Son Potty Trained but Still Won't Go Poop in Potty!

Updated on June 08, 2010
E.K. asks from Wood Dale, IL
5 answers

Hi moms,

I just potty trained my 3 year old son on Sunday. He makes pee-pee really well in the potty. He comes and tells me when he has to go and then I help him get in there. Since Sunday he no longer wears diapers. However, he has gone poop in his undies 3 times already. I keep telling him he has to make poop in the potty too. Am I rushing this? My daughter had one poop accident when I potty trained her, but after that, there was never a problem. I know boys are usually harder to train than girls, but how come he's not getting that he has to do both in the potty? It's only been a few days, but I have a friend whose 5 year olds are still making poop in their pants, so now I'm paranoid. Any suggestions?
Thank you!

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A.P.

answers from New York on

Our son was pee potty trained for at least 6months before he started going poop on the toilet. For whatever reason he just wouldn't go in the toilet. Because he pees excessively at nap and bedtime he still wears a diaper/pull-up for those and that's when he'd go poop. Then one day, my husband took him into OUR bathroom and told him to go there and he did. And he's been using the toilet ever since. He still have an occasional poop in his diaper after nap or in the morning, but it's very rare. Best wishes!! It can be very frustrating and tiresome, but it does pass. You just have to find what works for him.

J.F.

answers from Dallas on

Hi,
The "poop" part always takes more time and more work...Both my boy and girl had trouble going poop in potty long after they learned to pee in the potty...Just keep telling him and trying to get him to go...reward him with a few skittles for trying and tell him if he poops potty he can go pick out a small new toy...He will get it down :)
Good Luck!

J.L.

answers from Minneapolis on

do you have a potty chair or is he sitting on the toilet? sometimes the big toilet can be scary. think about it...balance so you don't fall in, feet aren't touching the ground so how do you "push". :)

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J.R.

answers from Los Angeles on

First of all, all kids are different, so don't compare (or worry). The bottom line truth about potty training is this: Your son will get it when he's ready, and not a minute sooner. If he's solid on the peeing for a few months, and still not making the connection with pooping, then you can go to the next level of working on it, but in the meantime, just remind him when he does poop, that soon he will poop in the potty. Tell him that it's not ok to poop in underwear though, so he'll have to put on a diaper or pullup whenever he needs to poop (it's not a punishment, but because it gets too yucky). He'll decide it's not worth it eventually, I promise.

One thing that does help is to dump the poops into the toilet (from the diaper/pullup), so he knows that's where poop goes. Flush it away with a "bye bye poop!" and maybe let him put a few drops of food coloring in to watch it swirl as you flush (this is a good way to get them less afraid of the toilet as well).

Try not to rush things- I know it's hard, but ultimately this isn't even in your true "control". :-)

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M.W.

answers from Cleveland on

My son was 2.5 when he was pee trained...but it took 6 more months for the poo training to work! I have heard countless times, from friends and my ped md that it is a lot for them to learn to poop on a potty (though some seem to have no problem with it). I know for my son, he always stood to poop...so now to ask him to sit, well, it just didn't work for him. We tried alllll kinds of incentives (stickers, stamps, high-fives, songs, and yes...m &ms) all kinds of training tricks, and he would try for a wk or two, but never really finished the deed (he'd go a tiny bit and get freaked out) so would be constipated at the end of the wk! Not fun for anyone. Give him some time and your unconditional patience, it will come, eventually. If you just pee trained him this weekend, celebrate that for a while, that is huge! HT (my son) would bring me a diaper for a long time when he had to go poop. After several attempts over several months of trying to train him, then giving it a break, one day he just literally did it. He had to go so bad and I couldn't get a diaper on him (as I was with his brother) so I said " honey, you can either put the diaper on yourself or go on the pot like a big boy, but I can't help you right now"...and the rest is history. No real explanation for why that worked or why he was ready...I think that's how it goes with boys (kids in general) sometimes. Best of luck to you, and congrats on quick pee training!

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