Potty Training - Evansville,IN

Kids are smart, aren't they? He's waiting until he has his pull-up on to poop. That alone says that he's ready... having control over his bowels like that. My boys used to BEG me to put a diaper or pull-up on them so that they could poop... because they hated going on the potty. One thing that helped them was taking them to Toys R Us and picking a toy that he will get to have when he goes poop on the potty. Maybe take a picture of it even, to remind him at home that the prize is his as soon as he goes poop on the potty. What a joyous day that will be for everyone when it happens!!!

K.--

My opinion would be to take the pull up away at bed-time. As long as he is dry when he wakes up, then give it a shot. I doubt he will become constipated. At that age, children do what comes naturally with their bodies. He may hold it for a day or two, but as long as you are keeping up his fluid intake and not changing his diet, after a while, he won't be able to hold it for too long. Plus, the worse thing I can see happening is that you have to clean up a couple of messes in his bed, but that beats having to change a diaper on a 4 year old every morning, I think.

I agree with your other response. Take off the pull-up. If he messes his pants a few times he will hopefully hate being so uncomfortable that he will start to use the toilet. That is what we did with my son.
Raisins are a good way to make sure he won't get constipated.

I have dealt with this issue many times as the mother of 4 and grandma of 5. I found with mine that they were afraid of potty seats, and also of "falling in" if there was no potty seat. My solution was to do away with the potty seats, and to place them on the regular toilet BACKWARDS. They felt like they had more "stability " from the bottom, because the opening of the seat is usually smaller at the front, therefore, less chance of falling in! lol But I do have to disagree with some of the other comments concerning the constipation issue. Children this young CAN suffer from it if they do not empty their bowels when they need to. I know from unpleasant experience with my son. His pediatrician explained it to me after having to give him an enema because of blockage that was discovered when he complained of his belly hurting all the time. And let me tell you...THAT was much more unpleasant than cleaning up the occasional accidents. :) Give the rewards and the support, and try my offbeat method...it may be he is just scared of falling in!
Hope it helps.

I'm really not a fan of pull ups. I have 3 children and all 3 I did away w/ diapers all together when it was time to train. The last one just finished potty training, and she was the one that had this same issue with not wanting to poo on the potty. Stickers were the answer. My older daughter offered her one of her best stickers if she would poo on the potty and sure enough it worked. Every time she went poo she asked for a new sticker to put in her special sticker book.

I hope this helps. This will pass soon and you will forget all about it ( :

Potty Training can be challenging; my daughter just finished. She also did not want to poop on the potty. I was a director of a childcare/preschool for 4 years and one of the things my teachers did was use the sticker chart. Once they got so many stickers or the chart was full, they would get to pick a prize out of the box and they made sure there were things that each student really liked.

There are also children's books that are about potty training and going poop. I just bought one called "Everyone Poops." It is about animals and humans pooping.

What worked with mine was if she got chocolate when she went on the potty. Now, I don't mean a whole candy bar-I would have like small toostie rolls or a jar of m&m's and just give her a few. I also didn't like pull ups or diapers. I was doing a lot of laundry-but it worked and now I don't have to pay for diapers! Good luck and hang in there!

maybe a different potty will help? one that he can squat down on? just a thought...