Potty Training - South Deerfield, MA

Hi Y., We're in the middle of potty training, sometimes my daughter poops on the potty, sometimes not, so we're no pros! BUT, one thing that has seemed to help her is this Elmo potty DVD that someone gave us. She LOVES the video- it's her favorite right now- in that video that talk about going poop...don't know if it will help, but it's worth a try...

Y.. My sister in law had this problem with her first born. I asked her how she potty trained him. He had the same problem he would not go poop on the potty. She took her purse and took out all the money before hand but she showed him the wallet and said "mommy doesn't have any more money to buy pullups anymore" and showed him that she had no money. and she put him in big boy pants and told him that if he pooped in those that she would have to throw them away too and than he would have nothing to wear. I don't know if this will work for you - but he went that day when she said that she had no more money to buy diapers. I'm not there yet I have a almost 2 year old so we are just starting. I just thought I would let you know how she did it.

Have a great day and I hope you find something that works.

S.

We were in a similar situation just a couple months ago (my daughter will be 4 next month & we just couldn't get over the hurdle to 100% trained). We went to a potty training seminar - they convinced me to go cold turkey on all pull-ups & night-time pants. We layered the bed - padding, then sheet, then more padding, then sheet, then more padding, then sheet - so that if there's an accident - you can just pull up 1 layer & go back to bed. Be prepared for a lot of laundry for a week or two.

We also gave 1 m&M for trying & 4 for poop in the potty. We made poop a big celebration - we called relatives & did a dance.

We also filled a bag with prizes (Jackie called them "poop surprises") - little things like tights, a small toy, whatever she asked for in the store, I would say yes, but you have to earn it out of the Poop prize bag.

Finally, we bought the book "Everyone poops" and read it a lot.

It was a lot, but we finally got over the hump -

good luck!

Mony

This may sound gross....but show her how you do it. Take her with you the next time you go! Show her you wear "big girl" panties etc. At night, you may have to let her get wet
a few times but at 4 years old she will learn quickly. Put a night light in the bathroom.
No scolding if she wets the bed. I put a water proof pad under the sheets to protect
the mattress. If she wets, just pull off the wet sheets, encourage her into the bathroom to
"finish" and wash up, change into dry pants/clothes and put her back in bed.
Eliminate sugar drinks before bedtime. Don't make a big deal about it. Just remind her
that this is what big girls do now, give her a hug and go back to bed. After a few nights,
it's done! Good luck!

My oldest son went through the same thing. I was soo frustrated and it became a HUGE power struggle. First he would poop in his underwear any time of day. Then he started holding it until I would put on his pull up at night time. How we finally dealt with it was waiting to put on his pull up until after he had gone poopie on the potty. He caught on really quickly that he needed to go into the bathroom before he got his pullup on.

Although he is the oldest he is still in night time pullups. His younger brother is fully trained at 4 1/2. I do believe that every "body" is different and ready at different times (my nephew did not get out of night time pull ups until he was 10!!!...and they say it can be genetic!!!)

Good luck and keep the faith ;o)!

H. Z. (SAHM 5 1/2, 4 1/2 and 23 month old boys)

Hi Y.!
There's a great,simple children's book called "Everyone Poops" by Taro Gomi. It's great! A friend gave the book to my dau when she was 6 (because she was just learning to read real good)and even though she was trained, she loved it!! giggle, giggle, but really (and now shares it with her younger cousins. (she loves reading to them) It's simple, colorful, illustrations about pooping, that rhinos do it, fish do it, and moms and dads, etc.
Hope this helps! W. Huff

Ihad the same problem with my son. It wasn't a fear issue, just a control one. We tried bribes, presents, threats, you name it. We finally took him to the Pain and Incontinence Program at Children's Hospital and worked with them. They work on it in steps, having the child just sit every day then taking it to the next level. It took time and patience but it finally worked. Something that eventually worked for him during his sitting time was reading short chapter books (he loves Henry & Mudge) and between each chapter he would try and push. Good luck and know that there are other parents out there going through it.

My son had this irrational fear of pooping in the potty and would do the same thing - go put on a diaper and hide under the dining room table when he had to poop (even though he was trained otherwise). I think he was getting close to 4 at that point. We had talks with him and even tried a prescribed stool softener (b/c he would hold it and constipate himself when we tried taking the diaper away for a few days). Finally, I took him shopping and let him pick out his dream toy at Toys R Us - it was a "Dinosaur Mountain" set with figurines and an exploding volcano! I put it on top of the refrigerator at home (right outside the downstairs bathroom, where he could see it) and told him that it was his choice - when he was ready to go poop on the potty, he could have Dinosaur Mt.. It took about a week and many hysterical fits about how much he wanted the toy but didn't want to go on the potty. He finally broke down one night and decided to try it (crying the whole time!) - but he did it. And after that, the fear was gone. He got his Dinosaur Mt. and never had a problem going poop on the potty again.

Y.,

Try letting your little girl pick out her own big girl panties...ones she really likes and do not have the pull ups available to her during the day.Explain that she really needs to do her thing on the potty so she can keep her lovely panties from getting all pooey. It worked for my dauther at three...Best of Luck.

A little about me: K., married my best friend 20 years ago, mom of 2, 12 year olds, architect.

Hi Y.,

We are having the EXACT same problem with our son who just turned 4 last month......trained peeing and even stays dry at night. If he has to pee at night he will wake up and tell us and go. But pooping, he still asks for a pullup. He will take his pants and underwear off himself and put the pullup on himself. And if we didn't give him the pullup, he would just poop in his pants. We have tried everything as well. Wish I was the one to give you advice but I just wanted to let you know that we are dealing with the same problem. I also have a 2 year old and my 4 year old definatley suffers from what i call "little brother syndrome" meaning he is immature. The other day, my mom was taking care of them and he said he had to poop. She pretended to not be able to find a pullup and actually had him sitting on the toilet waiting for her to find one. But it didn't work. He didn't go. Please let me know what other people say and what ends up working!!

What work for me and for my friend is to not put anything on her bottom. Put the potty in what ever room she is in (playroom during the day, bedroom at night). When she has to go and realizes there is no pull-up or undies to "catch" the poop, she will have no choice but to sit her butt on that potty. Good luck!

My daughter did the same thing when she was going to turn 4, in October. I just had to tough it out. Fortunately she was ready to sleep through the night but we just said no to anymore pull ups. I started mixing metamucil in her milk in the morning to keep things ready to move and it took several nights and then when she did go it was huge and hurt but she made it through.

Hope this helps.
A.
www.southernnhfamilyfun.com

My 3 1/2 year old also will not poop on potty been peeing on potty with no accidents since March. He poops in his big boy underwear or pull ups doesn't seem to matter. I heard that it takes months to get this to happen for some kids. It is frustrating! We have tried rewards, treats, staying up later if he goes nothing works. If you find good advice please let me know.