OP here - thank you for sharing your experiences. It has been helpful to know that it was not harmful long term. The situation was too stressful so we went back to sitting her on the potty on a schedule and giving her diapers when she asked for one; she is still trying to figure out how to relax to pee, but I am hopeful it will be soon.

Laughing works well. Try having her try to blow you over like the big bad wolf.

Yes, we experienced this. Just finished potty training and that first week we had the same issue with holding pee for more than 8 hours. The next week she figured it out and peed more frequently. 6 hours is commonly noted as a maximum but we all often sleep through the night for longer without urinating. I was worried that first week though so i understand where you are coming from and hopefully she will figure it out.

We are in the midst of potty training our 2.5 year old and have stalled on progress. She has learned to hold her pee and poop, but does not know how to release pee. She does not have any accidents, she just holds for up to 5-6 hours at a time. I have tried: putting her hands and feet in warm water, running the bath water, asking her to blow bubbles, while sitting on the potty. None of it has worked. I am getting concerned about the health consequences with holding pee in for long periods of time. We are on day 6 of sitting but not being able to pee on the potty. She gets a diaper for naps and for sleep at night. If anyone has experienced this, what worked?