fear of water

Hi mums and dads,

I'm new to the scene and I hope to gain some advise from others like me.

I have an 18mth old girl, who is learning to become familiar in a pool. I have one major problem, she hates water on her face, it's the same during bath time and when I wash her face.

She goes crazy and gets very upset. Does anyone have any tips for me to make bath time and swim time more fun.

Hi! My daughter is 7 1/2 months and hates having her face washed, however, we have been going to swimming lessons and she is coping well with all the water activities, including going under water. There are other children in the class who are older (12 months - 2 years) some of the older kids seem to hate going under water. I think the ones that have been going to lessons from a young age are fine but the kids that started later are afraid. The instructor encourages them to go under even if they hate it. I think the idea is they will develop confidence the more they do it.

Sorry, I have no strategies. I just wanted to let you know to persevere with the swimming!

Curly,

I have recently changed swim schools for my son as he for some reason lost all confidence in the water and as a result would scream and cry whenever he was in the water.

Luckily I was recommended a new swim school by my sister in-law, which is temprature controlled, shallow depth, and full of toys.

He is a changed boy. He loves going underwater now and has graduated from learning water confidence to actual swimming.

I believe that a good swim school with quality instructors is the key to kids learning to enjoy the water and to their safety in it.

Look around and get recommendations from friends and family. My son's swim school is in Brisbane and is called Shapland Swim School.

Hi Curly,
Luckily my little girl loves the water but I do have an idea. Recently my mum and dad looked after her for the day and mum has a water gun (the kind the hairdresser uses) and my dad sprayed a fine mist on her face. She holds her breath when it comes but she absolutely LOVES it. Perhaps if you try this on a warm day outside she will be comfortable fully dressed and refreshed by the water. You could progress this to the bathtub and then go to a watercan over her head. Worth a try. Let me know if it works. Good Luck

Hi Jordy's mum,

That sounds like a great idea.

I took her to swimming last Saturday, we spent 10 mins in the baby pool (prior to joining the class) and I gently dripped water on her face and did the same to mine, she loved it. When we joined the class later, we had the best time together.
I will try your suggestion and see how she takes to it.

Thank you, curly

Hi Kj,

I think you are right. Well, I just have to keep at it and wait until her confidence improves.

Thank you for your reply.

Curly

Hi Mum's and dad's,

Need to know if anyone has the same problem here.

My little girl has developed a chronic cough, usually occurs late at night or around 6am in the morning, every day now for over 2 weeks, where she will have a 10 min coughing fit.

My GP say's it's possibly a by-product of the cold/flu she had about 1 month ago. She checked her chest and say's it's clear, although her throught is very red. My GP recommended a ventilator inhaler to be used with a "Breath-atec and face mask" for 1 week.

My girl (18 mths old) has a phobia of medical instruments, and throws one all mighty tantrum when I put the face mask on her face. This phobia was a result of being poked and proded in hospital, when she was diagnosed with U.T.I about 3 months ago. Her U.T.I has since cleared up.

How to I settle her down, so that she is not afraid and she recives the benefit that the ventilator provides?

Regards,

Curly

Ok there is two problems here. firstly is the cough. Your GP could be right about the cough being a left over from the cold that she had about a month ago as post viral cough can last from 1 to 6 months! but the story you give is suggestive of a hyper reactive airway what ever the cause and Ventolin may help but really it is a treatment for asthma. Unless there is a particularly strong family history of asthma, eczema or hayfever that is unlikely to be the cause of the cough and certainly the modern thoughts on cough-variant asthma is that it probably does not exist... so my suggestion is unless this is really bothering her, trying to persist with a treatment of dubious benefit and is certainly causing her distress, is probably not worth the persistance. And cough medicines have never proven in any strict trial to be of benefit to anyone.

As to the UTI, if this is her first episode and it is a proven UTI ie the urine collection was sterile ie clean catch or catheter specimen. there is probably no need for further investigations. however a second episode would warrant investigations in a female infant.

Hi doc,

Thank you for your reply.

There is history of bronchitis, hayfever and eczema my family (my brother had bronchitis as a child, and I suffer from severe hayfever and I develop eczema when I suffer sever stress).

As far as the UTI is concerned, yes it was a correct diagnosis. She originally had a bag urine specimine analysed, that came up contaminated and they could not give an accurate diagnosis. She had very high temperatures 40.1 was her max, over almost a whole week. We took her to the hospital (Mona Vale, Sydney) and as a last resort, the nurse and pead. doctor inserted a catheter to get a clean urine sample. That sample was analysed at Royal North Shore hospital, Sydney. UTI was diagnosed.
She was on 2 seperate doses on antibiotics and later also had an ultra-sound done to rule out inconsistencies in her bladder, kidney, intestine development. Her ultra-sound came up good and there were no problems. We were advised that a second UTI will need further intrusive analysis, to check for urine reflux.

I am now giving her the ventolin, thru the use of the "spacer" and face mask at night, while she is sleeping. Last night was the first time I tried it.

The doctor asked me if my girl would wheeze after some activity, running around etc. She doesn't. Her cough only occurs late at night or early morning.

How do we do a test for asthma ???

Dear Curly,
My son (now 7 months) had a cold at 5.5 months. He got over the cold, but developed a chronic cough. He would hardly ever cough through the day (except while sleeping), but would have a coughing attact that would last for around 5-10 minutes at 3-4 am every night. The doctor said his chest was clear and that there was little we could do. This was very frightening, as most nights he would cough so much he would gag, and I thought he was choking. He never brought up any phlem or anything. After two weeks of coughing every night, and no sign that the cough was going to go, I began rubbing Vicks vapour rub onto his chest and back before his night time sleep. I also invested in a steam vapouriser ( around $30.00 from most chemists), and put this on every night when he went to bed. Within 1 week his cough was gone, and we had not had any coughing since. Good luck and let me know how you go.

Hi there,
I am no expert but when my daughter was sick the pharmasist gave me a product called Breathe Ezy. You plug it into a power point and it releases a safe vapour that helps with breathing. It can be used for young infants and adults too. My daughter's congested breathing cleared up over 2 to 3 days. If you are concerned about your baby, maybe you should seek a second opinion. There is no harm in doing that. Goodluck.

Hi, all i can think of is try and have fun with her in the bath. I have recently bought these bath bombs that change the colour of the water, they don't stain the bath and don't stain your kids either, my kids love them. Mine also like a few of there favorite toys in there to play with while i wash them it usually takes there mind off it.