For about 3 months now, my son has had a fear of having his diaper off.
He refuses to be naked, especially when it is time for a bath or shower. He becomes hysterical if he has to take it off for any reason. I think he has a fear of "poopy," and as often as his father and I tell him its ok to have a dirty diaper, and not to be afraid, he refuses. We thought this phase would pass, but it has yet to change.

I have had to give him a bath on a number of occasions with his diaper on, removing it at the very end so that his hysteria is as short as possible. We've established that he isn't afraid of the tub, or water. He loves to play, as long as he has his diaper on. ? Has anyone else experienced this? None of my friends or family have experienced this, or have advice for me, and my husband and I are starting to worry that this might not change.

I've never experienced that, but I do know(and have to remind myself it on occasion when some new phase seems like it is lasting forever) that 2 is the age of phases and it won't last forever. Just try to keep your patience and one day POOF! he'll forget about his diaper and be afraid of something else(wink wink)

So my son was showing signs of potty readiness (he's 2). So we attempted to have him go on the potty (we have a little potty seat and one that sits on the toilet). He flipped out: screaming and crying, held the pee in until it started to leak out and basically just went into complete melt down until we put a diaper back on him. Now he is afraid to take a bath or do anything with diaper off. He will hold his bottom and his privates and cry the entire time I bathe him and say he wants his diaper on. I have no idea what to do!

Same thing happened with my son as with carrie1974. He could and would hold it, but not go in the potty. Problem was, he didn't want to wear a diaper, either. My philosophy is that kids are always afraid of something, and it's our jobs as parents to help them get over it. I sat my son on the potty, sat my fat, pregnant self down on the floor in front of it, and sat there with him-he leaned on me, and we both hugged each other and cried-until he realized that it wasn't going to hurt and nothing bad was going to happen if he peed. Yeah, it was a little rough, but he just needed to see that it was going to be ok.

I'm not sure he was exactly ready. I think two is just a little young to start no matter what signs they are showing of readiness.