Anyone?...advice please | Autism PDD

I am going through this too, it is pretty extreme here also, not vommitting but constant screaming/crying until its over. They love baths, and I let them go much longer than I should without washing their hair. I have tried about everything I can think of and nothing has worked. The washcloth over the face, I actually got a special pitcher that keeps the water completely out of face and ears, but they are so afraid and panic so much they end up getting their faces wet anyway. I have tried a small amount of water in the tub so they can actually lay back and not have water in their ears, didn't work. I have tried washing it in the sink. I am seriously considering the pool next. It amazes me they will put their face in the pool but panic so when it comes to hair washing! I wonder if soap didn't get in their eyes once, I know that Johnsons says no more tears but I remember getting it in my eyes as a child and being surprised that it stung my eyes. It might be that or the water in their ears, that totally freaks them out and with them thrashing like that its impossible to keep it out. I can pinpoint the problem with hair washing starting at the same time they got their first ear infection. So I wonder if water in the ears was painful and they remember that. I'm about at my wits end too. The best way now though is what I call the bear hug, they bury their face in my shirt and I tilt their head back and get it rinsed as fast as possible. I get soaked but they get no water on their face or ears, they still don't like it and they yell at me when it is done, but it seems to be the least traumatic right now.

I might try the goggles, that might be an idea. And just in case, here is that pitcher I got. http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=44 2788&parentCategoryId=85180&categoryId=85201&sub CategoryId=86186 I also thought about trying this. http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=12 8&parentCategoryId=85180&categoryId=85201&subCat egoryId=86186

Linda1156739282.4982638889Sharlet is like a feral cat in the shower, she would seriously hurt herself, I
tried it a few times and it was even worse than the bath, which is hard to
believe

Shampooing is going a lot better for my sons, because they're maturing but also because I realized my autistic son had a sensory issue with water getting in his ears. He could never communicate that to me.

No matter how well it's going, though, it seems like I always get soaked.

Good luck everyone.

Another suggestion I haven't seen here... would Sharlet shower with you? Where you could hold her up closer to the stream of water to minimize the water getting in her eyes. Sometimes, just mommy holding them is all the comfort they need to get through the rough part.

Mary

I know others have had problems with hair washing and bath phobias.
Sharlet's has gotten very bad. Once again the vomiting and extreme
anxiety/fear reactions to me even hinting that she may have her hair
washed. It's gotten so bad that I have been worried she may tear her own
fingernails out trying to grab onto things to get away from me when it's
time to do the deed. She has thick hair, and with her delays in feeding
skills, she gets her hair messy so I must wash it, it's inevitable.

Has anyone gone through a fear of hair washing this bad? Or just have an
idea of things I could try? I have talked a bit to the OT, but I
think you can't go past advice from people who have been there done
that.

Thanks in advanceAllegra39282.2318865741

You poor thing! I think it's bad enough to have boys who struggle with shampooing, let alone a girl who has a life-and-death phobia reaction to it. The least I can do is google up some ideas for you.

Written by a professional:

http://www.peatni.org/aba/case_studies/article.asp?ArticleID =a_bath_phobia_case_study - Case study of an autistic child.

Written by moms:

http://parents.berkeley.edu/advice/toddler/bathing.html - one example was a kid who was scared because of a *hair* in the bathtub. That was one thing that had never occured to me.

http://www.schwablearning.org/message_boards/view_messages.a spx?thread=15947&message=140617 - autistic child's bath phobia was helped by L-Carnosine supplement Carn Aware.

http://www.mothering.com/discussions/showthread.php?t=651051 - ideas about new bath toy, dry-washing hair with cornstarch or baking soda.

http://www.autism-pdd.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=5692& ;KW=bath+phobia - a topic on our forum in 2006 that got a lot of replies.

Good luck everything.

Poor Sharlet! Vomiting in fear. (I was a vomitophobic as a child!). I know that is not the real name ...

Do you do Wilbarger brushing on her, at all? I know T is mildly afflicted, but shampooing was her big thing and that and a FIRM scalp massage before seemed to help. Not saying that Sharlet's issue is gonna be that easy to resolve, clearly.

Another thought -- I was not afraid of going DOWN the drain, so much as of what would COME UP. (I was, and DD IS, poop-phobic! Not as funny as it sounds).

So maybe ... washing her outside, with NO drain?

Please, let us know what helps. I hope you can work it out for her!

Maybe buy her some bath tub 'gear'. Get her some goggles and swimsuit-call it her super suit or something so she doesn't have to be scared of baths. and see if she feels better. After awhile maybe you can eliminate the stuff slowly.

I know a boy who would never go swimming, and his grandma bought everyone scuba gear with flippers and all. Now, you can't get him out of the water.

Good luck.

We too had a lot of problems with Mason in this area...a lot of great advice here from everyone!!

Mason's was a combo of fear and anxiety...plus a lot of sensory issues.

A couple of things we did to at least help with the anxiety part of it was:

hang pictures of spongebob on the ceiling so he could look at those while he held his head back...and then right before I would put the water over his head he would cover his face with a towel. He kind of turned it into a peek a boo game with spongebob!

I think it took a lot of his anxiety away! He is still very sensitive in the head area, and I need to do a lot of warnings that hair washing is coming....we do a 5 minute countdown to hair washing time...but I see the anxiety has gone down A LOT!

Maybe it will come with age too...this was a huge deal for a very long time...5 years to be exact!

Good luck, I hope you find something that works soon!

We still have a lot of problems with haircuts and EEGs!! But those take longer so he isn't as accepting, I think.

emerald_52139282.4638078704

I don't supposed it's a fear of going down the drain, but just in case, one mother sang this song for her bath-phobic child. It's by "Mr. Rogers" from American public tv. She just made up a tune to the lyrics.

You Can Never Go Down The Drain

You can never go down
Can never go down
Can never go down the drain.
You can never go down
Can never go down
Can never go down the drain.

You're bigger than the water.
You're bigger than the soap.
You're much bigger than all the bubbles.
And bigger than your telescope

So you see...
You can never go down
Can never go down
Can never go down the drain.
You can never go down
Can never go down
Can never go down the drain.

The rain may go down
But you can't go down.
You're bigger than any bathroom drain.
You can never go down
Can never go down
You can never go down the drain.

I found a funny online bath story for kids. Don't know if it will help, but it is enjoyable.

http://www.storyplace.org/preschool/activities/bathonstory.a sp

Adam has been through several different phases of things simular to this..but not exact. He doesn't upset himself to the point of vomiting though. He went through a phase where he would scream when it was time for bath...It lasted about a month. We ignored the behavior and got it done quickly and it passed. Hope things get better. How is she doing on the drinking thing? How's that going?

Karrie

it may be part of it, she gets hysterical if the plug gets dislodgedThe drinking thing resolved itself after a few months, and it has been
replaced with several other phobias just as bad lol

You need to break tjis cycle. Do you always wash her in the same area? Try to change location. Perhaps she fears water going down her face ? os she's just sensitive to the feeling of having anything touching her head. Walburg protocol does help in reducing sensitivities. OTs know about this. in the meantime, maybe cut her hair short or put on a shower cap during meal times!

good luck!

A few things that help me: I still have him in a baby bath seat that forces him to sit up and he can't get out, I have been trying to bribe his older brother to go in with him and wash his hair first, so he can watch, I always count when we are tilting head back and rinsing. He seems to love hearing counting. This is fairly new to us as well. He never used to fuss and has been crying over bathtime the last 3 or 4 months, which is a shame because it used to be a very pleasant time for him. Good luck to you. Oh and I understand about the feeding thing, I am working on getting him to use a spoon and feed himself, too. What a mess. shower cap during meals is a GREAT idea, just to cut down on the necessity
of washing so frequently.... thanx :)

My DS does not want to get in the tub if something happened that he did not like. If we go to a place, and his first time in the tub the water was too hot or too cold he would not want to get back in. It becomes a struggle to get him to bathe at the location. What works now is that after that incident I get him to go stand by the tub and have him feel the water till it's just right for him. Then he might go back, if it's not the size or position of the tub or anyother thing that I can't control bothering him. Maybe you can start with having Sharlet control the water temperature.

As a child I had long thick hair as well. I did not like shampooing either. My hair felt heavier with water in it, not a pleasant feeling for me. Then when my mom washes my hair, if I don't close my eyes, I could have shampoo in my eyes which meant I had to have my eyes closed throughout, it was a terrifying experience for me.

Try having her pick out her shampoo(Loreal kids line seems to have tear free) and maybe washing the hair in a wash hand basin with her head leaning backwards like in the beauty shop. that way the shampoo does not get in her face and she does not have to close her eyes if she does not want to. I used to do that for my DD when she was younger because I remember my own ordeal.

Be as fast as you can be so the ordeal is short for her.

Goodluck.