Regression ?'s

jesselayne8

We did the 3 day PTing method 3 months ago and it took a good 9 days. She wears underwear during the day and during nap but a pull up at night. She has been almost completely accident free for 2 months until Monday. An automatic flushing scared her and now she has completely regressed. She is having multiple accidents a day and refusing to sit on any toilet except
her bathroom. What do I do?
Let her pee her pants?
Hold her on the toilet while she cries? I am so frustrated. She has to use public restrooms. I really don't want to do a car potty because she will use it as a game. I do carry a portable folding potty seat but she has never used it.

LC122

Hmm. This is tough. I know we went through a time when loud public restroom flushes could be scary, but I don't know if we had too many times when it flushed while on it. As a preventative, I'm wondering if there is a way to delay it triggering - movement or something?

While it may be difficult to get her back on the horse, so to speak, I think once you do, your reactions can be really helpful. So, putting words and positive/neutral emotions with it. "Wow! That was loud!" And being sure to express surprise & amazement rather than fear.
You can also provide reassurance for non-auto-flushers. "Let me check this toilet. Ok, this one flushes with a handle; no sensor." At least that way you can separate the fear of auto-flushers from all public restrooms.

As for auto-flushers, when you're ready to face them, try making a game out of it. "I think it might flush in 5...4...3...2..1... No?!? Maybe in 10 seconds? Wow, it didn't flush the whole time you were using it."

You might also explore what the fear is - the loud sound, the splash, the surprise? And work on that specifically.

Other than that, keep it positive. Compliment all successes. Encourage tries. Good Luck.

*LrCg*

Poor thing!!  How scary for her!!  With my oldest, an automatic flusher scared him but he didn't start having accidents, he just refused to use outside restrooms.  What we did was show him I was putting a sticky note over the sensor (or if I was out toilet paper works too) so he knew it wouldn't go off (you may need to go too just to show her).  And when he was done going I told him to leave the stall and I would flush it after he left.