Toddler poo anxiety

[Pooanxiety34]

DD is 2.5 and over the last few days has been extremely anxious to have her nappy off in case she has a poo. She gets upset at nappy change until the new nappy is on, and freaks out completely at bathtime and tries to climb out. Tonight we thought she was ill as she became withdrawn, hot and flushed but as soon as bathtime was over she said "I didn't poo in the bath!" and was back to her normal self again.

Is this something to worry about? We've not tried potty training yet so its not like she's been pressured, but she did have a phase of pooing in the bath which perhaps traumatised her? It hasn't happened for months though so why would the trauma randomly start now?

What can I do to help her? If your toddler went through this, did they grow up to be quite anxious? I'm quite an anxious person (never in front of the DC) but I'm worried I've somehow passed it on to her and this is the first sign!

To add, when she had a poo in the bath we would react quite quickly but never in a cross or panicked way. Her sibling was caught in a poo bath before though and will occasionally ask her if she needs a poo when she's behaving oddly in the bath which maybe doesn't help. But even he was always very good and light hearted when it happened so I am not sure!

Our daughter has gone through this phase and still freaks out at the prospect of not wearing a nappy. She is 2.5 as well and we haven't done potty training yet as emotionally she is clearly not ready.

We persevered with doing a bath every night and just kept them quick and reassured her throughout. Weirdly something that helped was offering her a flannel to sit on!! She got happier with the idea of sitting down in the bath again and gradually relaxed back into enjoying them. The panic comes back from time to time and we just reintroduce the flannel. No idea why it helps but could be worth a try.

She is not anxious in any other sense and I don't have any concerns about her development. I have chalked it up to just being yet another weird phase we need to support her through. Try not to worry, just go with your gut instinct as to what is best for her. I'm sure it will settle.

@SErunner this sounds so similar to us, it's nice to know we are not alone. Did your DD also poo in the bath in the past, or did the fear come completely out of the blue?

I will try the flannel technique, I'd love for her to enjoy her bath again!

DD isn't anxious at all in any other way either she's very happy all the time so I shouldn't overthink it.