3Yr Old Pooping on Potty Help

Get rid of the pull-ups..they are nothing more than glamourized diapers. Try using big boy pants and get him into the game by saying we are a big boy now and no more pooping in your big boy pants. Yes it can be messy for a few days but once he starts thinking like a big boy your issues should stop very quickly. Also get rid of the stickers and punishment for having an accident. Once he learns that this is a normal action the quicker he will be completely trained.

I guess my first question is: are you talking about pooping on the big potty or a little chair? If he doesn't want to poop in the big potty (even in one of those chairs that fit on the big potty), I would go to WalMart and get one of those old fashioned cheap white platic potty chairs that sit on the floor for like $9. A couple of my kids would not poop unless their feet were touching the floor comfortably, and honestly, I would find it uncomfortable doing my business, too, if my feet were dangling around :) Good luck!

This is VERY common. We went through it with my now 13 year old son and even sought professional advice. This is contrary to the other poster, but I think your pediatrician is right and we were also advised to just back off. If you push them or punish them he might start holding and then he will get constipated, even if he isn't now. Our son wore underwear and would ask us for a pull up when he had to poop. We gave it to him, he did his business, we quietly cleaned him up and put him back in his underwear. We were strongly told to not make a big deal out of it or to get upset. Like your family, it bothered my husband more than it bothered me. We kept up positive reenforcement in the meantime about pooping on the potty, read books and even talked about the wastewater treatment plant and what happens after we flush! A few months of this and he was pooping in the potty. I am still in touch with the director of his preschool at the time, and 10 years later she still talks about the day he explained the workings of the wastewater treatment plant to his preschool teacher! A new engine for his Thomas the train set helped too. Good luck.

Same thing happened to us. Our pediatrician told us to let him sit on the potty with his pull up or diaper on and poop in the diaper while sitting on the potty. We let him do this for several weeks and told him once he sat without the diaper and pooped in the toilet he could have a tow truck toy he had been wanting. We didn't push. We didn't punish accidents. All of a sudden one day he announced he was going to try it. He was still scared. Pooped sitting down in his diaper a few more days and then finally he did it and never went back. He was 3 years 7 months before this happened. Patience will win this game, don't worry, it will happen some day!

My 3 yr. old son did the same thing. The only thing we found was buying little gifts (like from the $1 section at Target) and wrapping them and putting the basket of wrapped gifts where he could see it. We told him whenever he pooped on the potty he could open a gift. I think the first couple days he opened 4-5 presents a day. That's okay with me. It helped that one day he asked me for something at the store (like a Matchbox car, or something) and I said, "you can't have one now, but I know I have one wrapped in the basket for going poop!" That seemed to motivate him. Otherwise, he just asked for Pull-ups to go. Good luck -- I feel your pain!

We have both the bjorn white potty decorated w/ thomas stickers and a potty seat for the big potty with a stool in both bathrooms. Sorry can't figure out how to log back into the account I asked the question in. Weird... -luvmykiddos