My son has been great with potty training, but he just can't do the poop on the potty. I gave him a choice: pull-ups or the potty. So, he goes to the bathroom, puts the pull-up on, does his business and then says, "I'm ready." i.e. for me to come in and finish. I even got him to do much of the cleaning up, but not all! Now, I ran out of pull-ups and said I'm not buying any more. He wants them. He won't use the potty. He'll go in his pants before sitting on the pot. I'm very aggravated and want to impress upon him how much of a pain it is to do this when he's SO close. Any advice about how to get over this last hump?
Thank you all, moms, for your stories. Keep them coming. I realized that I am now serious about ending this process and will do what it takes. I am allowing him to use his underpants OR the potty. Not fun for me, nor for him, but I hope that it will teach him to choose the toilet. I am also upping the requirements: you have to put the stuff in the potty, you have to come with me and put the pants in the wash, you have to wipe. I hope it helps. I will also work a prize in there somewhere. Thanks for your wisdom and for letting me know I'm not alone, despite what my siblings and mother say.
pooping in potty seems to be quite different from peeing - for whatever reason. I would take away the pull ups and let him poop (yes ug) in his pants. I would think of a really fabulous treat that goes with pooping in the potty. For my daughter it was icecream. Boy would she do anything for icecream. It took us a while and it was certainly a mess but now at 3, she hasn't had an accident of either variety for maybe 2 months. good luck.
We had the same issue and I knew that I was not going to buy diapers or pull ups for her to poop. We decided to ditch the diapers for good during memorial day weekend, so we had an extra day to practice before it was back to work/daycare.
I planned carefully and were out of diapers at that point and I made it clear that I was not buying new ones. She also had plenty of advance warning during which we talked about the plan.
I made sure to feed her lots of fiber and stool softening food (fresh and dried berries do the trick for us), so going was easy.
When she had to go and asked for a diaper I sat down in the bathroom with her and encouraged her to go. I also rewarded her with a treat for every bowel movement for the first week or so.
Yes, there were a few accidents. Mostly during the first week, now we are three weeks in and down to maybe one accident a week, mostly at daycare. We don't make a big deal about it, neither do her teachers (usually happens when they are playing outside and they forget to put her on the potty before they leave). I still give her an occasional reward, especially in situations where she doesn't want to interrupt her play - but then does to go.
I too, had to remind myself not to get aggravated with her, especially if she had an accident after I had just asked her to go potty and she said she didn't need to. But if you want to be successful you MUST keep your cool during those first challenging days and weeks.
Rather than impressing on him how much of a pain it is for you, try positive rewards and encourage him.
The few times were I showed my disappointment (involuntarily) I really noticed how my daughter's confidence shrunk and a pee accident was sure to follow too or she wanted to go back to diapers even more.
So I would say, if you can commit to keeping your cool and cleaning up a few poopy pants... just give cold turkey a try.
Good luck!
The only thing that worked for my kids and made it go much faster then others around me and my kids were under 2 years old was NAKEDNESS. Who wants to pee on themselves? Not even the most stubborn kid.
I might put him in underwear and say that if he needs to go potty he could in his underpants and then have him "wash" them out in the potty. See how long that lasts, that may put an end to it!
We had/have the same problem with my son who turned 3 on friday! We may have had a breakthrough yesterday...we will see how it goes today.
I have tried everything! Even telling him they would not let him play t-ball if he was not big enough to poop on the toilet! Nothing worked. He is #5 so I thought I knew what I was doing...NO WAY! He figured out the pee part right away but could not go poop on the toilet. He would also ask for a diaper. He would sit on the toilet for a while trying to do it but would say, "I don't know how to poop on the toilet!"
Yesterday he was looking at a toy catalog and found a set of trucks that he really wanted. He would not put the magazine down! A while later he said he need to go poop. So as he was sitting there "trying"(with the catalog on his lap) I told him if he did it I would order the trucks from the magazine. He did not go that time and was very disappointed but did not ask for a diaper. He tried 4 more times before noon...and finally did it!!! I actually took him to the toy store to see if they had something similar to the catalog so he could have the instant gratification!
He is still very proud of himself today. I keep telling him now he knows how to poop on the toilet so he can do it every time! I am really hoping we are good to go from here!
Just remember he will not do this forever! I was actually talking to a 95 year old and she said the final straw is embarassment. She said they will get to the point where they are embarassed by the pull-up or you having to clean them off. Who knows?!@? Good Luck!!!!
We didn't have quite this problem, but my three year old boy finished potty training literally two weeks ago. The big push came when we told him that he wouldn't be moving up into the preschool class at school unless he used the potty all the time. He knew all about using the potty, did it at school, but not at home. So, faced with NOT getting to move up with his friends, he simply started using the toilet that very day. So, maybe some big milestone can be used as a carrot.
Our daughter resited pooping too, partly because she gets a little constipated and pooping sometimes hurts, so she witholds it, which makes her more constipated, etc. We trained our daughter in one day with Terri Crane's book titled to that effect. We did a big potty party. And while she did great immediately with pee, she resisted with poo. I only put her in panties, and she didn't soil them, but it took her two days before she finally pooped in the potty. We had bought her a cheap sit-and-spin and wrapped it and put it on the bathroom counter right across from her potty. She desperately wanted it, but we told her it was only for pooping. After 2 or 3 days, she finally pooped and got her prize. We had to give her a prize and lavish high praise every time she pooped for about 2-3 weeks. The subsequent presents weren't as expensive, but they were wrapped and on the bathroom counter and she was plenty excited about them. We still praise her lavishly because we want her to remain motivated, but we don't do gifts any more. She hasn't had an accident since the first week, and she's dry over night too. She was about 33 months when we trained her. I find Terri Crane's method extreamly effective for the kids who are nearly there.
Im having the same issue with my daughter. We read the book "Everybody Poops" all of the time and its now one of her favorites. She is scared of the actual "log" in the potty. So it's gross but she now looks at mine. She has had a few accidents in her panties that I show to her and we flush together. She is no longer scared of the poo and will sit on the potty to "toot." but we are still having accidents though they happen less often and she is VERY upset when she poos in her panties. It's a process but rewarding when they have successes!
I haven't read the other posts but I would make sure to dump the poop out of his undies and into the toilet while you are cleaning up...so that he can see it in there. Then make a big deal about how cool it is when it splashes in the water and then floats around (gross, but effective for my kids). Good luck...
Just keep saying poop goes in the potty. Also, I'd take away the pull-ups. Let him go in his pants, and he will eventually go on the potty.
I also read "everybody poops" to my daughter. She was young, though, 22 months, but it worked. She started going poop in the potty a week later, and we've had one accident since.
Definitely try the reward thing (candy or a toy...whatever it takes) and make pooping on the potty fun with books and songs. I found that once my son had one success with pooping on the potty, he rarely asked for a reward.
We had this same problem and I was so frustrated by it but once I took the pressure off, he started doing it on his own within a month. Sometimes they just need to do things in their own time.
