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My toddler is now deathly afraid of bathrooms in stalls and public toilets. What can i do?

He has been potty trained for over a year. He just turned three. He went in a public bathroom and it was an automatic flush toilet. When he moved it flushed he screamed, it hurt me. (the water hit his butt). Now he won't use bathrooms in stalls. Well he just started daycare 3 days ago. He wont use there potty now, and had an accident. He hasn't had one in MONTHS. HELP!

Public Comments

1. Avoid using them.
2. Get one in the house then he'll have to get used to it...YAHHH!!!
3. Take him to toilets that aren't automatic and tell him he won't have to use those ones again. Then he can build his confidence back up.
4. my sisters have the same problem. just make him go potty on the toilet. cover the motion detector. that's how my sisters will go to the bathroom now
5. Remenber that children are extremely sensitive. I would reccomend going with him and step by step helping him, then, letting himself do it at home until he can do it all by himself. Jut don't worry too much, I'm pretty sure weve all gone throuhg it.
6. Maybe try taking him by one and flush it with him a few times to show him that there is nothing wrong. Have him flush it too, show him how they work. In order to get rid of a fear, the child must face it and realize that it's okay and that he'll be okay.
7. You could introduce "an element of fun" into the situation.... It cant go on forever - its just somethig you have to guide him through.... Good luck Han N Bumpo
8. tough love time. take him in as many as you can and show him that most of them dont flush on their own. he'll probably kick up a fuss the first few times but he'll soon calm down. you can also splash hm a lot in the bath and make the point that water wont 'hurt' him.
9. You could try taking him in with you and move around so it will flush while you're on it, then laugh when it gets you wet. If he sees that you're not afraid of it, that might help!
10. Take him back to the place it happened and show him how the toilet works.
11. Explain things to him. Tell him what the toilet was doing and that although it surprised him, it won't hurt him. We moved to Europe when my eldest daughter was 5. On one of our first days, I took her to the bathroom like normal and she went potty. Being little, she had to get off the seat to get toilet paper and when she sat back down, the toilet seat was moving! I was laughing so hard and trying to calm her down I don't know which took longer. Of course she was scared, but I told her it was cleaning the toilet to get rid of the germies. It took awhile for her to get over the "moving toilet", but you gotta keep trying. Take him to the potty and use it first if it will help him feel better. That way you'll both know if its automatic or does anything else that might bother him. I'd keep having him use public toilets, but be with him for moral support. If you let him stop using them, his fear will just take longer to overcome.
12. build up his confidence convince him the flush can't hurt him, get him to flush Let him shoot a waterpistol into the toilet And maybe a water fight
13. As everyone said Explain it to him, every time its potty time,every time you go to the washroom,just every time,keep telling him its OK and really he just needs to be reminded its OK & how stuff works Give it some time,dont rush him back onto a toilet. Toilets are not the cleanest place so dont go playing around in there. My daughter is in love with the tiney kids toilet at IKEA would be fun to show him they made a toilet just for kids that isnt automatic,If you can locate one such toilet. Poor kid is traumatised just give him time. Also inform his teacher of the incident. A good teacher will understand and not pressure you to pressure him.
14. My son was scared of the auto-flushing toilets too, until I started carrying a packet of Magical Toilet Stickers (AKA small Post-It Notes) in my bag. Whenever we went into a public restroom that had the auto-flusher, I would stick a Post-It over the sensor before he used the toilet. Voila! No sensor, no flush...and when he was all done and we were ready to leave the stall, I would just peel off the Post-It, crumple it up and drop it in the toilet, and wave my hand in front of the sensor to make it flush. Now, are moms magical or what?