2 Year Old Scared to Poop in the Potty

My son was afraid of sitting on the potty rings. He felt very unstable and thought that he was going to be "Flushed Away" like the movie. He did not go poop on the potty until I bought the potty pal from target.com. It is a toilet seat cover with seat and potty seat built in. In other words, it looks just like the one you have now but also has another pull down with a kids seat. It does not move so it eliminates the unsteady feeling. It only cost around $30 and worth every penny. We bought two, one for upstairs and one for down. Our boys are now nearly 5 & 6 and we still have them on our toilets.

As far as rewards go, we hung candy in the bathroom, two different kinds. They would get one for going pee and two for pooping. We also put a reward sticker chart on the bathroom mirror. I just made something up on the computer using their names and each success would earn them a sticker on the sheet. Pooping is always the hardest part, stick with it and it will come - I promise!! Good luck!

Ooh and don't do the pull up thing. Use regular underwear during the day and if he poops just dump it in the toilet with him and tell him that is where poop goes. I used pull ups with my oldest and it took longer than going straight to underwear and dealing with accidents.

Wishing you quick success!!

Just give him time. I wouldn't push the issue or make a big deal out of it. It will just all of a sudden click one day. Just tell him that it is ok that he is not ready to poop on the potty yet and tell him to get a diaper when he needs to poop vs. pooping in his underwear. Let him poop in it, then flush it down the toilet together and say "bye-bye poopie". My daughter suffered from major constipation and refused to poop in the potty but was potty trained at 23 months. We felt that if she could go get a diaper all by herself, she was more than capable of pooping in the potty but we didn't push her. A few months before her 3rd birthday we started saying that the diapers were going to go away and she was going to be a super big girl and start pooping on the potty. Low and behold....within a week of turning 3 she was pooping on the potty full-time and hasn't been constipated since. She is now 3 1/2 and we are getting ready to work on the night time potty training. Good luck with your little man...he will get it :o).

Sounds just like my son. When he was potty training I had the same issues, he would run and hide to poop in his pants but pee just fine in the potty! Boys are the hardest to potty train, all I can suggest is continue to be persistant in his training. If need be have him sit on the potty for awhile when you think he may go. Start to learn his looks or his behavior right before he starts to poop. My son would always run and hide so I would always know. He was very embarrassed about it. Go figure!

I just recently had the same issue with my little guy. One thing I learned with him, is that it has to be his idea. When I was pushing the idea of going potty at all on the toilet, he would yell, "no, no, no" every time I asked if he needed to go. As soon as I stopped asking, he started going #1 on the potty by himself about 98% of the time. There were those times when he was just too busy to go. He would still go #2 in his pants or outside in the rocks, just like the dog. It was really frustrating because I had him in underwear. I started getting really upset, so I decided it wasn't worth me blowing up and making him upset, so I put him in a pull-up, which I swore I wouldn't do. I think pull-ups make it harder to train because it makes the parent not quite as consistent as they should be, which in turn makes it harder for the child. By this point though, my son had the idea down and would use the toilet consistently to go #1. It worked for us because he would still go #1, but I didn't have to deal with #2 in underpants. Once I did that, he decided it was okay to go #2 in the toilet and we haven't had a problem since.

The other thing I did with my son, was I gave him a huge incentive to go #2 in the potty. If he went, he got a little piece of candy and a match box car. Every time he went in his pants, I would talk to him about the fact that if he went in the potty he would get a car. When he finally did do it, he was so excited, he told everyone how he got his car.

I guess the shortened version of what I just said is don't push it. Let him do it in his own time. It is one thing they can control and the more you push it, the harder they will fight. I hope that helps a little.

We tried potty training my son when he was about 2.5, then again when he turned 3. It was really difficult, and he refused both times. He said he was scared of the potty because the man in Finding Nemo flushed the fish down the potty! I assured him he wouldn't fall in, and that only the poopy would, but he still wouldn't do it. I decided to just wait until he was ready. When he was about 3.5, I knew he was getting way too old for diapers. I bought 2 toys that I new he really wanted and kept them on the counter for about a week and told him that he could have toy1 when he peed on the potty and toy2 when he pooped. I made a really nice sticker chart, hung it on the wall, and explained to him that he could put a sticker on it each time. Thats all I said, didn't push it or anything. When Saturday rolled around, we stayed home all day, no diaper, no underwear, so he couldn't go in his pants. He held it pretty much all day...I knew I just needed needed him to do each 1 time, and once he did it, he'd understand what was going to happen, and that he wouldn't fall in. After he finally went, that was it! He's been fine ever since! A few accidents here and there, but nothing major. I think waiting until he was ready, and not pushing the incentives on him, but letting him see them and take it all in for a week really helped a lot! Good luck!

J., I have the same problem with my 2 1/2 yr old and I was told that kids tend to be scared when they poop, as if they are loosing somethng out of their little bodies. It just takes persistence and alot of patience, if the child senses any distress from you they tend to go backwards and not try to go poop. Just stay consistant and sit him in his potty everytime he poops in his underpants. And talk about where he is supposed to poop at. Ask him through out the day as well "Where do you poop at"? Or "Show mommy where you go poop"? He will eventually go on his own for some kids it takes longer even if in the past they did it for awhile. He might even go poop and pee in his pants when the baby arrives so don't be alarmed kids tend to do that as well when a new sibling arrives.

Let us know how it worked out. Good luck and hang in there!

My son was potty trained at 22 months - I don't have a girl, so I can't compare... but we had special treats and would really throw a party if he pooped in the potty! He would tell him poo poo bye bye and flush it down with excitement! I told him he needed to put the poo in the potty so it could go home LOL. I would recommend rewarding your son with his favorite thing (we used chocolate covered sunflower seeds) and telling him big boys go poop in the potty. My son started out pooping in his little potty chair, but moved on to the "big potty" pretty quickly. He wouldn't poop in the potty at day care for some time, maybe a month and a half, he would poop in his pants, but they told me it was normal... pooping took more time than peeing. Just keep trying and offering rewards and showing excitement, act like it is a great thing that big boys do and he will get the hang of it soon.