Afraid of public toilets...any advice?

We are on a roll with the potty training (pee only, though - still pooping in a pull-up) and they had both done fairly well when we were out at Walmart and the library. Sullivan better than Finley, but Finley did go. Today we went to the Children's Museum and like Walmart, they had automatic flush toilets. Finley didn't like them at Walmart, but didn't know what happened until after he peed - this time he saw them and wouldn't enter the stall. He held himself for about 3 hours off and on, told me he had to pee, we went to the bathroom a few times, and eventually he just peed in his pullup (we don't do pullups at home, but I'm not up for the mess yet when we go out!). He was just too scared of those toilets to even go in the stall. Anyone experience this before? Any suggestions? I know he'll be ok with them eventually (or have the bladder control to hold it for long periods of time), but in the meantime...

Thanks!

 

Ivy used to be very scared of public toilets, and what finally worked was sitting on the toilet together - I'd sit as far back as I possibly could, and then have her sit in front of me.

I've heard of people having luck carrying post-its around to block the sensor for those scary automatic flush toilets, too.

 

I was going to suggest the post-its as well.

 

Urinals.

Not great if you are alone. I just made a big deal of it like it was exciting. Whoosh, there goes the pee. Same way I've tried to avoid fear of storms, etc.

 

Um, my kids are 6 and I still carry post-its in my purse. Works like a charm. In a pinch, one twin holds his/her hand over the sensor while the other uses the potty. That works too!

 

My DS is still terrified of public toilets but DH and I have decided not to make a big deal about it with him. We have just gotten him to the point where he is willing to follow his sister in the bathroom and look around without freaking out. Hopefully the next step will be him willing to use it!
I also keep post it's in my purse, especially for DD.

 

My Sarah was terrified of public toilets!! It all started when an automatic one flushed while she was on it. She wouldn't even go into the stall after that. I carried a potty in the van for a year. I would let them go potty before we went in somewhere and there were many times I had to leave at a restaurant to take her out and potty. Very inconvenient but it only lasted for about a year. To this day she still is a little skiddish and has to be as far away from th toilet as possible before I flush.

 

We had a travel potty (like this one). I mostly used it when we were somewhere without toilets or when we were travelling between places (no car to have a potty in the boot of) but you could easily take it into a public bathroom and just put it on the floor for him to use.
Although if you almost always have your car nearby it would be cheaper to just keep a normal potty in there, and take him back to the car to use it when necessary.

 

I've let them see me use the toilet and flush it and show them how happy I am to see whatever I did go down. It got to the point that if I said I wanted to go potty, they'd try to beat me to the toilet. Cameron is less comfortable with the auto flush, but he's used to it by now cause I didn't make a big deal out of is. Just slightly amused. He followed me. Kiefer thinks it's hilarious! He loves those toilets.

 

Thanks everyone! I'd been using my hand to block the sensor - never thought of Post-It's! Great idea!!! Definitely putting those in my purse. Thanks again!