My Three Yr Old Will Pee on the Potty but THATS IT!

We are having the same problem. My lil man can even make it through the night without an accident now most nights of the week! Pooping is becoming more and more of an issue. At first he was just going in his underwear, and we tried to show him where poop goes, and let him clean up his own mess to an extent and it didn't work! Now, he doesn't like to upset us so he's holding it in. He will even say, "I didn't have an accident today mom, but that's cause I just not poopin today"
It's hard. My son eats a very healthy diet and was going twice a day, so not going for three days is a HUGE problem. Best Wishes!

All children go through this stage while potty training just give him time. try to catch him when he starts to poop in his diaper or pull-up, and put him on the potty to finish. This worked with my Ex's 3 year old son, after that he went on the potty all the time.

I had the same prblem with my now 4 yr old son when he was potty training at 3. I watched him everytime he went to the potty to go pee pee to try and understand why he wouldn't sit down on the toilet. He would look into the toilet and then hurry and pee and run out of the bathroom. Then when I tried to get him to sit down to go poop he would cling to me. I figured out by watching himand talking to him that he was afraid of several things: falling in, the sound of the toilet flushing and the way the poopy dropped and splashed in the toilet. I tried everything from a stand-alone training potty to a seat made to go on a adult toilet. The only thing that I found to work was to kneel in front of him and hold him up myself everytime and then when he was done I would always tell him "See the yucky poopy is going down the hole and is all gone now." Now a year later he does it all on his own! Iknow how frustrating it can be to teach such a simple task but for them it is another big step of growing up. I agree with all the other posts before this in the respect that you have to be patient and don't scold cause that will only make it worse. Good luck and God Bless! Hope this was a little helpful.

They will get it when they are ready....I have THREE boys and they all "got" it at different times....my eldest self trained hisself before he turned 3 he was about 28 to 30 months old (he hated to be dirty)...my middle child made up for his older brother self trainning he could have cared less if he was dirty and therefore "got it" when he was 3 yrs and 5 months!
My youngest just turned 3 in august and yesterday he decided to poop on the potty! and he did all by hisself! he had "gotten" the pee part already.....so ya see it is NOT unusual for them to "get" when they want to and no amount of bribery or candy will make a difference IMO.

My son was the same way. The best way that I found was to *reward* him when he tried or when he actually pooped on the potty.

We kept a small tube of mini M&M's for this. He referred to them as *Poop Pellets*. He could only have these while sitting on the potty and trying to go poop. It gave him the incentive to use the potty instead of hiding in the corner and going in his pants.

Most importantly, don't rush him. You can't force him to potty train. It's the one thing they have complete control over. It may be frustrating right now, but rest assured, he'll learn!

Good luck!

S.

My 3 yr old son was the same, he would never poop in the potty but be sure to run to the potty when he had to pee. I don't know what to tell you about how to get him to do it. My son just finally one day did it on his own and ever since then he hasn't had a problem. So has he at least done it once? If not just be patient and keep doing what you're doing I know it is frustrating.

I know exactly what you are going through and it's no fun! My oldest son who is now 10 didn't poop on the potty till he was almost 7!! We even had to take him to the emergency room one time because he was so blocked up that he couldn't even pee and he was in a lot of pain! Basically, he would hold it so long that it got so big that it hurt for him to poop so he was scared to do it. It was so frustrating! I had to give him an enema one time and that helped but then he just kept holding it. We had to try to give him stuff that would soften him up so he would go but that only made a mess because he would go in his pants but not enough to matter, just enough to make a stink and a mess. As he got older, we made him sit on the potty a certain number of times a day to try and go. We had a poop award chart that he put stars on every time he went in the toilet. It really worked, he earned a bike! As he got older, it was easier to explain to him that the more often he goes, the easier it will be and it won't hurt anymore. He finally got it the summer before he turned 7 and it was so wonderful!! H. this helped! Email me if you want to chat more. My email address is ____@____.com a great day!! H. :)

I know what your going thru. My son will be 4 in Feb. He goes pee on his own in the potty, but when it comes to going poop, he will always ask for his pull up or he will get one and put it on himself. We keep trying with him though. All I can say is just keep at it. That's all we are doing. Good Luck with it!

Hi! I started potty training my son when he was 2 1/2 because he's big and the diapers were getting tight. He learned to pee very quickly with a sticker chart for incentive. Well, pooping was not so easy. He'd hold it and go in his pull-up or undies and then cry when he was done because he was upset about not using the potty. First off, you HAVE to remain calm. It will keep your child more calm. Well, we bought Pez and everytime he'd poop in the potty, we'd make a big, happy fuss and then give him a Pez with a pack of candy in it. He wound up collecting the Pez and we only had to use them for about a week to get him to consistently go in the potty. It doesn't have to be Pez, I've heard M&M's work. Just something your child would be excited by. And no pressure, just lots of posiive reinforcement if he/she does it and the "treat". You need to let them know about the treat too, so they know about it and it will make them want to at least try the potty. Hope this helps! Good luck!

May be the fear of falling in, or the imignation of if the toilet flushes he will get sucked down the drain.
Anyway do you have one of them toilet seats that go on top of the adult sized seats?
They make some nice padded ones that are tiny.

At 3 he may soon start going I would think, sometimes it takes a little longer.

Just assure him its safe and reward him for trying, even more for going on the pot.
R.

I know it is frustrating, but there is nothing you can really do to MAKE him. My son turned 4 in May, and while he was urine trained at 3, he just recently has started pooping in the potty. (Now he does a great job!) We talked to the pede and he said that it actually is normal in boys to potty train, especially poop train, later. My son would hold it until we put a diaper on him at night, and then go, or wait first thing in the morning when the diaper was still on. We tried taking the diaper off, but it was actually counterproductive, because it made his stools extrremely hard and painful. I think the best thing to do,is just encourage him, but let him do it on his terms. It helps to think this is but a small part of his life. After all, you don't see high school kids pooping in their diapers!! LOL! Bottom line, try not to push, or it will become a contro thing, and he' ll win!

My son did the same thing. He would go hide and poop in his underware and then not come out because he knew I would be upset. VERY FRUSTRATING.

We just tried every kind of reward we could think of....and gave it time. Getting upset, I found makes it WORSE!!!!!!! He is in control of this and no matter what we do it is out of our hands. All we can do is be encouraging and loving until we are blue in the face and then love and praise them some more. (when appropriate)

Do look into making sure his bowel movements are regular and not hard. If they are hard, kids that age easily don't want to poop because of that and it makes it worse. (My daughter has been doing this the last couple of weeks.)

Hang in there. It will pass with some time and patience.

Blessings.
M.

Heelo, my daughter was pee potty trained at 3 but she absolutely would not go poopy on the toilet. She was so afraid that she would cry and beg me for a pull up diaper, she knew when she had to go but the toilet for poop terrified her. Finally after bribing, treating, and reading to her, and even yelling, I gave up and let her have the pull up diaper because she would constipate herself for days. It took a year and with more convincing she did poop in the toilet. Doctors' say not to rush them and because she was my last baby - I let it go. Hang in there. Encourage and remind him everyday and it will come. Good Luck

I think sometimes it's the shame that keeps them holding it. They're embarrasssed because of all the negative connotations attached: we refer to bm's in negative terms and we tell them it's yucky and stinky. My now 3 1/2 yr old was peeing in the potty shortly afer turning 2 1/2 but would hold # 2 all day until we put a diaper on her after her bath at night. When we took the diaper off she would hold it sometimes for 3 days straight and then be scared to go because she was so constipated. Kids potty train best without pressure. When pressured they get stressed out about it and that is counter-productive because you have to be relaxed to go potty.

Hi D.,
well when my son now 5 was first potty training he did the same thing, It would drive me nuts, i didnt understand either, at least you got him on the right track now, I used to take his diapers when he would poop in them and take him to the bathroom, and dump it in the toilet, and show him this is where it belongs, then have him flush and say bye poop! that worked good for him, plus I made him a chart that said Jaeden's potty chart and I had a bunch of stickers for him to put on there. you may even want to get special ones just for going #2. I've heard stories about kids who think it's a part of them being flushed away, cause they dont understand it's just the stuff they ate earlier. I also read in a magazine(never needeed to try myself) but maybe it will help, that you can cut out pieces of a face and tape them on the lid of the toilet(funny stuff of course) and then tell him that this is the potty man and he eats poop and pee, and everyone in the house needs to feed him or he'll be hungry. sounds crazy but it may work. If I come across any more ideas I will try to send them your way. It's frustrating at times but keep up the good work. good luck

Well it sounds like you've already gotten lots of feedback and advice, but I'll throw in my two cents. My son is 4 and 1/2 and I have the same problem. He has had a pretty big problem with constipation since he was a baby which we've gotten under control over the past few months with medication. I think that for him is a contributing factor. He associates his bowel movements with pain. It drives me crazy that he will poop in his pullup every night right after he goes to bed (announcing it with a big smile on his face) and I am very frustrated. I started spanking him ( lightly) lately to make my point because it is obviously willful behavior that he can control, but I think after reading all of this feedback I'll try to be more patient and get creative with the rewards. He does love candy! So best of luck to you and know that you are not alone!

My son turned 4 in Aug & finally got it. Boys tend to take longer. I used alot of different training books (check a library) and kept reassuring him that it was OK When he began preschool he began to get picked on by older kids that he was stinky and as terrible as that was I beleive that helped. now Im not sayin to have other kids tease him but in my sons case it helped. He needs to know that its not flushing away anything that his body needs. I tried a typical potty seat but that didnt work I got one of those seats that fit onto the "big" potty and he still is using it! I also sometimes let him sit for a little bit in the mess & he realized he didnt like that.

I am in the exact same boat, my son will be 4 in January and I feel like we've been potty training forever. We've tried treats and bribing...but he doesn't seem to care. I guess we'll keep waiting! A least from reading all the replies, I know it's fairly common with kids at this age.

I had the exact same problem with my first son and am now in the same boat with my youngest. With my oldest, he would scream for a diaper (we still used them at night because he potty trained at 2). This is how I would know he had to go. I would not let him have one for a while and would sit with him in the bathroom, reading books, holding and hugging him while he was on the potty. Finally, my husband got him to go by offering to take him shopping. He got a few Thomas the Tank Engine figurines and has never had another accident since. My youngest is being a little harder. With him, I need to be right at his side and we singing to him. He has used the potty a few times but we are still working on it.

My son is 3 1/2 & just started doing both. We started potty training about 2 months ago. He wouldn't poop on the potty. I could even read very well all the signs. He would wait for the night time diaper or just go in his pants. What finally worked was finding that one thing that he held in high value. It took alot. Gummy dinosaurs, or in our house, "Daddy's candy". He only gets these when he poops on the potty & he knows it. He even waits for me in front of the cabinet when it's time. He has been going VERY well now for almost 2 weeks. He is really starting to understand the difference. I've been told that because it requires a different set of muscles & a different action, it takes longer. Don't give up, he'll get.
K.