toilet aversion?

cg0112358

I am so frustrated with DS and PT right now... The past week or two we've hit a brick wall with trying to PT DS. He vehemently refuses to even sit on a toilet (we've got a seat and a small toilet and he refuses both). I've tried resorting to bribes but nothing works. I just don't know what to do, he won't even go near the toilet for himself. He has no problem coming in while I'm using the bathroom or flushing the toilet after me but absolutely refuses to have anything to do with it for himself. Anyone have any advice regarding toddlers that have an EXTREME aversion to the toilet?

TMDMJAOCT07

No advice, just wanted to say that you aren't alone! DD started going on the potty last week (all on her own) - we made it 5 days accident free, things were great - rewards were really helping, it was awesome.  That awesomeness hit a brick wall and now she refuses to sit on the potty, nothing is helping - rewards, treats, etc.

I'm hoping she just needs a few days in her 'comfort zone' and will go back to going on the potty again asap.

Good Luck!

meltoine

I've been reading a lot about this now because we are about to start PT DS. It seems like the best thing to do is put the potty away, out of sight, for a couple of weeks and not even mention it. After a month or so, bring it out and start from the beginning again. 

We've had the potty in our bathroom for over a year now and DS sits on it every night while the tub fills up, and has since he could sit up. But he won't go near it any other time of day, so I'm going to put it away for a month or two and start from the beginning.  

Smores730

What do you have him wearing? If he's in diapers or pullups, I'd make him switch to underwear.

My "method" for potty training both of my kids was after they knew about the potty and had successes, I put them in underwear and allowed them to have accidents. Every time they did I was there to clean them up (throw them in the tub), tell them how yucky and gross it was, and that they need to be a big boy/girl and put that in the potty. When they're in a diaper or pull up, it's not as gross and messy. In underwear, it's nasty and it didn't take long for my kids to agree. If they protested, I would tell them okay but you're going to pee/poop all over yourself. Ew, that's gross.

sucredee

My DD had absolutely no interest in the potty at all. I tried PT her at 25 months because she was physically ready. It did not go well. She didn't care about the bribes and I ended up needing to give her bribes (M&M) just to sit on the potty but she never peed on the potty. After 1.5 day of that and no poop for about 4 days I bailed. Didn't mention the potty for at least 2 weeks but gave her lots of naked time and started throwing her poop in the toilet each time. 1 month later she was ready on her terms and she surprised us all by starting the use the potty out of the blue on her own while on vacation. 

If he is fighting it I would stop and give it a rest for at least a couple of weeks. Making it a power struggle is not going to work and may make the process take much longer.