My 3 1/2 Yr Old Won't Poop in the Potty

Get the book Toddler 411- they have a great section on this exact problem. http://www.windsorpeak.com/toddler411/default.html

Make sure his feet touch something and give him some privacy. The poop is an effort and some kids are embarrassed by the grunting and pushing. If you want to be in the bathroom with him, turn your back and clean the sink or whatever, pretending to ignore him. Another thing, dont ask him to sit, tell him he must. You dont ASK him to sit in his car seat or his high chair, so why give him a choice on the potty? When you know hes about to go, take him to the potty and tell him to sit for 5 minutes, then ignore him. He might need to sit on the big toilet if its hard to make on a little potty seat. If hes a big boy his knees might be too high for comfort. Potty chairs are one size fits all, which doesnt work for all kids. And throw away the diapers. Tell him they are all gone and you arent buying any more.

I would try and stay away from foods that are binding such as bananas, rice, cheese etc. Make sure he drinks plenty of water and maybe try and sneak in some prune juice. The easier it is for him to get the poop out the less nervous he will be. But don't worry, a lot of kids go through this and he should be over it in the next few months. Maybe try a more comfortable potty or a sticker chart where if he gets enough stickers then he gets a small new toy.

Hi A.,
You are not alone..lol. My son was pee trained for 5 or so months now he will be 4 late November. When he needs to poop he asks for a diaper. I try to take him to the toilet but he is not interested. We have battled and I realized it is not worth getting him and me all upset. IT will happen. There was one time he didn't go for 2 days and got a belly ache. I can't see making him suffer. Totally not worth it. So just encourage him and it will happen eventually. Good luck. D.

If its been a year I think you might just have to go cold turkey and tell him no more diapers. He is old enough to understand this. You will have trouble with this no matter what. My daughter has just finished potty training and doesn't go poop on the potty everyday. Now she goes every other day or even every second day. Good luck.

Ok -- graphic info here -- we had our guy listen for the "plop" sound of the poo hitting the water. At first we'd let him in the bathroom with us so he could listen, then he wanted to try on his own.

Also we established a routine of saying "bye-bye, poopoo/peepee, see you next time" with the theory that kids unconsciously fear letting go of things that were a part of their body. Or it just distracted him and he liked the routine... either way, it put us on the same team as we said byebye together.

We only had to do these things for a few weeks, thankfully!

My son would not poop on the potty at first either (I think this is pretty common). We ended up making a "poop chart" that hung in the bathroom near the potty. We let him put a sticker on the chart when he pooped on the potty. After a couple of weeks he got bored with the stickers so we starting using stamps which he liked even better.

Hi A.,
My suggestion is a compromise that can lead to the transition - if he wants to poop in a diaper, tell him that's okay as long as he will poop in his diaper on the toilet. Then diaper him and he can have pants on or pants off, but he poops in the diaper on the toilet. If he does it with pants on, then you graduate to pants down, and eventually to doing without the diaper at all
Good luck

Hi There,
My daughter was completely pee trained before her 3rd birthday, but continued to ask for a diaper for months after that to poop in. If we tried to go cold turkey without diapers, she held it and got constipated. We finally made the rule that she had to poop in the bathroom (with the diaper) and encouraged her to sit on the potty with the diaper after a while. I also realized that she was usually pooping just after she got up in the morning (and had a diaper on for night time anyway), so, I put an old towel down in her bedroom and put a potty seat on it, and told her that if she wanted, she could go all by herself when she woke up in the morning, and to call me when she needed help wiping. I figured that this would give her privacy and let her have the control. Sure enough the next morning she called for me to help her wipe... she has been poop trained ever since. After a few weeks, she used the regular potty just fine. Just remember, this is a common problem, just be consistant and creative (ie. location of potty etc.), also, make sure he has a potty, or a stool so his feet reach the floor.

Good Luck!

hi
i wanted to add that my son really likes to read his "magazine" - a thomas the train catalog - while he's going poo. sometimes this makes the whole thing take longer than it needs, but if he does have trouble getting it out in one go at least he is happy to be sitting there! it's not the whole answer for you, but it might help with one little piece of the puzzle;) good luck!

Hey A.,
I had the same problem with my 3 year old daughter....she would only poop in a pullup, and as long as she knew that we had them in the house she would refuse to try to go on the potty...there was no trying to bribe her what so ever....she just flat out refused, even went as far as tensing up her body so we couldnt even try to sit her on the toilet....so the only thing that worked for us was not buying the pullups...she gave us trouble for about the first day or two but then she was fine...she has been pooping on the potty for about a month now, with no problems...the funny thing now is when we go to the store and she sees diapers, she will say "No more diapers for me right Mom?" She is so proud of herself!!
Meg