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Imagine being only 28 inches tall walking into a big room that has loud flushes and super loud hand dryers going off, over and over. Especially sitting on a toilet that may forcefully flush without warning! I can see why this makes most children anxious.
My little girl walks into the public restrooms with her hands over her ears before she even gets through the door. When she was really young the toilet flushed when she was sitting on it and it was months before she would go in a public toilet again. I asked some fellow Moms for solutions and of course they all had great solutions.
If your child is scared of public restrooms here are 3 things to do:
- Use sticky notes to block the sensor on the toilet. This is perfect to make sure the flushing mechanism doesn’t go off when your little one is trying to use the potty. My other friend said she just folds some extra toilet paper and hangs it over the sensor. This can totally work but I have seen some sensors actually on the wall where that wouldn’t work. So keep some sticky notes in your purse.
- Let your child wear headphones. This can help muffle the scary sounds. For some kids who are super sensitive to loud noises this can help in a multitude of situations, not just the bathroom. I don’t really keep headphones with me as a regular occurrence but this would have been great on July 4th to also deal with the fireworks explosions. Our favorite kid headphones are here.
- Keep a potty in your car. I did this. It works so great in the first month or two of potty training. She wouldn’t even attempt to go on a large toilet so we got used to using it in my van. I would keep a spray bottle of water and a container of clorox wipes in the car to be able to wipe it out after use. Everyone had different ways of dealing with #2 in the potty. Luckily I don’t remember having to deal with this but my plan if she had to do that was to fold up a paper towel in the bottom of the potty, let her go and then I kept a plastic grocery bag in the car that I would have used to grab it and dispose of it. Oh man…the things we do for our children. 🙂
Did your little one have problems with the public restrooms? Any tricks that helped you?
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These are great! I hate public restrooms. They are so filthy and sometimes too crowded. Except for the potty, I think I will apply the other two tips! lol
We kept a potty in the car for a long time with our two oldest. We aren’t quite to the point where we need it with our third little one, but that is the easiest thing to do for us. It also helps when we are out and about and someone needs to use the potty right.this.second.
Keeping a potty in the car worked for us too.
We kept a potty in the car for a long time (even after potty training was finished). I lined the bowl portion with a plastic grocery bag and then folded up several absorbent paper towels into a square and placed at the bottom. This absorbed everything and I simply pulled the baggie off and tied it up and gave it a toss. It was so perfect for any #2 situations.
Definitely the way to do it….if we get stuck with that situation. 😉
I am CFBC, so never dealt with this issue. I don’t think my husband’s kids did either, but if there was any kind of being leery it was more so not wanting to go in alone than being afraid of noises, etc.
My friend just told me last night that his granddaughter is afraid of public toilets. I am going to share this post with him! Great tips, especially the post it!
So glad it helps! Until I had a girl I didn’t even think of this problem.
I often thought that keeping a potty in the car would have been a great option when my boys were little. Public bathrooms can be scary places for young children sometimes.
for the longest time I kept bringing the boys into the girls bathroom with me. I think probably until they were too old, and by the time they were seven they were gagging to go into the boys on their own. Def no fear there.
I’m definitely going to share this with my sister. My niece is very sensitive to sound and the public restroom can be a problem.
What great tips! I know a certain little girl who is also terrified of the public restrooms! I will definitely be sharing your tips with her mom! I love the post it note idea.
Thanks for sharing, I hope it helps your friend. 🙂
My kids don’t have a problem with this, but I have a friend whose little ones really struggled. These might have helped.
Great tips. I love the idea of putting a sticky note over the toilet sensor.
I’ve never encountered this with any of my kids but these are great ideas if your child is afraid to use public restrooms. I think it’s because of all the new tech that they use, like that automatic flushing, etc. I hope a lot of parents read this so they have ideas on what to do!
The sticky note idea is smart! I would have never thought of how scary this experience might be for a small child.
My youngest was like this for about a year after she potty trained! These are great tips, because it was hard!!!
When I was a youngin’ I used to spend like ALL my time in the bathroom at school because I didn’t want to go to class LOL!
Keeping a potty in your car is such a great idea! This will make it so that they will go where they are familiar.
I never would have thought of putting the sticky notes over the sensors. Awesome idea!
Sticky notes on sensors are a great idea! More for me than my baby though. I always hate it when I’m going halfway and the flush just go off and spray my bottom with water. =(
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Me too!! 🙂
My daughter would not only not use public restrooms, but she wouldn’t even use the restrooms at relative’s homes. She would wait until she got home. Of course, when she was away at camp for a week, she learned to appreciate public restrooms.
My little girl can “hold it” forever too. 🙂
The sticky note idea is awesome, going to use that for sure as we have just started to potty train.