Automatic Flushing Toilets ...help!!

She is not alone. My younger daughter HATED the things. I always had to go in and put my hand over the sensor. I like the idea of post-its, but we're past that stage now so I don't need to go in anymore. Auto-flush toilets are disgusting. They never work right, flush too early and spray you with germy toilet water. I don't like them either.

I haven't read the other responses so maybe someone has suggested this. I've heard that post-its are great. You need to cover up the sensor with one so it doesn't flush until you remove it.

My daughter is almost 10 and has kind of extreme fears for her age. When she sees a toilet is automatic she says she can wait! I usually don't allow that and how we deal with it is, I squat down and hold onto her around her waist. The minute she is done we(she) jumps up and we proceed to wipe standing up so as to get away from the MONSTER TOILET !

thanks for writing this! my near 12 year old has the same problem! right after we got her potty trained, maybe 10 years ago, the flushers put her back into hysteria! naturally, she's better now, but we sure laugh about her fears!

My daughter went through this same issue between 2 and 2.5. She was already poop trained and we were going through the pee training. At some point, she would just hold it as long as she could until we got home or she did it in the diaper. The phase lasted a couple of months.

The only thing that helped was time! The only thing i can suggest is try and adjust schedules for going out to minimize the number of times she has to go when out and about. This would be no doubt hard if she's on vacation in Florida. What I've done is try to find employee restrooms or just one room bathroom in some stores that have them. My daughter would freak out in any kind of public, multiple stall type restrooms, but she was okay when it was a one room private bathroom type of place.

Once in a while - a treat worked, but she was too young for it to be a consistent method - her fear would be too great. Maybe your friend's three year old would be more receptive to some type of treat, candy, lollipop, etc. Explain and show it to her - that she will get it after going to the bathroom there. It acts as a distraction and an incentive.

My daughter hated automatic flushing toilets. Most of them were actually way too loud. I would just remind her that it only flushes after you're done and I would hold my hands over her ears if it flushed while she was still in there. All I can say is that they eventually get over it, she's 4 now and is fine. I did try to use toilets without auto, try to make a joke of it. Try to see if you can make a game of it, try to pee before it goes off, do a count down, laugh and hurry.THere are so many auto toilets. On the positive note she learned the word automatic. Don't worry about what other people think, she should just tell them she's afraid, no worries. It's just a phase.

My son went through this. The only solution we came up with was for one of us to stand and put our hand over the senson the entire time he went to the bathroom. We would let him leave the stall before letting it flush. It took about a year for him to outgrow it, so tell her to be patient. I think it is somehow related to a water/loss of control fear.

I hope this helps!
A.

This is HLARIOUS that so many kids go through this. The one time my daughter was on the toilet and it automatically flushed, she jumped up, peed all over and started screaming...I was like? W-H-A-T??!!! Funny now! Anyway, as everyone mentioned, you have choices: post it, keep hand on it, or wrap toilet paper around it. I find that those are all things that are easy to do, and that makes her comfortable. I have explained it is no big deal if it flushes, but I don't want to have to "make her" experience it cuz' it is not that big of a deal to do one of those things so it won't! She is now 6 and still scared! ha! It is funny when we go to public restrooms, that is the first thing she looks at - if it automatically flushes or not. She loves it when they don't!!! Take care!!!!

This is crazy as my cousin's two twin daughters have this same problem and they are 7 years old now!!! The only thing this family is able to do is to go in the stall with one of the girls and Mom would use the toilet first talking about how the toilet will flush as she gets up, but it is completely fine. Or she would say now I am going to flush the toilet or have the child do it. Then it would be the daughter's turn. However, if it is an automatic toilet, Mom would hold her hand over the sensor in the back of the toilet so it does not go off. Once the child is completely done and all zipped up, mom would release her hand and either wave her own hand in front of the sensor or have the daughter, sometimes she will have to wait until the daughter is completely out of the stall to be able to do this. This is really hard to overcome, but it can work!!!!

Draping some toilet paper over the sensor will prevent it from flushing until you are ready for it to do so. Perhaps if your child could be the one to make the toilet flush by pulling off the draped paper with a suitable flourish, she will feel more in control of the situation and less fearful.

hold your hand over the sensor. Wa-la, no flush!

Lots of kids have a huge fear of these toliets. Wonder if the inventor is laughing at all the parents trying to coax screaming kids to pee.

Good luck to your friend.

I was just about to respond with the post-it suggestion also. lol
My 4 year old didn't like using the toilets at school when he first potty trained because of the noise, so his teacher just started putting post-its on, and now he is fine.

I know what your friend is going through. My youngest daughter went through this only to a more dramatic extent. My daughter would NOT go to the restroom in public. She didn't like automatic flush toilets, she really didn't like black toilet seats, if it seemed at all unclean she didn't like it. I remember being in a shopping mall and knowing that my 3 year old had to go potty and taking her in telling her she had to try. She would seem to get the strength of a 30 year old man fighting me when I would attempt to pick her up and put her on the "pot". When she started school I had to tell the kindergarten teacher about her "situation". We worked it out that she went to see our most loving school nurse and use that bathroom. Soon she felt more comfortable, and started using the school bathrooms. We did come up with some things to make life a little easier. We found that if I stood to her side in the stall and held my hand over the sensor, to make sure it didn't flush while she was sitting, this made her feel more secure. As she got a little older, we would send her in to the rest rooms with a post-it note or piece of tape to cover the sensor. I also many times would squat right in front of my daughter holder her hand while she would use the bathroom. This somehow comforted her enough to calm her. On another note, our daughter ended up with many severe bladder infections and I can only attribute them to this.

E.,

I know you got a lot of great responses but am not sure if anyone mentioned Emotional Freedom Technique, in addition. It's great for emotional issues and fears. I've used it on my son and as a surrogate for my daughter for fear of deep water in the pool and fear of passing stool. It helps. Here is the link to more info:

http://www.mercola.com/forms/eftcourse1.htm
www.emofree.com

Best of luck

J. K.

Put a post it note over the sensor. then when they are out of the bathroom remove it to flush! oops guess everyone else had the same idea

So glad that my child isn't the only one in America that is afraid of the flushing toilet. I to have had employees from Walmart come into the bathroom to make sure I wasn't murdering my child.

Here is am with a three year old having a caniption fit because she doesn't want to sit though 2 minutes before she was about to pee all over herself. I have a 1 year old in the buggy and I can't hold the eye over the toilet with the one in the buggy.

What a nighmare!!

After the first incident where the toilet flushed while she was on it (during potty training) she has been horrified of the flushing toilet. I couldn't get her to sit on one until I got her to realize that I could put my hand over the red eye so it wouldn't flush. I had to help her with one hand and hold the other hand over the eye....that's fun!

But she started kindergarten this year and before the teacher could tape a paper over the eye one day, she wet herself. So at six years old I'm having to make my daughter sit on our toilet at home while I flush it over and over and talk to her about how it won't hurt her.

We talked about what she thought was going to happen if it flushed while she was on it. I had to show her over and over that it wouldn't hurt her. I literally had to hold her on the toilet the first two or three times until she calmed down and realized that nothing bad was happening. My husband in the meantime is behind me trying to soothe her without yelling to loud over her screams. I'm hugging her and holding her down and showing her that it won't hurt her. I can flush the toilet at home now with no problem, but I'm not sure how she will do in public....we haven't tried that.

Now if I could figure out how to convince the 4 year old that there is nothing to be afraid of in a dark, semi-dark, or even shadey room. Or that she doesn't need to be afraid of large groups of people.

I tried so hard when my girls were born not to show them I was afraid of spiders. I didn't want them to have that same fear I had growing up. They really aren't afraid of bugs, but everything else. ARRRGGGG!!!!

My daughter wasn't so much afraid of them, I later found out, but the sheer crazy VOLUME of them hurt her tender ears. The post-it notes are a great idea, but maybe if the child is sensitive to the noise, simply covering their ears and a warning would also work.

I read this tip in a parents magazine, carry a pad of post it notes in your purse, put one over the sensor and it won't flush :) I haven't tried it but I've heard other rave about it. Sorry if this is a repeat, I didn't read all of the posts :) Good Luck!

I used to cover the censor with my hand until my daughter was finished. Then I would warn her before I moved my hand. It helped a bit.

I would like to second the suggestion to keep a pack of post-it notes in the purse for that occasion!

And, I too loathe this invention. Auto-flushers never work correctly. I hate the 'bidet' effect they have when they go off too early. I mean, who wants to get a spray of what has just been put in the toilet?

I really can't remember how my daughter managed to get over the fear of automatic
flushing toilets. But she has! Like your friend, I also had a terrible time with her between the ages of 3 and 5 because of those darn toilets!!!

My daughter had the exact same fear up until last year (she is 7 now). She learned how to tell the difference by looking for the handle, so that helped in bathrooms that did not have auto flush. I really could not help her get over her fear - with her I think a lot of it was the noise. I did notice that many times they don't flush, maybe because of her height, and that helped. Also, staying in the stall with her made her not as fearful.

I use my hand or a toilet seat cover, paper towel, etc to cover the sensor. In preschool the teacher would cover the sensor with a post it for my daughter. And she would get dressed and leave the stall before I could remove it as well.She was terrified of them since she was a baby, if we were out somewhere and I took her in a restroom she would cry everytime a toilet flushed, as early as 13 weeks old it upset her!

We've made a game of anything loud that scares my daughter--especially the blender, but the auto-flush too. We roar like dinosaurs on purpose. I call her over, often picking her up so she feels braver, and start roaring and then she roars and I say "Ready? Ready? Ready?" and then I push the blender button or flush the toilet or turn on the vacuum or whatever. She's only skittish for a little bit, then starts feeling braver and braver. Now instead of crying at loud or new noises, she just checks with me to see if we're going to brave about it.

Hi E.. My 3 year old has the same fear. One of her first questions when she uses a public restroom is, "does this flush by itself?" What I have done is to go in the stall with her and put my finger on the sensor to make sure that it will not flush while she is in the stall. It can get a little awkward if I have to help her at all, but we make it work. Tell your friend that I wish her the best and hope that she can find a solution to work for her.

I'm not sure if this has already been said, so forgive me for not reading all 30 posts!

A friend of mine carried post it notes in her purse and put one over the little eye that triggers the flushing. This prevented the toilet from flushing before they were ready. It worked like a charm!

Good luck...I know it's hard! Hang in there!

I carry a small pad of post-it notes in my purse. I put a post it over the sensor when my kids use the toilet and then remove the post it when the kids are far enough away to handle the flush. My son was also terrified of the auto flush.

Put a post it note over the sensor which will stop the automatic flush.

I had the same problem when my son was 3 yrs. old. His father is a plumber & we told him how the toilets flushed the water down. With ease & patience. It took my son a little encourgement & his fear did go away shortly. (i had to tell everyone that he had a fear of them & his daddy is a plumber) She will soon understand that there is no hurt of them & will soon lose her fear & to go potty. Good Luck K.

Wrap a piece of toilet paper around the sensor before sitting down. That should stop it from going off while she's on it.

I second the previous two responses. I just use a few pieces of toilet paper over the sensor, works just fine!

Tape a sticky note over the "eye" of the toilet, and it shouldn't flush automaticaly.

Hi E.,

I read somewhere that covering the sensor for the automatic flush would help. They said that putting a sticky note (post-it note)over the sensor before your little one enters the stall prevents any surprise flushes.

have her use the bathroom before she leaves the house

give her a treat when she successfully uses the public toilet without crying

have her check out the toilet herself before she uses it

I know moms who bring a pack of post-its in their bag and stick one over the sensor until the kid is out of the stall. That wouldn't help her get over her fear, but at least it wouldn't startle her by flushing at random moments!

put a post it note over the sensor and she pulls it off when she is done and ready to leave the stall

Post-ITs they work wonders with automatic flush toilets! remember to stick it over the sensor before the child goes in the stall...just to avoid any possible issues! Good Luck!

My son isn't thrilled with those toilets, but he's not scared to death of them either. They have them at his school. I'd suggest putting Post-It notes in her purse and covering the sensor with them. The little one can go to the bathroom and stand nearer the door when she removes it to allow the toilet to flush. I think time and exposure might help her with this. Wish her the best for me!

Put a post-it note over the sensor until you're done.

Same problem with my girls--we always put a wipe onthe sensor or in some cases I used my hand to cover it. There were even times I had to stradle the toilet behind them to block the sensor