Re: Fear of hair rinsing - OT?

December 30, 2003

Hi there,

I also have water phobic children. My son who is now 5 was bad at your son's

age with hair rinsing. It got to the point that if his hair got washed once a

week, it wasa good week.

Thank God for the summer months, he loved the pool, so I could do it then

w/o a problem. Showers for him were more tolerable, why I don't know. I also

bought one of those hand held shower things,(Brain freeze can't think of the

right name) that helped.

My now 3 year old daughter was absolutely worse than my son, she wouldn't

even go in the tub, major sensory issues with water. We would give her " bird

baths " in the kitchen sink for months. Then we went to the store and bought

finger paints sponges etc to paint in the tub and while she is painting standing

up, I would tell her to paint really high up so her head would be looking up

and that is how I would rinse her hair, it worked, now baths aren't a total

nightmare, I feel for you as the first time this happens, it is scary, and no I

don't think it is a control thing, I used to, I have two older girls who have no

sensory problems, so I really used to think the two younger ones were pulling

rank on me, but after finally (five years of pure total chaos in this house

with two with sensory problems,) and nearly losing my mind in the process, I

read the sensory integration book and it was like reading the biographies of my

two little ones. So if take it slow with your little guy, try different ideas,

bribery, and if he doesn't get his hair washed as often as you like, cut it

really short, like I did so it doesn't get smelly and sweaty, it just isn't

worth the turmoil, I learned that the hard way.Hope bath time gets better,it did

here, but it took quite awhile.

December 30, 2003

Maybe if he has had a cold he may have some ear problems going on. Possibly

moving his head in a particular direction may have made him dizzy. Always

looking for a simple answer.

Judi

[ ] Fear of hair rinsing - OT?

My son Nick scared me out of my wits tonight. He lost it over

having his hair rinsed. I had to get into the tub to help him gain

control as I have only seen him that bad one other time and that was

at his EEG! His face was dark red and he could barely get his

breath. I think he was terrified and I didn't know what to do as

the shampoo was already in his hair. I didn't feel that I could

leave the soap in.

December 30, 2003

HI -- a few things are coming to my mind-- one is you mentioned

he is getting over a cold. That change in the body can make sensory

issues " worse " for kids. My youngest fluctuates like that--

sometimes hair rinsing is not a big deal, other times she screams

bloody murder. Have you ever tried giving him an epsom salt bath?

If not, email me privately and I will send you (or anyone) some

information on it. Epsom salt baths can help, especially mild,

sensory issues.

maryandphilip@...

Otherwise, my only other suggestion is next time, have him lean

forward in the bathtub, hands on the bottom of the bathtub and head

tilted down so he is looking at the tubwater. That way, you can pour

the water on the back of his head and most of it won't run onto his

face. There'll be some, and you can have a washcloth handy to wipe

it off, or tell him to use his hand to wipe it away if it bothers

him. But I find that this position, kneeling with hands on the

tubfloor, looking downward, means less screeching from my dd as

opposed to having her sit upright.

I don't think it is a control issue really. I think if it was, you

might have been able to tell from " his cry " that it was a bit

orchestrated. If you felt his cry was genuinely out of

fear/discomfort, then I would go with that. See what you think if it

ever happens again and that will tell you whether it was more of

a " behavior " or a mild sensory issue.

HTH,

W

> My son Nick scared me out of my wits tonight. He lost it over

> having his hair rinsed. I had to get into the tub to help him gain

> control as I have only seen him that bad one other time and that

was

> at his EEG! His face was dark red and he could barely get his

> breath. I think he was terrified and I didn't know what to do as

> the shampoo was already in his hair. I didn't feel that I could

> leave the soap in.

>

December 30, 2003

Hi ,

My daughter (normal development) now 12yo. was insane when it came to

hairwashing and rinsing. It started right out of the blue when she was

approx. 2 1/2yo. She use to stand up and run around the tub, screem and yell

" you're killing me, " thrash about like convultions, and turn beat-red in the

face. This behavior did improve over time (THANKFULLY); However, she still

does not like getting her face wet (pools are the only exception) and she

still holds her breath when rinsing her hair in the shower.

There wasn't much I could do to get through bath time peacefully. I waited

until the end of bath time, wash and rinse her hair quickly, and then take

her out of the tub and hold her until she calmed down. I even tried washing

her hair in the sink, using the sprayer to rinse her hair; But that didn't

work either. I do not know why she was/still so fearful of water on her

head. My only thought is that at some time, an event that I am unaware of,

she had a traumatic bath experience that led to this behavior. Her

pediatrician did not seem concerned about this behavior at the time.

Now, my apraxic son Chase 3.5yo has some sensory problems with water. He is

very sensitive of water temperature and does not like water on his face.

When I wash his hair I have to rinse it with luke-warm water and cover his

face with a dry washcoth, while trying to sheild most of the water from

running down onto the cloth. This seems to work great and he does not flip

out anymore when I rinse his hair.

I would not call this a normal behavior, but it is not uncommon for a child

to have a fear of water on being poured over their head. I can even remember

crying when my mother washed my hair. Hopefully, this will not be an ongoing

occurence with your son and just be what we call around our house a " sonsory

overload day. "

Take Care, Kris

[ ] Fear of hair rinsing - OT?

> My son Nick scared me out of my wits tonight. He lost it over

> having his hair rinsed. I had to get into the tub to help him gain

> control as I have only seen him that bad one other time and that was

> at his EEG! His face was dark red and he could barely get his

> breath. I think he was terrified and I didn't know what to do as

> the shampoo was already in his hair. I didn't feel that I could

> leave the soap in.

>

> Does anyone else have this problem? He's not liked having it rinsed

> before this but has never acted this strongly before tonight. He

> has been down with a cold so I haven't had him in the tub for a

> number of nights and have not washed his hair in a week or so. Now

> I'm afraid to do it again! Any ideas, any feedback as to why and

> what to do from here would be greatly appreciated. My husband (who

> wasn't here) thinks that it is a control issue, not fear???? Is

> this the begining of some sensory " stuff " or is this normal

> childhood " stuff " ? Jeez, can you tell he's an only child!?

>

> Thank you, thank you!

>

> SAHM needing a valium after washing 32 month old

December 30, 2003

Dade doesn't like his hair getting rinsed at all. We just use the wash cloth to

rinse it and keep it short so it's not so hard to rinse.

Nichole

Proud Navy wife to

Proud mom to Dade 11/29/01

Proud mom-to-be to ??? EDD 2/8/04

Play our baby game at Expectnet.com Game name: BabyDeuce

[ ] Fear of hair rinsing - OT?

My son Nick scared me out of my wits tonight. He lost it over

having his hair rinsed. I had to get into the tub to help him gain

control as I have only seen him that bad one other time and that was

at his EEG! His face was dark red and he could barely get his

breath. I think he was terrified and I didn't know what to do as

the shampoo was already in his hair. I didn't feel that I could

leave the soap in.

December 30, 2003

I also have major problems shampooing and rinsing my son 's hair.

It's the one sensory thing I have yet to find a way to desensitize him to

yet. Brushing his hair is also hard. Anyway, one thing that has helped me

with washing and rinsing is that I tell him what number I'm going to count

to until it's over and then I count. I'll say, " ok, when I get to 10 I'll

be done with rinsing " and I think just knowing when the end is coming helps

him deal with it. I realize that your son is a bit younger so maybe you can

improvise with something that would help him understand?? I hope that helps

a bit...

in MA

kdr2@...

December 31, 2003

had problems with getting her hair washed for many years. She

still doesn't like it if you pour water over her head. However, now

that she is older, she can rinse her own hair. She either puts her

head under the water during a bath or she takes a shower.

She still doesn't like getting her hair brushed, but she likes to

look pretty. Thank goodness, because she will suffer getting her

hair brushed in order to look pretty. (Oh, how we women suffer for

our looks. LOL. She is all girl.)

We had to battle this one for many years, but it was something that

I did not give in on. If I had to stand in the shower and hold her

to wash/rinse out her hair, I did. You have to pick your battles

with these kids, and this was one that I picked. I knew she needed

to be clean and there was no getting around it.

I did try to make bath time fun. I couldn't do bubble baths because

has eczema. I did do tub tints and bath paints to make

bathtime fun. Those did help her get into the tub.

I taught her to lay her head down in the water when she was about

4. As soon as she could rinse her own hair it helped.

In the summer, we don't take many baths. My kids love to go

swimming, and they would take a shower outside at our local pool

after swimming. I would take shampoo with us and wash their hair

there. For some reason, this was easier than baths or showers at

home.

One other suggestion is to switch the time of the bath. If you do

baths at night, the sensory problems could be worse because he is

tired. You might want to try taking a bath in the morning or

afternoon.

I know it does get easier. She only doesn't want to take a bath

when she's tired now. I don't think it is because of sensory

problems. I think she just wants to go to sleep instead.

Good luck!

Suzi

> My son Nick scared me out of my wits tonight. He lost it over

> having his hair rinsed. I had to get into the tub to help him

gain

> control as I have only seen him that bad one other time and that

was

> at his EEG! His face was dark red and he could barely get his

> breath. I think he was terrified and I didn't know what to do as

> the shampoo was already in his hair. I didn't feel that I could

> leave the soap in.

>

> Does anyone else have this problem? He's not liked having it

rinsed

> before this but has never acted this strongly before tonight. He

> has been down with a cold so I haven't had him in the tub for a

> number of nights and have not washed his hair in a week or so.

Now

> I'm afraid to do it again! Any ideas, any feedback as to why and

> what to do from here would be greatly appreciated. My husband

(who

> wasn't here) thinks that it is a control issue, not fear???? Is

> this the begining of some sensory " stuff " or is this normal

> childhood " stuff " ? Jeez, can you tell he's an only child!?

>

> Thank you, thank you!

>

> SAHM needing a valium after washing 32 month old Nick's hair!

December 31, 2003

I also do something similar as here to kind of warn my son when

he's getting his hair rinsed. I usually say, " OK, 1...2...3!) and

then he knows it's coming. I also use a container that's big enough

that I fill it twice and about 98-100% of the soap is rinsed by those

two dumps of water. Drew (my son) is not water phobic, he just

doesn't like it in his face. Sometimes he freaks out, and sometimes

he just cries a little. I only wash his hair once a week (it doesn't

get that dirty usually), so that helps too. The dry washcloth held

over his eyes when pouring also helps too. From talking to other

moms, while it could be a sensory thing, it's also a normal kid thing

too. Lots of good suggestions here for this common issue!

Happy New Year, everyone!

le (SAHM to Drew 2.7, apraxia, DSI) - who also usually needs a

valium and is surprised that she hasn't been driven to drink. ;-)

>

> I also have major problems shampooing and rinsing my son 's

hair.

> It's the one sensory thing I have yet to find a way to desensitize

him to

> yet. Brushing his hair is also hard. Anyway, one thing that has

helped me

> with washing and rinsing is that I tell him what number I'm going

to count

> to until it's over and then I count. I'll say, " ok, when I get to

10 I'll

> be done with rinsing " and I think just knowing when the end is

coming helps

> him deal with it. I realize that your son is a bit younger so

maybe you can

> improvise with something that would help him understand?? I hope

that helps

> a bit...

>

> in MA

> kdr2@c...

January 3, 2004

I agree with . I do that with my son and it's helped a lot. Another thing

I do is ask him if he wants a washcloth (dry) to cover his eyes...and he does so

he'll cover his eyes with the rag and we'll count.

Another thing I've done is ask him if he'd like to get his own hair wet using

the cup. He usually says yes and then I touch my finger to the spots on his