Sooo... my daughter is 17 months 2 weeks. we received a potty as a gift when she was about 10 months, so although we didn't try to train her, we kept it out in the open in the bathroom so that she can "play" with it and check it out if it interested her. about a month ago we started sitting her on it when we went to the bathroom so she can get a feel for it.

then one day, we took off her diaper before sitting her down and she peed in the potty! we of course did a potty dance and congratulated her and gave her some fruit snacks, her favorite treat. after that, she was very interested in peeing the potty and started telling us when she had to go. usually, she would tell her AFTER she went, so by the time we got her diaper off she was done peeing, but I was happy that we were on the right track.

but then a couple of weeks ago, it was right after dinner and she was sitting in the potty. i wanted to try to get her to pee before her bath. but it turned out that she had to poop. she strained while sitting on the potty and ended up pooping. I did the same thing I always do - do a happy potty dance and say "yayyy good job!" but then she got up, and looked down and FREAKED OUT once she saw her poop. she literally cried and ran out of the bathroom and wouldn't go anywhere near the potty. I tried explain that what she did was good and tried to show her her poop, but she refused and would not step into the bathroom.

its been almost three weeks, and she still will not go anywhere near the potty. I would ask her if she wants to go pee in the potty and she always says no. I even offered her candy or snacks if she'd just sit on it, and she refused! I dont want to push her too much or force her, so this past week i never mentioned anything in the hopes that she'd forget about being scared of the potty.

another incident was before this whole poo in the potty issue, I was once changing her diaper, and as i bent down to get a fresh diaper, she pooped while laying on the changing pad and left a nice sized log for me. I was so shocked and thought it was funny so i took a pic of it to show my husband later that day. She saw the picture of the poop and FREAKED OUT and cried and ran away. I thought it was weird but funny at the time, but then she got all scared when she saw her poop in the potty.

has anyone experienced this? i'm sure that this is a phase of some kind, but was wondeering if anyone had any advice on what i can do to make her feel more comfortable about pooping...

thanks in advance!