Potty Training - Valparaiso,IN

Does she go to a certain place in the house to poop? If so, try putting her potty chair there (you can put some old towels down under it) and she might go there because she is in a comfortable, safe place. After a few days you can try moving the potty chair to the bathroom when you see that she is going to go. You can ask her if she wants you to stay with her or if she needs privacy.

We just got over this with my daughter. She was fully potty trained to go pee on the potty at about 2 1/2 - she would even wake up at night if she had to go or woke up dry, but she just wouldn't poop at all if she didn't have a pull up on.

Her issue was that she would not poop in anything but a pull up. She never pooped in her pants - she would hold it if we didn't have pull ups.

We tried everything. EVERYTHING! Bribing with toys, not giving her pull ups, you name it, we promised it to her. Still nothing.

I talked to our pediatrician and he said that it was a fine line with pooping on the potty - some children were just afraid or not ready and if they go too long holding it in - it could cause serious medical issues. So...we relented for a while. She had her pull ups, but she had to use them in the bathroom (as that is where we go potty). We tried hard not to pressure her, but we would talk about being a big girl, etc.

Finally at age 4 she now poops on the potty. It's a long road and it's frustrating, but we found that we couldn't push her on this unless we wanted her to end up with medical issues (as she is very stubborn and would hold it for a week or more if she had to).

Try to make it as stress-free as possible and try not to shame her about it. She will come around -- hopefully sooner rather than later!!

Hi K.,

My daughter also had a lot of issues with pooping in the potty. By a few months after 3 (she was really only ready to start training at 3), she was just ready and did it on her own.

I found some helpful information in "The No-Cry Potty-Training Solution" by Elizabeth Pantley. She says that it's better to give attention to actually pooping in the potty, and not pay much attention to accidents. So we stopped making a big deal about accidents. If my daughter was upset (usually she was), we'd comfort her, but we'd clean it up quickly. When she actually pooped in the potty, we would praise her and give her positive attention. And we'd reward her with a treat (I'm not sure the knowledge, before-the-fact, that she'll get a treat will work if she's simply not ready). Another suggestion Elizabeth Pantley had was to wipe your child up on the toilet.

While it's really frustrating (and gross) now, eventually your daughter's body will sort things out. Reducing the pressure might help her come around on her own.

Good luck!
R.

Just be patient. Both of my kids started out peeing in the potty. They would ask for a diaper when they wanted to do #2! But that stage passed. You can't "make" her do it until she is ready. It has to be on her timetable, not yours.

Poop training is commonly a separate step in the training process. The signals are different, it generally takes longer and requires more effort to have a bowel movement, and some kids are even a bit freaked out about hearing some part of 'themselves' fall into the potty. If pushed too hard, children not uncommonly begin resisting and withholding, which can cause other difficulties, up to and including the disorder called encopresis (google for more info).

So I'd keep the stress level as low as possible and all messages about pooping positive. If your daughter most commonly poops at certain times of the day, you can try sitting her on the potty for 15 minutes or so and keeping her entertained, IF she's receptive to that. You can read her a book like the charming Everybody Poops, have "potty parties" with her toys in which they (you) drop some brown object (clay?) in the potty, and everybody cheers. You can let her be with you when you poop, and let her flush the toilet. You can watch for when she's pooping, and say in a positive tone, "Yes, sweetie, you're pooping! Pretty soon, you'll be able to do that in the potty, and then no more mess in your pants!"

More than a few parents have offered their littles a diaper when it's time to poop. More than a few littles have asked for diapers. That does not confuse kids or set back the process. Kids WILL want to do this in the potty when they connect all the dots between sensation and outcome. Prizes and bribes are not necessary at that point.

For additional pointers and a review of readiness checklists, here's a really informative site: http://www.parentingscience.com/toilet-training-readiness...

many kids are afraid to poop on the potty cause of the splash of the water. my daughter did fine she didnt care, but my friends child had the hardest time. its a hit and miss type of thing, and it will take her time to learn that the splash dosnt mean anything and that its not going to hurt her

Have you asked her why she will not poop in the toilet?

This is something I would have said back in April. My daughter turned three in February.

In October we started potty training her. She was a little over 2 1/2. The peeing went great and quick. However, like your daughter she would not poo on the potty.

Since I knew her schedule, at about 4:30p.m., I would put a diaper on her until she pooped. I was sooo sick of cleaning poop from panties.

Then in April , she was 3 years and two months. I finally came up with a plan. She has had a stuffed doggie that she has had since 18 months old. She loves this doggie. One night after pooping in her panties, I told her that I was going to take the doggie and put it in my room (in her sight but too high for her to reach) until she went poop on the potty.

The very next day and every day since she has gone poop on the potty. Needless to say when she pooped the next day, I gave her the doggie back. However, I told her if she pooped in her pants again I would take them again.

This might sound mean, but it worked and I have not had to take them again.

Hope this helps. Good Luck! I know it seems like a real pain, but she will get it.

take a deep breath and tell yourself "she *will* get this eventually". And IMO it's great that she's got the pee part down (my DD's didn't get this until they were a year older than your DD) and it's totally common for young toddlers to take a while longer to get the poop-in-the-potty down. And, as with all things toddler, it's not uncommon for extra effort on the parents' part to bribe/encourage pooping on the potty to make the toddler feel more inclined to assert independence by *not* pooping in the potty!
Is she using the toilet or a kids potty - that can make a difference for some kids b/c of the 'splash' thing that a PP mentioned.
good luck!

Many kids are afraid to poop on the potty. There are lots of good books about it and can help explain why we poop and where it goes. "Everyone Poops" is the one that comes to mind, but I'd just read some reviews on Amazon and pick one that you think your daughter will like. Keep in mind how different it feels to have poop come out and be against your skin (like in a diaper or underwear) vs when it goes in the toilet and doesn't really touch her. Gross, I know, but she only knows the diaper situation and the sensation is totally different when you go on the potty. Once you get a couple in successfully I bet she will be much more consistent after that. Good luck!

We had this issue with my 2 1/2 year old daughter as well! Here's what we did.

First we went to the dollar store together for her to pick out some new toys and we put them into a basket. Then, we stayed glued to the house for a few days and she wore no bottoms at all. Eventually she had to poop so she went in the toilet. We made a HUGE deal about this and she got to pick one present out from the basket. She wanted more, of course, but we told her she'd get the next one next time she used the potty to poop. Then I let her put on underware or a pull-up.

Going forward, if she pooped in her underware or pull-up, she'd have to go bottomless again until she pooped in the potty. Then she could wear bottoms again. We just kept repeating this process over and over until she (in a relatively short time - maybe a week) was consistently using the potty.

This worked way better than anything else we had tried.