11 year old son hates showers (sensory issues)

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My 11 year old AS son has sensory issues in the shower. He needs the water to be pretty hot, because otherwise it feels uncomfortably cold on his skin and really bothers him. BUT, because the water is so hot, when he gets out of the shower, he feels all sick and nauseated. He says he's too hot on the inside and too cold on the outside. It makes it so he can't just get out and dry off quickly. I come and put a towel around him, but he feels so uncomfortable that he just stands there, huddled up and whimpering.

If any of you have, or had, similar issues, do you have any suggestions on how to deal with it?

He feels the same way about baths.

Sorry I don't have any tips because that's how I am still.
I would also love some tips if anyone else has them.

Let him smell! There is really no health reason of taking each day a shower. A healthy body can deal with the layer of bacteria on the skin very well, some the bacteria have even benefits in keeping the bad ones out.

Leave him!

I always run a small space heater in the bathroom for awhile, before showering. That way, there is no marked contrast in temperatures when I exit the shower. A brisk rub down with a towel may warm up the skin, if your son is uncomfortably cold. But I really recommend the space heater. I couldn't shower without it. Also, when my daughter was little, she used to enjoy being rinsed off with pitchers of water, as opposed to the shower blasting water at her.

I have a similar feeling, but only in my back, I only feel that I'm getting cold if I shower it, he might allso have a part of his body that's coolong down the rest of it if it gets wet. I usuallt prefer baths since they warm me and keeps me warm even after I get up.

Try to make him start at a temperature that feels good and then slowly lower the temp, it might work so he won't chock his body with sudden temp changes.

I disagree with this because if showers are not a part of your daily routine then they become harder and harder to do... and the less you do them the less likely you are to get used to them.

Teenage boys develop body odor quickly. I may have lasted relatively well into my adult years, but I'm female. A boy would have been much more obviously unwashed... Also remember there are people with sensitivity to smell who would be very overwhelmed by your boy's BO. I'm one of them. (I get overwhelmed by perfume, cologne, or hair spray smells too, so it's not just the "eeww, gross" reaction.)

Anything is easier when it is a part of a routine, when everything is expected, instead of sprung on you.

I didn't shower regularly until I was about nineteen. I think it was 19, anyhow; I remember carefully putting together an every-other-day schedule that year. It helped to develop a list of things to do that was the same thing every time.

I don't know how routine-dependent your kid is, but if he is, then this may help, because if you need routines it's likely you need them for a reason--that is, using them helps you think and plan and cope with things.

Today, I get up, make my bed, shower, dress, feed the cats, and clean the litter boxes in twenty minutes. That's all thanks to routines. Other chores still take a long time, but that's only because I haven't got good routines for them yet.

Alternatives to daily showers: Sponge-baths--that is, wash your hair, armpits and groin at a sink--which don't envelop you in water the way a shower or bath does, but isn't as thorough. Or showers every other day--but always on a schedule, so that they cannot be easily put off or ignored.

Does your boy wear a buzz cut? If not, and he can tolerate clippers, consider it. It doesn't take nearly as long to wash very short hair. Have him wash the bits of hair off in the shower afterward so it doesn't tickle his skin.

Keep the bathroom warm--80 degrees at least. Put a space heater in there if you have to. There's less contrast between hot water and cold air that way.

Why not have a bath instead?

I do the same thing. I have to have the water very hot. Usually I get sort of like you said after my bath. It feels too cold outside and too warm inside. I wish I knew how to help, but I actually really enjoy it.

Perhaps use a towel that that has been warmed up by the dryer ^_^ and use a space heater to warm the air up ^_^

Even better is underfloor heating as you can place the towel onto the floor and it warms up, or place the towel over a radiator in the bathroom, then it is lovely and warm when you come out of the bath/shower.

use wipes.

I have 2 kids that are somewhat this way. I agree with the posters that recommended a heater for the bathroom. I have our heater set to go up about 3 degrees warmer than I usually keep it at the time that my kids have showers/baths. Of course, that only works in the winter when it's really cold outside. It may also help if he was to shower after someone else already had one that way the air would already be humid, and warmed.

I hate showers too, the feeling of water running down me is just not nice. I suggest trying baths instead, as they will clean just as good as showers do.

Those infrared bathroom lamps you put in the ceiling are nice. My friend has one in her bathroom.

The way your son feels cold makes me wonder if he either has hypothyroidism or Raynauds Syndrome. I have both so I know about being cold. I would suggest taking him in for some blood tests: Free T3, Free T4 and ANA antibodies test.

I kinda understand what he's going through. Since it's so cold out and I'm so thin, I'm always freezing. When I do take a shower, I've been turning the water almost all the way up (after a bit, it IS all the way up) and I've given myself a heat rash on my thighs and back from it. I think another factor may be that my body's normal body temperature is 97.5F instead of 98.6F which may also explain why I'm so cold all the time. My hands are almost always frozen, even if the room is well over 80F.

And have him get bullied at school for stinking. I guess that's a good way to make him decide he should shower more often so he forces himself to do it because he doesn't want to get bullied and wants to narrow down the list of "Reasons to bully me."