PT & scared of hand dryers and flushers

monkey_pants

It's been a while since I've been here and they changed up the whole site - wasn't there a sub-category for PT?  I can't find it if there is, sorry if this is the wrong place to post...

Anyway, my DD is 30mos and we PT'd about 3 months ago.  It went fairly easily and she was waking up dry almost from the start, so she night PT'd herself pretty quickly, too.  Our only hiccup was during the first week as she responded very negatively to any requests that she use the bathroom but she also didn't want to have accidents or go back to diapers.  Thus it became a bit of a power struggle and she'd hold it in for up to 12 hours.  I realized quickly that it worked much better if I backed off and let her tell me when she needed to go and it's been pretty fine since then.

But over the last month or so, she's been developing a lot of new fears around loud noises.  She's afraid of the vacuum, the food processor, etc.  But it also extends to bathroom sounds, so she's afraid of hand dryers in public bathrooms, and also of flushers (although less so at home where she's familiar).  So this power struggle / holding it in has returned.  She's not having accidents, but I don't think it's healthy to be going that long in between bathroom trips.  We'll be out and I know she has to go, but she refuses.  Occasionally I can bribe her with a treat but that's not really how I want to be handling this.  I try to comfort her, tell her she doesn't have to wash her hands (I just give her some purell after) or she can stand outside the bathroom while I flush, but she still refuses and gets upset if I push it.

Has anyone else dealt with this?  Any suggestions?

TiffanyBerry

Bring a little potty to use in the back of the car and consider getting her headphones (like these: https://www.amazon.com/3M-Peltor-Junior-Earmuff-Black/dp/B000I7NX5E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1378615191&sr=8-1&keywords=peltor+junior+hearing+protection).  My daughter has always been sound sensitive, and those headphones are the only way I can get her into a bathroom out in public when I need to go.  She won't even go on a public bathroom toilet, or in most other ones, so we have the little potty in the back of the car, or a Potette (https://www.amazon.com/Kalencom-2-in-1-Potette-Plus-Red/dp/B0016KV73W/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1378615262&sr=8-3&keywords=potette) that we can use if we're out somewhere, she's got her headphones so I can convince her to go into a public bathroom, but she won't sit on the seat.

kimekat

I have synthesia and find myself very sensitive of certain sounds. My daughter also doesn't like loud noises. When you go out and know your child is going to need to use the restroom which is very likely, take some stickers with you and before you put the child on the toilet put a sticker over the sensor on the back of the toilet to prevent it from flushing before he/she is ready. This gives you time to tell them when they are done to cover their ears so you can flush the toilet and gives them the feeling they have a little more control over the situation instead of making them scared of it. My daughter also fears the hand dryers too, especially the ones made by Dyson. I take wipes with me and use that instead of hand washing. If I don't have any one hand, I take a wet washcloth in the ziplock bag and once she has wiped her hands I rinse it off and its back in the bag till we get home when I can toss it in the wash.

grlmom16

My daughter HATES those hand dryer things. We went to FL on a 12 hour road trip and all rest stop bathrooms have them. They sound like a jet engine! So we started going to gas stations and restaurants, and I would pray there wasn't anyone else in there that would use it while we were in there if they had them too. I never missed paper towels so bad, lol.

BelhurstBride

I kept a little potty in the back of the car for DD to use if she wasn't comfortable using the public restroom. She's over that now, but still hates the hand dryers. I see no reason to force it so she doesn't use them. 

CopperT0p

DS used to be afraid of loud flushing toilets and is still afraid of hand dryers. 

We always try to find a "family washroom" which is just a single room so there won't be other people flushing toilets and running hand dryers while we're in there. 

He can typically hold his pee for 4 hours so we rarely have trips where we cannot find a family washroom in time. 

I like the idea of the headphones. 

monkey_pants

I have a Potette so maybe I'll have to start carrying it with my everywhere again.  Good idea on the stickers for the sensors, and I do offer her wipes as an alternative to hand washing, but at the moment, she won't even set foot in a public restroom regardless of what's in it.  We were at the pedi's office and I knew she had to go while we were waiting for our appt. I had to bribe her with a lollipop (ya know, the ones they give to kids after they're good at the doctor).  The bathroom was like any household bathroom (even had a bathtub in it b/c the office is in a townhouse) and she still was worked up the whole time we were in there.  

Well I'm glad to hear others are having the same issue, although I'm a bit disheartened to find out it's still going on for some well past 3 yrs old.  I was really hoping to hear it would pass quickly!

TiffanyBerry

monkey_pants, seriously consider the headphones.  I also cannot get my daughter into a public restroom, unless she has them on.  they don't play music, they're the sort that you might use for a shooting range, and have a 22dB attenuation - reasonably significant.  It has been this way for my daughter for a very long time, and I don't see it changing for quite a while longer yet.  And that's ok.

kgs0505

Thankfully my son likes to go potty in public places, but he has a fear of those automatic paper towel dispensers.  He was startled by one in a family bathroom in the airport.  He won't go near the dryers either.  I just wash his hands and leave then wet if there aren't paper towels.  They'll dry pretty quick.

Hopefully she will eventually get over the fear of public restrooms.  I'd be bribing if I had to as well.  M&M's are gold in our house