Potty Training - Flat Rock,MI

I had the same problem when I was potty training. My son knew how to do it but he refused and always hid when it was time. First of all you shouldn't put any negative enforcements towards this. Taking away toys and putting him time out each time is only going to make things worse. He's going to start thinking that it's a bad thing. You have to just keep positive with it. Give him rewards for effort and just ease him into it. Maybe he's just scared. You just have to show him that it's a good thing and just stay positive about everything that has to do with it.

Try postitive reinforcement...I bought cute stamps and a washable kid friendly stamp pad and stamped my son's hand, belly, leg, whenever he would try to poop on the potty...when he actually went on the potty he get a sticker on a chart and when he got 5 stickers he could do something special...watch his favorite movie, stay up 1/2 hour past his bed time, etc. Just to be warned though, with a new born coming watch out for regression in his potty training. It is not unusual for a potty trained toddler to want to wear diapers again and have accidents when that new baby arrives and is getting all the attention.

My oldest son (now 18) didn't get completely poopy trained until he was 4 years old and then all was fine. I wouldn't worry too much and I wouldn't necessarily take things away, you are reinforcing that he doesn't wanna try or keep doing it because he is getting your attention by going in his pants. You have a one year old and a baby on the way and he already has to share your attention now......baby means even less attention for him (in his eyes). If I'm right, he potties just fine, it's just the poop part, right? That's why they say it's harder to potty train some boys (the poop part). No worries, he is normal and it should all be worked out by the time he's 4. Gentle loving will work a lot better than taking things away or scolding.....try rewarding when he does instead. Hope this helps.

My cousin had this very problem with her daughter. She finally had to take away her undies and just put pants on her. It worked because she didn't like the poop going down her leg. I don't know if that will work for you, but I hope it helps. GOOD LUCK!!

I also did the bribe thing with my son with the pooping... he is really into the Cars movie, so I would set a different car from the movie in the bathroom. When he pooped on the potty, he would get it. It took him about a week to figure it out, but once he did... he never went in his pants again :) He did forget about the bribing too... he didn't keep asking for cars after the first couple times! Good luck!!!

My son had issues with this too. Except he chose to hold it in until he got a Pull-up on every night. When we stopped putting Pull-ups on him at night, he started using the toilet for it. We did notice that punishments seemed to do no good, if not actually make him do worse. So, the thing that worked for us was making him clean up the mess himself, if he messed his pants, rather than a Pull-up. And when we changed his Pull-up in the morning, I made sure to calmly tell him that it would be so much more comfortable for him to not have to wear a Pull-up anymore. All of this eventually added up to a child that finally is using the toilet for all his needs. Sometimes you just have to hang in there. Hope this helps.

Bribe mommy, bribe. You need to give him things and make it a positive experience, not take things away. They will have to train in their own time schedule as well, I can understand you wanting him to be potty trained before the next one but you need to realize it might not happen. The more you try to force him, the more he's going to fight, and he may even revert back to going in his pants after a new baby is brought home so you definately want to make sure you are making "potty" a positive experience. Hang in there and remember, you guys are a team!
C.

Hello B.,

Potty training can be so frustrating for everyone. My son did pretty well with potty training. He has been wearing underwear since he was 2 1/2. What really helped for us was that I bought him a bunch of toys (matchbox cars) and told him that everytime he went poop on the potty that he could pick one out. I made sure that he got to look at the toys and that he knew where they were kept. I also made a point to note when others went poop on the potty. Between the 2 things he got it under control. Just make sure that you don't put too much pressure on your son to go on the potty that he starts holding it in and gets himself all backed up.

Also when he does go in his pants, what do you do with it. Any time my son had an accident I made sure that he saw me flush it down the toilet (if possible).

Get luck.
A.

B.,

Is he completely out of diapers? I wonder if you put him back in diapers/pull-ups and reward him when he goes instead of punishing him when he doesn't go on the potty. I surmise he is smart enough to know that Mom's time for him will soon be less than he has now and that this is his way to get your attention, even thought it is negative attention from you.

Good luck!

I had the same problem with my son. He would go in pull-ups or hold it until he was constipated. Since I didn't want him to be constipated I'd give him a pull-up to go in, but as you know as they get older the mess gets worse, and I was tired of cleaning him up all the time. I figured he'd grow out of it but after he turned 4 nothing had changed. We tried taking away his toys and time outs, even rewards for going in the potty like stickers or a few M&Ms but nothing worked for long, so it was time for something different.

My husband and I would still give him the pull-up but would watch for the signs of him starting to go (he would hide in his room or in a corner and tell us to go away)and then we would quickly get him to the bathroom and make him sit on the potty until he went. It took a little while and sometimes we didn't catch him in time, but as he got more and more use to going on the potty he started doing it on his own. At first we had to sit in there with him to make sure he went, but when he realized that we were not going to give in he accepted the fact that he was going to go on the potty and that was that.

Good Luck
A.

Hi B.,
It sounds like you have some very good advice. What I did with my son was reward him in some way when he went in the potty. Don't punish him that will just make the situation worse. Good luck.
Chris

I just had this problem with my 3+ daughter. She would pee fine, but always hid to go "stinky". I think it was a control thing, because once we just left her alone about it she started going on her own. She also wanted a book and the door shut. But i think because its one of the few things we cant make them do and they have control of it, they will resist when we tell them to do it. Good luck!

My son had the same problem. It was so bad he just held it in for a week. We used marbles everytime he went on the potty and when he filled a small jar got a treat (like a small toy) and then we graduated to a larger jar (and a larger toy or treat). I also found that the less I bugged him about it the better he did. The last thing is that he was having poops that really hurt and he didn't want to use the potty so gave him foods that would help him go(like papaya). I hope this helps and it will get better.

I'm going to try what Annette said. I have a son who is 4 and absolutley refuses to tell us when he has to go potty and it's pushing us to the limit for sure. Plus we have an 8 month old, which I found totally made it worse. My son who was starting to go pee pee on the potty reverted big time when we brought her home. So since he LOVES any type of vehicle, car, truck, construction vehicle, I'm going to buy a bunch and make him earn one at a time. Eventually I hope he'll be doing it on his own.

Good Luck!
J.