Hi, my almost 3 year son is afraid of the toilet, any ideas on how to get him to use it? I don't know what else to try!!!

Pat - posted on 04/09/2009

I have three sons.  They are way out of the potty training stage, but one of my son's recently  had a baby boy and we were talking about this stage in his son's life.  He came up with a cute idea.  May be useful.  The "fish" crackers; take one and put it in the toilet.  Tell Daddy to show him how to sink it.  He may get the idea, without fearing it.  Good Luck.

Jennifer - posted on 03/31/2009

There is a product called Peter Potty, its a training urinal .  It has had great reviews for potty training boys, it actually flushes so boys find it super fun!!  And its only like 40 bucks-ish. 

Rachel - posted on 03/24/2009

Thankyou to everyone who had advice for me, we are still trying, we will get there eventually!!!!

Christine - posted on 03/19/2009

ok I too had a problem with my oldest he was afraid ...so I told him a story about the caca monster...he lives in the toilet and he is a very nice monster....but he is hungry and thirsty...but he only like to eat caca and pipi....so it was up to us to help keep him healthy and satisfied...my son ate this story up...he couldnt go enough times in a day to feed the caca monster...everytime he would flush the toilet he would say here you go...its lunch time!Well this worked for me...not sure if it would work for you...but every time I tell this story everyone gets a kick out of it and a good laugh....Enjoy!

Kristy - posted on 03/18/2009

gotta admit our boy toilet trained himself when he was really young! i take absolutely no credit for it! LOL that being said, now that he's two, sometimes he would just rather play than go to the toilet, so there are some accidents happening. Make the toilet time fun. The trick is the little one's gotta be ready, but you can help get him ready, and every kid will go at their own time. However, if you want to make it easier and help him along here is what I would suggest. Be fun! Bring some of his favourite books into the bathroom and leave them in a basket by the toilet. Designate these as "bathroom books" and let him look through them at will whenever he is on the toilet. Read them as many times over as he asks. The distraction of the books will also let him relax enough to actually do his business. Also, whatever method you are using for toilet training (pullups, underpants, whatever) don't let him feel bad about accidents. Just acknowledge "yep, you're wet" and then it's over, move onto the toilet. To start to get him familiar with a routine, develop a timing routine, say every hour or hour and a half take him to the toilet, whether he's wet or dry. Let him read through his books (or play with small toys) until he's "done" (again, whether he has gone or not) and then do it all over again in another hour or so. After a week or so if he is comfortable with it, he should be going almost every time on the toilet and after two weeks or so he will be almost consistently dry throughout the day. If he is still terrified of the bathroom after you try all this, give it a month and try again! Good luck and trust me, he will not still be in diapers when he is in school so relax and don't worry about it :) P.S when he does produce on the toilet, praise him like hell and clap and smile and all that. I would caution about giving edible treats though as a reward, because toiletting is a natural part of the day and it may be harder to break him of the food expectation when he is older.

Carina - posted on 03/17/2009

Hi there! I had the same problem with my girl, when she was three!  She will go to the loo, but refuse to flush... I figured out she was deathly afraid of the sound it made when flushing.

I took her to the loo one day and held her tightly close to me - for reassurance - then flushed the loo, inviting her to have a look at what happens inside the bowl when the water goes down.  I did it several times, even using a few pieces of toilet paper to illustrate what happens to the paper, and explained to her in simple terms where it goes.  When she became excited at seeing the paper go down, I invited her to flush the loo with me so she can see what happens.  The first few times she jumped away from fright.. but the distance jumped decreased everytime I reassured her and showed her theres nothing to be afraid of. 

She now takes pride in going alone to the loo ... and flushing it!

Maybe some elements of my story could help you?

Regards