Fear of Automatic Flushing Toilets

[Teasmom]

Just wondering if anyone else is running into this kind of
problem with public bathrooms. We just returned from a
week long trip to Colorado and my DD was doing great with
using the public bathroom and the fold up potty seat. She
thought it was fun to go the the bathrooms and waiting in
line was exciting too!

Anyway, that all changed on Sunday when my husband took our
DD to a public bathroom and the toilet flushed automatically.
It scared the living daylights out of her and for the rest
of the trip, she absolutely REFUSED to use a public bathroom.
Even ones that didn't have the automatic flush toilets. She
was so frightened by the noise and the surprise of the flush
that they only place she would go potty was in our hotel room.

Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions on how to get over
this hump? I have a feeling that it will continue and want
to figure something out to help our DD feel comfortable using
public bathrooms and automatic flush toilets again.

Thanks,

Ellen

[egoldber]

Well DD does not ahve this fear (thank goodness), but for any fear like this, what has always worked for me is to turn the fearful situation into a game. Example: For awhile she was afraid of the shower, so I started doing the hokey-pokey with her in the shower. That made the shower a game and she stopped being scared.

Maybe make it a game to see which of you can get the toilet to flush first? After you've played a few rounds of that, maybe then she will be OK to potty there?

HTH,