Wiping Child's Face After Meals

I've always used a wet paper towel, rung out and reopened. I only use Bounty though because they don't fall apart in water.
I use this with my own son as well as with the children I've nannied for and in daycare settings. First I wipe the entire face and hands then I have the child wash hands with soap and water.

As many have already said - all kids hate having their faces washed. When my son was born, we got this little blue plastic bowl from the hospital. I don't do this anymore, but I used to fill it with some warm water and I'd let him play with it in his high chair after meals. He'd be washing his hands & I'd get his face quickly and with much less resistance.

Keep dabbing while he's eating. Don't wait till food has hardened on his face so you have to scrub. Use a warm, wet soapy soft cloth. He'll get use to it and finally use a napkin himself if he sees you and daddy using one.

My son hates it too! He is now 20 mos old and I have been singing to him, "this is the way we wash our face, wash our face , wash our face, this is the way we wash our face, at Kenny's house" since he was about 10 months old. He lets me wipe his face long enough to get it clean!
Hope this helps!

we wipe our son too - yours will outgrow the fuss, but i agree that you can let him try doing it himself.

Wiping noses and cleaning faces is usually a struggle for the first couple of years. My daughter is the same way now. She used to be fine with cleaning up but started complaining a week or so ago. And she is only 8 months. My others were the same way.

You are the M.. You know what your child needs.. If it's a clean face.. a warm damp wash cloth is what is needed ( and maybe some gentle soap). You are the one who will need to teach your child right from wrong.. so if you are not hurting him..I say wash his face! God wouldn't have provided parents if the kids came pre-taught. And yeah.. sometimes parents need help in that dept. too. Good Luck..and remember..YOU are the boss/ grown-up... not your child.
Do not take this to mean you don't listen to the kids..they really need that.. but you are the one to provide the stablitiy in thier lives.. The right..the wrong.. the morals..and respect.. and true love. Your child will test this theary at every turn. You will get extremely tired at times..but believe me.. My children are now adults. People love them, and they love me.. It is worth it all in the end.

I use diaper wipes... seems to be the most efficient with the least amount of time.

Try using a baby wipe instead (yes, the type you'd usually use on a tushy!) They are much softer than the average wash cloth, and smaller too. I'd hand it to him first, and tell him to try to clean up then say "good job! Now let mama get the spots you missed!"

Its pretty typical for kids to hate being cleaned, but it still has to be done so I'd be as matter of fact as possible. I hate paying bills, but . . .

I agree with one of the other posters who suggested that smaller washcloths are better than the large ones - I've been using the little baby bath washcloths for face and hand washing after meals and they are softer and lighter weight.

Both my kids have gone through phases like this though, and it IS mostly just a phase. I found out with my son that he was disliking the temperature I was using with the water. We tend to assume that a warm washcloth will be best, but my son prefers cool water when washing his hands and face. As a result, I've tended to use cooler water with my daughter and have had less issues with her trying to avoid me.

I do also play a game when she starts fussing about it though - she has dimples so I tell her I need to wash the dimples, which makes her laugh and forget to stop me from washing her up. I will name the parts of her face as I wash them and it distracts her.

Good luck!

Try finding animal puppet washcloths and making it a game where the animal is trying to give your child kisses on the face.
We had the same issue in the bath with our daughter and found a set of washcloths (frog, dinasour, monkey, duck) at WorldMarket. We told her the monkey was just trying to give her kisses and then it turned into lots of fun. Now we're using it to try to get her to dunk her head under water.
Give it a shot and goo dluck!

I babysat a little boy who hated having his face washed so I would give him the wash rag and try to get him to clean his face as much as he could first....he would suck on the washrag but it did help some before I would take another rag and wipe his face to get the rest of the sticky off. He did better because he was distracted with his own washrag.

You could try holding him over the sink and giving him a quick swipe with your wet hand. If he cries when you do this you could try quickly patting your hand over his mouth -- it makes a Baa Baa Baa sound that might make him laugh instead. (That always cracks my daughter up.)

Is he in the mimicking stage? My daughter is almost 13 months and likes to "help" do whatever we do. Try handing him a washcloth (damp or dry- either) and wash your own face to show him how, and then wash his... pretty soon he'll probably be enchanted with the cloth and using it to clean either his face, your face, or highchair, etc. and you can give him a quick wipe then.

Good Luck! :)
M.

Try only using 2 fingers wrapped in the was cloth. Only wipe 1/4 of his face at a time. Try smiling or playing a little wash-u-up game each time. Explain it is necessary for his face to be clean. Also, sometimes a wet wash cloth can hurt their little faces if they have a little dry skin.Also it just may be the wash cloth is too rough. Just use your wet hand to wash his face and give him a soft towel to dry it off. Maybe with a peek-a-boo game. See what works best.

I've never met a kid who LIKED having his/her face wiped. Most kids turn their face, push your hands away etc.

I found that bringing a LARGE washcloth toward their face is kind of like if someone stuck a big washcloth in YOUR face! Would YOU like it?

What always caused less of a struggle was wrapping the washcloth around my fingers so it didn't seem so large. Then counting to ten very cheerfully while washing and at the end "all done!"

I've never known a single child that didn't dislike it. I usually make faces and all kinds of noise and laugh to distract them and make them think it's fun. Outside of that I just tell them "you're alright" and keep washing. Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do regardless of how they feel about it. They will get over it.

make it into a game, use silly voices, have it be something silly or do silly things

We just use a wet papertowel, and she still hated it. It is better now (I think it was a phase)...maybe try to have him do it himself?

How about encouraging him to do it. Tell him where he missed and praise him as a big boy.

well when my son was 13 mos i use to hand him the washcloth and tell him to clean up his face and then when he started i would slip my hand on top of his and help me clean his face
good luck i hope this helps

Patty,
It's good to have a whole bunch of things to try, because just when you think you've found something that works...

I use the ideas the other moms mentioned--let him try it himself (you can both have cloths so that when he is distracted you can clean him up), wash in the sink, make silly sounds (buzzing like a bee works well and you can make the "bee" buzz around in unexpected ways so it becomes a fun game). You can also play peek-a-boo with the cloth or begin with little dabs that become a game. I've cleaned my daughter's entire face with little strategic dabs and she thought it was hilarious.

Good luck!
M.

I think all kids hate their face being washed. I take my son to the sink and while he is putting his hand in the water or playing with a cup in the sink I get my hand wet and just wash his face. He is so busy playing in the water he doesnt care. Good luck

My daughter used to hate this too, and although it sounds silly, I made up a song and used to sing it to her while I would wipe her face. "Cleanin', we're cleanin', mommy and Ella are cleanin'..." and for some reason she liked that! Probably the only person in the world who likes my singing. : )

My mother-in-law also used a trick she called "The Cleaning Machine" - a saying she would repeat whenever she wiped her face. It goes "The cleaning machine, the cleaning machine, it rubs and it scrubs and it gets you call clean!" She liked that too. It kind of made cleaning up into a game.

Not sure if those tips will help, but hey, they are worth a try, right?! : )