I have a two and a half year old and we started potty training the end of June, since I was off for the summer. We switched him right into underwear and it was incredible how quickly he picked it up and realized what to do. He can now tell us, go to the potty on, hold it down, and hold it for up to 1 hour. The issue is he is almost accident free with pee-pee but pooping is a whole other story. He will tell us he needs to go but wants that instant gratification and won't sit on the potty long enough to work it out. Instead we try a few times and he then finds a place to hide and poop in his underwear (not fun). As soon as he goes he runs to us and says "poo poo" and wants new underwear. We then put it in the potty and clean him like a big boy in the bathroom - telling him where he needs to go etc.... We've even showed him when Mommy and Daddy go - sorry TMI - to add to it - but still he won't go.
My question is - any advice on pooping in the potty tricks or someone that has gone through the same?
My son had the same issue and what I did was to go and get him a super cool matchbox car carrier, you know like the 18 wheelers you see on the highway? He got it for the first time he pooped on the potty and everytime he did after, he got another car to put on the carrier. By the time the back was full of cars, he was good to go. Hope that helps.
Hi L.,
We purchased those little matchbox cars and put them in a basket. Every time our little boy went poop in the potty, we would let him choose a car from the basket. This worked really well and it took us about 2 weeks. We spent around $30 or so, but it was well worth it!
I had the exact same issue. My daughter would pee in the toiler
but would scream if asked to poop. Don't worry. He will figure it
out on his time and he is still very young.
I went through the same thing with my son. I took him to the doctor and he told me this is more common than I realized. It is more scary to poop than pee and this is why they struggle with that part. I started feeding him more foods that would make it easier to go than to work on the pushing part. Also, I had to watch him like a hawk. When he squatted I picked him up and we raced to the big boy potty. After about a week we were through. I am sure new things have been discovered now for helping them since this was about 11 years ago. I do feel your pain so I want to wish you the best of luck!
We wrapped little prizes and my son held one and got to open it after he sat on the potty while we read three stories. It got him to sit still and time to work it out while I was "distracted" reading to him. Also, he got the prizes for sitting which is something he knows how to do, not pooping which he's learning. When he picked out a nice toy himself at Target he came home and the next morning he sat on the potty every five minutes for two hours until he did it. He was very motivated to earn the toy and so proud of himself when he did. I gave him some juice to make sure he'd be successful. Then little prizes every day for pooping for about two weeks...that car carrier idea would be perfect :) Good luck. My son trained at 26 months, so it can be done, it's wonderful you're working with him! D.
Thank you so much for asking this question!! I am in the exact same boat!! My son just turned 3 in June and he has been in pull ups for awhile and was pretty good at the whole peeing thing but never ever has he pooped in the potty. Just this past weekend we officially put him in underwear (pullups at night) and we have no idea how to get him to poop in the potty! He has had no pee accidents (yay!) but has had 2 poop accidents so far in his underwear (fun!) and once his tummy was hurting so we tried sitting him on the potty but he wouldn't sit still so I caved in and put in a pullup and 10 minutes later he pooped!
How do you teach a child who is used to standing to poop, to sit down and poop? We have told him he will get a very special present if he can poop on the potty but he gets so distracted as soon as he sits down!
I am hoping you will get some really good advice on your question because we are at a totally loss! We will keep trying to sit him and encourage him but that's all we got!! Good luck and if you do discover the magic trick then please please please pass it on!!! :) Sorry I don't have any tricks!
2 1/2 and in underwear, that is amazing! Mine is almost 3 and he went through a short stint of wanting to pee pee in the potty, but now when we put him on the potty he won't go in there at all anymore. I am not stressed though because everything I have read says boys are usually harder to train, and while you can encourage it, it should not be forced. I have also heard how children can go through periods where they almost regress and where at one time they are going in the potty using pull ups or in underwear/panties and then the next minute they are wetting the bed or pooping in their pants and how frustrated the parents are with the situation. I have not had this experience myself yet but I am sure it will happen. The only advice I have to offer is to try to just be patient and allow nature to take it's course. From what I have heard the pooping is usually more of a struggle for kids than the peeing so I'm sure it will come in time. Good luck!
Wow, 2 1/2 for a boy is good. My main advice is to buy a bunch of underwear and some patience.
My son now 8 started just before his 3y birthday, my brother didn't care until 3 1/2.
With my brother, it was a simple matter of he just didn't see the point. However, as soon as you made a super cool toy the reward for staying clean, he never looked back.
My son, however wasn't so easily bribed. He got the pee thing down in 2 days. WooHoo!. Then he had an episode with an autoflush toilet wherein he almost fell in... and then he would refush to even go near the toilet. Moved his trainer to just outside the bathroom at home. When we went out, we would look for the manual flush or hold our hand over the autosensor.
We went through ALOT of underwear. There are just sometimes, like when you are out that putting the mess in the trash is just best. He has even gone without a few times, because we were out and ran out!
He doesn't eat fruits and veggies and that had a lot to do with it. It wouldn't be comfortable, or would take a long time, and he just wasn't going to deal with it. It took about 6 months for him to really get the poop concept.
Good luck
M.
Wow, I'm really impressed by your little boy. We have the opposite problem actually. Maybe I should go cold turkey and quit the diapers too.
My daughter is more likely to tell us about needing to poop then to pee but if she doesn't, we usually "catch" her before she starts to poop. She goes to a corner and makes a certain facial expression. We pick her up really quickly and whisk her off to the potty.
I also started putting her on the potty after meals, especially after breakfast because I noticed that she usually goes then. It's not that consistent but I praise her verbally anyway if she goes or not. If she doesn't want to get on the potty, it's usually because she wanted to do something else or is in the middle of something she likes to do and needs a lot of reassurance that we will come back to the activity. But if that doesn't work, I do bribe her with a treat (usually a gummy vitamin).
We started reading to my daughter to keep her on the potty longer if she doesn't do anything after a couple minutes.
I'm sure there are more tricks but this is what we've been doing. Hope these little tricks help.
My advice is to put him in pull-ups for a while (until he gets the ability to poop on the toilet). It's just more practical. It'll put less pressure on everyone and is certainly more hygenic than dealing with poopy underwear. I have 2 kids, ages 5 and 7. My son learned to pee on the toilet first, but pooped in the pull-up until maybe 6-9 months later. My other child was the reverse, she pooped in the toilet first, but still peed in her pull-up for a while. So just go with the flow. Think of it this way, there are two seperate skills involved. Your boy has mastered one - great. But until he's ready to poo in the toilet, make it easy on everyone. He'll get there. Good luck.
Hi:o) You're getting some excellent advice here I almost hasten to add my 2 cents. My 2 boys (who are now 3 and 4) did the exact same thing. I tried when they seemed interested at about the same age as yours but the pooping was an issue for both. After a week with both I gave up and we went back to diapers for 3 months with one and 6 months with the other. I feel like they weren't completely ready and we were making each other miserable. When they're completely ready they're trained in a matter of days. I never used treats with any of my 3. What I did do was get 4 potties from Ikea at 3 bucks each and put them everywhere. I also took off the underpants and let them go naked for the week we trained putting on underwear only for bedtime and lastly (and this is the part I think that worked) I kept them with me ALL DAY while they were training. If I was doing the dishes, they were sitting on the kitchen floor playing til I was done. They were both pretty independent so this is what got them motivated to potty...They wanted to go play:o) Took 3 days for both of them. Good Luck!
My son has been potty trained since he was about 20 months and what worked for us and pooping was letting him watch tv while he poops. We don't allow much tv so it is a special treat. My son's problem was he didn't have the patience to sit until he could make it work so the tv helped distract him and keep him there long enough to poop. He knew that the tv would go off when he got up. We have only had one pooping accident since we started. of course it only works if you can identify when he has to poop or he can tell you. My son always says his tummy hurts and we know to sit him down. It isn't a perfect solution because he will lie and say he has to poop if he wants to watch tv. And I havne't worked to break him of the habit now that he is 2.5 and I would rather him poop in the real toilet. But it could be worse. Good luck.
Find his currency. Mine used to pee/poo for tattoos. everytime he got it in the toilet he got one. Every kid is different tho- mine did not even give in to trying til he was 3, but a friend of mine's boy had it mastered at 2.
