Son scared to take off pants for potty

[Mumofboys85]

Hi all,

I've just started potty training my son who turns 3 next month. He gets what the potty is for and uses it all the time for wees with no accidents but... he'll only wee on it through his pants.

He is too scared to take his pants off and be naked from the waist down.

Early in the year he had a uti and since then hes not wanted to be naked and even has to have a swim nappy in the bath.

Every time we take off his pants we have a good 20 mins of shaking and screaming before hes happy to sit on me and neither of us move but hes not showing signs of improving on this.

Has anyone else had kids who don't want to go on the potty without wearing pants and if so how did you overcome this?

Thank you!!

From what you’ve said the issue isn’t limited to the potty it’s to removing his pants due to the uti. I would address that and tackle that first so it stops interfering with other aspects and causing anxiety for him. If you just deal with the potty you may still face the other issues. If you deal with the cause It will also make it so much easier for you and then for the potty training too.

I wouldn’t let him pee through his shorts as a way to encourage him on the potty, I would hold off completely until he understands it’s safe for him to use the potty, he’s probably associating a lot of discomfort and pain and not realising it won’t happen. you could speak to health visitor or doctor to see if there’s any guidance on how to make him feel safe to go into the bath etc.

The other option once he is calmer is to try the toilet, all of my went straight to the toilet and never used a potty. My friend tried it this way with her second and said it was a lot easier to get them into the toilet, hand washing routine and no cleaning the potty.

This is true, I hadn't thought of that. My husband and I have been thinking that we just get him naked a little bit each day and he'll get used to it not hurting and eventually be okay. That may end up being worse thinking about it properly.

Thank you, I'll call the health visitor and/or doctor in the morning!