Potty Training - Gainesville, VA

There is a video we used when potty training my daughters. It's called "It's Potty Time" and it's full of songs and dance, including the song "I use my potty when it's time to poop". I bought it as a last resort when my oldest was potty training because of you exact problem and after she watched it several times she just started to use the potty more on her own.

Hey A.,

All I can say is it just takes time for them to feel comfortable enough to go in the toilet. I would just suggest when you see her hiding, or signing you that she's ready to go, just take her to the potty and have her read a book. It just has to come naturally.

J. Z.
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www.shaklee.net/Z.
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Do you and your husband take her to the toliet with you? My husband and I show our son (currently 19/20 months) our poop in the toliet and we go with the door open so we can keep an eye on our son, but also so that he is comfortable with the process. My husband and I both exaggerate a little bit when he watches us... and we say that we are pushing the poop out but it doesn't hurt... then, when my son needs to go, even if he just has to urinate, we alway encourage him to push a little to see if there is any poop to come out... sorry... probably more information than this group needed to hear, but I feel like we really tried to get him comfortable and so far it has worked. After he has no misses which won't be for quite a while... we will focus more on the privacy aspect. Best of luck to you. I am sure that this will work itself out!

Hi!
My stepson is afraid of pooping in the potty as well, so we have to wrap our arms around him in a big hug and hold him while he's on the potty. It makes him feel safe and he poops! Whatever works!!

Best of luck!!

when we went through this my ped told me to saturate her with fiber foods so she had no choice but to go. so we gave her lots of fig newtons, mixed prune juice in with her juice, etc. The other thing is to find out if there is a cause. My daughter had bonded with her poop. She was afraid to flush it because it was hers. Once we reassured her that the poop was going to a party and would be back later, she was satisfied (as long as we didn't flush it when she was in the room). Good luck.

Be patient. My nephew hid and pooped in his underwear. He surprised my sister and finally pooped in the toilet. She will when she's ready. If a big issue is made of it, it may take her longer. If you start bribing her now to do what you want, imagine having to do it for everything later on. We sometimes want our children to "grow" in certain areas because it's convenient for us.

My son was using the potty to pee but whne he got his pull up at night he would poop in that instead and tell me to change him. What helped for him was to bring him and the poop to the potty, we made a big deal out of it. I let him put the poop in the potty from the pull up and we waved and sang good bye to it. That taught him that he had to poop there. He got a kick out of it saying it was chasing his pee pee. With some patience your child will learn, don't push too hard. Oh I also heard that having them clean themselves up when they go in their underwear helps but I didn't try that method.

Dear A.,
One of the things I learned years ago as a pre-school teacher (and also in my early childhood ed classes) is that toddlers and pre-schoolers are often afraid of their bowel movements coming out of their bodies whereas they don't have the same fears about urine.
If that is what is holding BMs up for your daughter, she might repsond to creative verbiage from you. For instance, telling her that her poop is wanting to get out' so it can 'float down the river' of the toilet water may work (or try another story approach).
Hope this helps!
Blessings!
J. F.

I just potty trained my son (will be 3 next month). First, I got the Potty Power video from the library. This was the best for motivating him to use the potty. He was pee trained pretty quickly (we had been practicing for almost a year - just when he wanted to go).
For the poop: He would usually poop in the morning, and usually when playing with his trains, so one morning I watched him non-stop (really hard for me not to get distracted). When I saw him get that look on his face, I said "you are going poopy - run, run, run to the potty." I grabbed his hand and led him to the potty. He fussed that he didn't want to go, but he came with me. I sat him on the potty (he was still fussing), and then relaxed and gave him a hug to relax him. Well, the poop went in the toilet and he was very proud - he said, "That wasn't scary!" (So your daughter may be scared, too.) It took me doing that a couple times before he could do it on his own. Actually, come to think of it, he also got diarhea a couple days later, providing him with lots of practice using the potty (plus that feels so much worse in the pants). So maybe giving her foods that loosen up the bowels so she has more chance to practice.
My son is my 4th and I still am no expert, each child is different. The rewards didn't work with any of my kids. Hope this helps.

My friend had great luck with the Elmo Poop video, I think It's called "Everybody Poops". My son, however, held out for the longest time in the poop in the potty area. We found his currency(in the words of Dr. Phil!) and he performed on the potty for tattoo's. Temporary ones, of course, easily available at craft stores in the girliest of designs. Wore them like a badge of honor he did. On several occasions, while out, people would say 'Where you get that cool tattoo?' and he would tell them he went on the potty for it and inevitably the person would say 'Me too' and roll up a sleeve to show thiers. My son's eyes would get big- so impressed. You got to love the kindness of strangers sometimes.............

My son likes to hold the present in his hand while he sits on the potty and I read him a story, then he opens it at the end of the story if he went on the potty or not. It gets him comfortable in the bathroom and knowing it takes time. Also, he gets 2 chocolate chips if he pees or poops on the potty. I understand people's theory about not "bribing" but don't we reward ourselves with a nice dinner out or new clothes when we accomplish something? Truthfully for my son it's the anticipation of the thing...often he's so proud of himself that he forgets to ask for the chocolate, or if he didn't hold the prize, he doesn't ask for one because we do a happy dance and sing a song we made up. Also, I talk to him several times a day about how big he's getting. I do mention pooping on the potty, but also how he gets to walk around at Target, sit in his own chair, things like that to show him the progress he's making in growing up. If it helps, a girlfriend fed her daughter grapes which seemed to loosen things up, and her little one actually pooped in a porta potty at the park after not pooping at home...I think the pressure was off! So you might try the library, a store, or even relocating the potty to the kitchen and she can sit on it while you cook or something. Good luck to you!