Hey parents! Dad of a 2.5 year old girl and having some struggles with potty training and curious to know if others have experienced this issue and what tricks/tips helped.
We started potty training in January and it was going well, we made it part of her nightly routine to go #1 on the potty before bed and would get a sticker reward (some tracker chart that pampers/huggies offers). She even started to say she wanted to go on the potty during the day and even made a couple #2’s, which we were excited for and told her how great it was she did this.
Then suddenly overnight she became incredibly afraid of the potty and is now actively trying to hold it in. We know she needs to go because she strains, yells “No” repeatedly and holds her bum as if she is trying to keep it in. We try to encourage her and tell her it’s ok and that she can go in her diaper if she needs to but the act of going #2 seems to really scare her and we are concerned of any side effects of her constantly trying to hold it in.
She seems to go at daycare with no issue (in her diaper, they aren’t actively trying to potty train her yet).
I understand people might not know the cause but curious to know if you went through this and what helped your toddler?
Well first off, if nothing works, she might just not be ready, so whatever you do, don’t push it too far, it won’t help.
If she’s using a normal toilet with one of the adapters, consider getting one that can go in her room or wherever shes more comfortable. It kinda kicks the can down the road, because you’ll probably have similar troubles shifting to the actual toilet, but it means she’s actively reinforcing the potty training and not holding it in if it works.
Pretending to use the toilet yourself could reassure her that it’s safe, too.
Good luck!
Good points!
Uno reverse card on my side: the portable ones didn’t work, my kids wanted to go on the normal toilet! 😅
I guess, my point is, whatever you’re doing, try the other way.