My 3 year old son has been using the potty to pee for over a month. But he still wants to wear a diaper to poop in. We have taken away all the diapers and he does a great job letting us know when he needs to go potty. He just won't poop on the potty. He will try for a few minutes and then stop. We try sitting on the potty every 5 minutes or so when he does need to go. But he still waits and goes in his underpants. We even have a big gift when he finally does go (still at the store). Any other suggestions?
I totally second what Dawn S has said. Throw the diapers away, don't even have them in your house. Have him clean up his own mess if he chooses to go in his pants.
I'm the mother of 8 kids with 5 of them boys and all my boys so far have had trouble pooping on the potty. A few of them would not poop in their underwear, but would hold it for days. One of them held it in for 11 days while I refused to give the diaper. I was afraid he'd hurt himself. The advice about to find out what is bothering them is the best advice. One son was too afraid of it falling too far down, so we put Saran Wrap on the toilet to catch it, and gradually lowered it down till he was comfortable all the time. The boys have sometimes waited until age 5 to finally poop on the potty. The son that held it in for 11 days needed to stand up at first so we just gave him the potty bowl. Try talking with him, and don't stress. Giving rewards can be great but if they never even have the success in the first place a reward can't be given so that doesn't always work. Just take heart in the fact, he won't go to college in a diaper.
Make sure his is comfortable on the potty, some kids wont poop in the little potties b/c some has gotten on them before, does the water in the big potty splash him ?and my Dr told us if they use the big potty they need a step stool under their feet so they can have their legs to help push with. Kids are funny in some of their thoughts Talk to him and see why he doesn't like the potty. If he doesn't have a good answer that you can fix, try just letting him run around naked for a day, more than likely he won't poop on you floor. this did work for us but they can't stay naked forever so if he reverts when he has clothes on here is what we had to do.
Our oldest resisted going poop in the potty for almost a year after he was potty trained our Dr suggested that if he went poop in his pants then he had to clean it, he had to rinse his underwear and clean his own bottom, we were told to just supervise to make sure things didn't get too gross. It only took a few times of this and he decided the toilet wasnt' so bad after all.
Put the potty where he can use it. Tell him it is his choice and then ignore it. If he goes in his pants, help him empty them into the toilet and clean himself up. Let him do as much as he can, you just supervise so he doesn't make too much of a mess. Tell him to put the pants in the laundry and get dressed again.
The idea is that it needs to be his idea. If he has control over the whole thing, he will soon see that it is too much work to go in his pants. Just try not to react to it at all. If he does go, praise him a little, but don't make a big deal out of it.
I doubted this advice every time it came time to potty train. I would stress over it, fuss over it, threaten and bribe over it, but until I ignored it completely, none of my six "got it." At the age your son is, it may be your only option. He is at the age where he wants to express his independence. This is one way he is doing that, since it is totally in his control.
