3 1/2 Yr Old Boy Won't Poop on the Potty..

I had a similar problem with my now 4yr old. My daughter was scared of her poop too. I had tried to get her trained before my twins were born, bec I didn't want to buy diapers for two, and pull-ups for her. She would poop in her pull-up then take it off and the poop would go all over the floor. I made her take some toilet tissue and pick it up herself. She cried and it took awhile but I just reassured her that it's not going to hurt and was nothing to be scared of. After that, she didn't have any more problems. MAybe you can keep the pull-ups hidden so he can't reache them when he needs to go. He might not like the feel of it in his underwear.

Hi,

For some reason boys are attached to their poop. I read it in a developmental psychology class, and it is more difficult to get them to poop on the potty (they feel a part of them is being flushed away).
What might help is to get a book called "Everbody Poops" (it might be everyone poops, but I am not sure). It is a book about, you guessed it pooping. It helped my son to poop in the potty.
If that doesn't help, set up a behavior chart for pooping. If he poops in the potty he gets a sticker, if he goes in a diaper, he doesn't. When he gets 10 stickers he will get a prize that he really really wants, and by that time, he will be pooping in the potty.

Good luck.
L.

hi, J. my name is M. and I do not have boys but I am a child care teacher and did experience this same kind of issue with a couple of the boys that were in my class and when I did some research for the parents on the unbelievably very common issue. When he goes poop in the diaper take him into the bathroom with the diaper and you and him flush the poop down the toilet so he can see it go "bye-bye". I hope this helps.

We had a similiar problem with my son when he was potty training. He would pee but would not poop on the toilet. What we did was made a chart for him and gave him stars and let him put them on himself and after he did it a certain amount of times he would get a reward and I just stayed with him when he had to go so that he would know that nothing was going to happen and make it a big deal when he did it. My son liked movies alot at the time so we used to get him a new video at the end of the week if he did good.

lol sorry i don't mean to laugh but my son did same thing at that age I told him he had to poop in the potty because the potty was hungry and that was how we had to feed it and that he had to flush it to let it eat crazy but cute and it worked
hope it works for you
Good Luck
M.

This is actually my first time at Mamasource. I hope that I can be of some up as well as recieve help. Hello, I am 28 and a mother of two boys myself. It seems as if your 3 1/2yr old had somewhat of a late start with potty training - which is okay because they will let you know when they are ready. So this is what I did. First off, I made it a big celebration when my youngest went in the potty. Whether it was pee-pee or doo-doo. I would get my oldest who is 3yrs older, and we would sing, " Pee-pee in the potty," while dancing around LJ and clapping our hands. But I understand that the problem is getting him to go peroid. Try this - when you or your husband go, bring the little one in when it's time to flush, so that he can see that you put something in the toliet to flush. You might even get him to flush. This maybe an initiative for him to flush his own poop. Once you get him to sit on the toliet maybe after having milk, apple juice, or McDonald's - Remember to give him some privacy. Oh yeah, don't forget the stepping stool, so that he won't feel as if he is going to fall. Then again he is almost 4, so maybe you don't need it - just a suggestion.

I don't know if you want to try this, bu my friend had a similar problem, they let their son poop onto newspaper, for a few weeks until he gave in and pooped on the potty.

Totally know what your going through. I posted the same question like a month ago. my son will be 4 on the 20th. Just about two weeks ago was the first time he pooped on the potty and now he does it all the time. We would just sit him on the potty and make him sit there. a lot of the time he didnt go, but one day he did. first couple times i would sit there with him. But now he does it all on his own. I know how frustrating this is. But he will do it when he is ready. Owen, my son, has been peeing in the potty for 8 months now and just now is pooping. i wish you well!! He'll do it soon

My son is 5 and still has accidents because he doesnt want to take the time to go to the bathroom i have found what works for him might work for your son make a reward chart with stickers and for every time he gets five stickers he gets to go ssomewhere or buy something he wants then if he starts going move it to he has to get 8 stickers to do something it might not work with your son but it works pretty good with mine so i hope you can try it and it works

I just wanted to say thanks for this. My best friend is having the same problem with her 3yo son. Flushing the diaper poop bye bye and a sticker reward system sound great. I'm going to share.
Thanks!
E.

This is all very interesting
My almost 4 year old boy will pee in the potty but not poop. No matter what we do..My mom said it was some attachment issue, like it was part of him that he was having trouble letting go. I was told he would grow out of it.

J. i agree with Leah. When we were potty training our son he got stickers everytime he went on the potty whether it was pee or poop. When he got 10 stickers he got to go to the store and pick out what he wanted or go out to eat. Trust me it works he was fully potty trained in three weeks. Hope this helps.

S.

http://www.learn2potty.com

Excellent tips! :-)

Amazon has a ton of low price, cheap DVDs and VHS's - currently, I am watching one right now called Potty Training 101.

I actually find this request funny, as a mom who went through the same thing with my oldest son. He was almost 4 before he would poop in the potty. He would pee and I know he was aware of when he had to poop because he would go hide. But he just refused to do it in the potty. I feel your frustration and unfortunately all I can tell you is be encouraging and he will do it one day soon. I promise.

We had the same problem with our eldest when he was three. We did basically what Leah said; it didn't work overnight, but he eventually got comfortable with going #2 on the potty. I know how frustrating it is though; my husband and I used to get so nervous because he'd be so constipated but he'd still hold it in. Hang in there!

J.,

It seems like you have gotten some good feedback. I am just going to add my 2 cents. I also had a son (now almost 9) who would go put on the pull-ups when he needed to poop. I'm thinking he was over 4 before he would go on the toilet. I tried the newspaper thing, and stickers. He's never been motivated by stickers (one of the few kids out there I guess). Eventually, I told him he had to wear diapers and put them on himself and then clean himself up. It was very unpleasant, and I definitely needed to help on the clean-up, but if the child can put on his own diaper, he can clean it up, too. Also, we did make a big positive deal abou him putting it into the toilet, but he was nearly six before he would be anywhere near a toilet flushing (very sensitive to noises), so maybe your little guy doesn't like the sound either...

Anyway, he will grow out of it (as others have said), and it will just take a whole nother load of patience, which I'm guessing you are already using in good measure.

Good luck!

H. - working mom (SAHM for 6 years) of two boys - nearly 9 and 6

Hi.. My son just turned 3 last week. We started "potty-training" him last year before his 2nd bday. We used the sticker method also which helped a lot but I didn't force the issue with him because 1)we were getting ready to move and 2) i was due in Nov. with our second child. So I knew he would regress later. I actually found though that my son liked going on the "Big Potty" like mommy and daddy. He liked that he could "wipe his butt and flush the toilet" afterwards like we do. I think this helped a lot in his training. He has been officially potty-trained for about 3 months now. He would always go at home but not out in public. One day I just decided - if he can tell me he has to poop and I can give him a choice of the diaper or potty - then he was beyond ready. So i just gave up the diapers completely.