Keep it up — eventually, his natural love of water will take over again, and he’ll be splashing away. But for now, your can only support him through this time by being understanding (and by insisting on a bath when he NEEDS it — that’s OK). He’s too young to really understand that boys don’t go down the drain, even though he TRIES to believe it. He’s really just scared — and your support will mean he can resolve the issue better, over the long run. Hang in there and let us know how it develops! (And hopefully it’s warm where you live — you can rely on the hose! The kitchen sink is another option (with dangerous stuff out of reach, of course). Good luck!

I know it’s very difficult, but for now all you can do is reassure her, limit baths, and keep trying modifications — wipe her down outside the bathtub, make a deal with her that you will only clean one area per night, etc. Also, if there are other little kids she can observe being bathed, kids who like their bath, that can help too. But if she HAS to have a bath, give her warning so she can get ready and then praise and reward her afterwards. I promise this will pass and one day she’ll be swimming like a fish, and you’ll remember back to this time with shock! Hang in there!

She always loved bath time before and the problem was to get her out of the water, not in.
On New Year’s Eve, my sister gave her her bath at my parent’s house and she suddenly was screaming bloody murder. It was not the first time one of her haunts or grandmas gave here her bath and apparently absolutely no reason triggered the panic. She also loves her aunt and always has a great time with her. We were also present in the house when that happened and we came to offer help when this happened. Could the excitation of the festivities be a real cause or was it just a trigger like any other for something that would happen anyway one day or another?
Since then, even at home with me or my wife, every bath is a hell of tears and panic as if we were bathing her in boiling oil. Even the kitchen sink had the same effect. We even got her to the doctor to make sure she didn’t have any infection, so far nothing have been found.
She’s at an age when she begins to talk but all she says about the bath is “no bath” and we can’t extract any other verbal information about her new fear of the bath whatsoever.

Sheba