Fact: toddlers drink bath water.
My daughter loves bath time. Sometimes she insists on wearing her swimsuit, gathering all her toys and then pretending she’s going on an underwater adventure.
And then suddenly, in the midst of all the imaginative play, my toddler drinks the bath water.
I try hard not to flip out. I can look at the color of the bathwater and see how filthy it actually is.
Just thinking of all the gross stuff she’s ingesting makes me nauseous.
Barf.
So why do toddlers drink bath water and what can you do to discourage them from indulging in such grossness?
Why do Toddlers Drink Bath Water?
The water is filled with dead skin cells, soap, the dirt off their body and most likely pee. So it definitely can’t be the taste they’re after.
For them, it’s just one more way to explore their environment. Your child wants to know what it’s like to scoop up water from a tub and put it in their mouth.
Maybe they’re pretending to be a sea animal or a mermaid and think lapping up the water goes nicely with their imaginative play.
It could also be that your toddler is simply thirsty. He doesn’t yet understand the difference between clean and dirty water. For him it’s like, we drink water, why not this water?
6 Ways to Deal with Toddlers Who Drink Bath Water
Shower before bathing
It takes two minutes, but it will save you so much grossness. Just give your child a good scrub, get all that dirt off of them and let the filthy water drain.
Then fill up the bath tub with clean water. If they take a few sips, you don’t need to worry too much about how much filth they’re ingesting.
Remove scoop-able toys
It’s best to remove anything that would tempt your child to drink the bath water. See which bath toys they could possibly use to scoop water into to drink. Then replace it with bath toys that strain the water instead.
Non toxic soap and shampoo
Despite your best efforts, it’s inevitable your child will take a sip of bath water here and there when he thinks you’re not looking.
To prevent your little one from ingesting harmful chemicals, it’s best to always use non toxic soap and shampoo.
Keep your child busy
This is my favorite strategy and it works every time. Get your child a few engaging bath toys to distract them. They will become so busy playing with them, they’ll totally forget about gulping dirty water.
Also, try to be present with your child during bath time. I’m not talking about being physically present (because of course we’re all present with our toddlers when they’re bathing). I mean being mentally present.
I know it’s been a long day and all you want to do is finish up bath time so you can go crawl into bed.
It doesn’t need to be anything elaborate. Simple things like singing a few songs with your child in the bath, engaging with them and making eye contact can do wonders.
Take out of bath if need be
It is important that if your child is making a regular habit of doing this every single bath time, you need to address the issue directly.
Let them know that the water in the tub is dirty and is not for drinking. Maybe even give them a visual demonstration.
Fill up one cup with soapy bathwater and another with clean water from the tap. Then explain that one is for bathing in and another is for drinking.
If they keep persisting in the habit, let them know that bath time will have to end.
RELATED: Handling a cranky toddler who hates bath time
If they still continue, carry through with what you said and take them out of the tub. They’ll soon learn that bath time fun ends if they engage in such behavior and they’ll stop doing it.
Ignore and breathe
The truth is, this is just another one of those phases that your toddler will go through. He will experiment with this gross habit, quickly get bored and then move on to the next thing he can do to get you wound up.
So in the meantime, it’s best not to get too worked up about this. In the grander scheme of parenting, this is largely inconsequential.
Also as many of us parents would testify, our toddlers have definitely done grosser things than drinking bathwater.
Next Read: 6 ingenious ways to stop a toddler from jumping on the couch
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