3 Yr Old Refuses to Poop in Potty!

Hi
I had a similar problem with my son as well.
He on the other hand would hold it forever, until he would feel comfortable going....in a diaper.
One time we had out of town guests, and he would not poop for 3 days, until finally the guests went out of the house for a few hours and he felt comfortable enough going. (I finally had to tell them that they needed to leave the house so he could do his business) All this was going on when he was about 3 to 3 1/2 years old, and he would pee on the toilet fine, and was wearing regular underwear for the most part of the day. My son would put off pooping, probably because he was disgusted himself, and this made him constipated.
I saw several specialists for this, and he was given Miralax mixed in with his drink once a day.(This is Over The Counter nowadays)
At the time the guests were there, he was on it....so now you can tell what will power will do! I just knew he would do it when he was comfortable doing it.
It honestly took a LOT OF coaching and insisting, bribing and ensuring that this is what everyone does etc.
I even let my son pick out a potty he liked, but he did not actually try to use it (he was peeing fine in the toilet) until his MUCH younger sister (18 months) sat down on it and pooped one day. And Voila! It was like a "If she can do it, so can I" moment.
I also let the potty be in the room they spent the most time, so it was readily available (no running to the bathroom and changing their mind), many naked days, and plenty of luiquids to make them go more often.
It is REALLY hard to go get them to go that first time, but after that it should be ok.
My son is now almost 7, still tries to get out of going to the bathroom since it is such a chore, and sometimes he needs to be reminded. But, every child is different, and there are many ways to deal with this.
Now you know that you are not the only one at least!
Oh, by the way, once my son started going on the potty/toilet we realized he really wanted to be alone when pooping (privacy thing) so that might be something you can try too.
Good Luck!

We had the same problem with our daughter. She was peepee trained for months but we could not get her to poop in the potty. She would hide from us and poop and then tell us. We tried candy, stamps, stickers, and everything else we could think of to get her to do it. We finally found her incentive and it was going to Chucky Cheese. We told her if she pooped in the potty for 2 weeks straight we would take her to Chucky Cheese. She had about 2 or 3 accidents and we kept telling her the 2 weeks started over. From that day, she has pooped in the potty with no problems.

My grandson was the same age and we had the same problem. The reason they poop several times a day is because he never finished pooping the first time. What we did was when we knew he needed to poop was we put him on the potty and had him stay there until he was done. We would not let him off until he was done and he would eventually do his thing. After he was done we assured him that it wasn't hard and would talk him through why it wasn't hard and assured him of how easy it actually is. It took only 2 tries and it cured him.

Ok, this probably isn't very helpful but I had to tell you: you know it's bad when your toddler not only refuses to poop in the potty but 'target practices' her poops around the house. I thought my little girl was stubborn but discovered she just had a twisted sense of humor. I didn't realize how twisted until I caught her -- in the middle of the living room -- Zoo Nooz torn asunder on the sofa -- and my angelic daughter's bare bottom squatted over a carefully placed photo of a monkey . Pow! Right between the eyes! And she grinned up at me like, "Get it? That's the punchline!" As mad as I'd been, I just doubled up laughing. Needless to say, my attempts to scold her then failed miserably and I had another week of depositing her 'mischief' in the toilet before I finally came up with a plan.

We did potty target practice -- No, ladies, it's not just for boys anymore. Colored ice cubes, faces drawn on squares of toilet paper -- if you can flush it, defile it. And hide your ZooNooz! ;-)

Good luck!

All kids are different, so you have to find the right tool to make him WANT to go in the toilet first. For my son, he is highly gift responsive. I wrapped a gift and placed it on the back of the toilet so he would see it every time he peed or bathed. He tried several times, but couldn't master the "sitting poop" for his life. Finally, when I knew HE was frustrated that he couldn't do it, and he was ready to go, I did something based on my gut. I slipped him half an infant glycerin suppository. I know- it sounds aweful- BUT IT WORKED! He needed the help in feeling where to push! Since then, he has only had 2 or 3 oopsy poopsies, and they were while he had diarrhea. This worked only because he was ready, but needed help bridgeing that last gap. If your don is not yet ready it won't work!