What I did-was bring new objects into the bathtub to make it more fun and exciting. As best you can anyways! I went and got those crayons/markers for the bathtub, or I got the tablets that changed the color of the water. Or new toys. Or bubbles. Bubble baths were new and exciting!

Hang in there! It's aggravating while they are going through it, but hopefully it's a short phase and he'll feel confident enough soon!

 

Luke did the exact same thing. The only thing that really helped was time, eventually he just got used to sitting in the water and then he was happy as he could be. But for a month or so, he was really freaked out & I just made sure to get him washed & out of there as quickly as I could.

 

Hey guys
Just thought i'd let you know it's totally been cracked! Just had to keep at it and now ben loves being in the bath. he's crawling around and stealing ella's toys so everythings back to normal!
thanks so much for your advice!
rachel