Help Getting My 3 Old Daughter to "Poop" in the Potty...

Have you tried going potty with her? That's what I did with both of my kids. Around the time she usually goes potty, take her in the bathroom, and both of you sit on the potty and go "poop". Sometimes it is easier for them if they see mommy (or daddy for a boy) going poop.

can you get her some fiber filled foods? fiber one cereral also makes pop tarts, cereral bars, along with cereral. If you get the cererals i would recomend the flakes or the ones that kind of look like cinnamon toast crunch. the stringy looking ones dont taste all that great! good luck.

Oh S., I do understand your frustration! My little girl, who is now 7, used to have the SAME issues going in the potty too and having the constipation issues! Through trial and error, we figured out that she was lactose intollerant and switched her to Lactaid milk and eventually to soy milk. She also , even at that time as well, drinks aloe vera to "lube" things up and help things along naturally. Her fav way to mix up the aloe, (we use the herbalife products), is to get about a half cup of water, a dash of salt, about 2-3 tablespoons of aloe, and 5-6 drops of either lemon juice or lime juice and a straw. She loves it cuz she has always liked the sour-ish taste anyway..... So through all of this, she does not have constipation issues anymore! Hope this can help your little girl.......(put the aloe in juice, or whatever she will drink) I would be happy to help in any way I can if you want to talk! I'm always here!

have a good day!
C.
www.newshapenetwork.com

Assuming that you have the constipation thing under control, I would suggest logic. Here is what I did with my daughter: the party is for big girls. Big girls poop in the potty. If you wake up (she used to always go during her naptime) with poop in your pants, no party. She did and she didn't go to the party and never had another accident.
I was very sympathetic. "Oh too bad, I was hoping you would be able to go......."
Also some kids just hate to let go of something they made. For them it helps to remind them that if we didn't put it down the potty, we would have a mountain of poop. There will be more tomorrow. And to let her flush and say, "bye poop, there will be more tomorrow".
You might start with that if she is willing.
K.

Dear S. S.,

Sounds like our story, except my son wouldn't poop at all. He took Miralax for 8 months. It was like he was afraid to go. His pediatrician said he was withholding.

I would have him sit on the potty about 1 hour after he would eat and read the potty book. After 6 months he was going on his own and we weaned him off of the Miralax.

Also, I made him drink lots of water. That seemed to help out alot.

Hope this helps,
C. M.

SAHM to two busy boys ages almost 10 and 6. Married to the man of my dreams for 13 years.

Its amazing to see so many other moms with kids like mine!My son was 4 when he finally would go full time in the toilette! He would pee from age 2, not even wet the bed! He too has been a "Miralax" user and many other laxatives! What got him...went to grandmas for the week and Papa paid him a $1 bill for each time he went in toilette during the week, then on Sat went to the swap meet, and he bought like 5 or 6 different things with his money! Taking TV away helps too, he would want to watch his show, and hold it, having a DVR helps! (He's 8 now and a lot better) My daughter is 3 and to get her to go, I took her to Build-A-Bear when she would go all week, then we made a bear and got panties with Hello Kitty, to match her's, and each week if she went in the toilette she got to go back and get a thing for her bear. At Barton Creek mall, right across the way from Build-a-Bear, Pottery Barn Kids has a story time at like 9am on TUE, So we would make that our thing if she did her thing. It will be soon! Just love her!

I know you have so much to read...what about giving her a goal date, like Halloween, (maybe too early) Christmas, or Birthday, That you will have something extra special if you go in the toilette.

My son also asked for a diaper when he needed to poop for awhile after getting the pee-pee part down. I finally made sticker charts for him. The first one had maybe 12 squares, and when he filled it up, he got a "big" prize (for him at the time, a $20 Thomas train set); the second chart had maybe 20 squares, and the prize for that one was a smaller train set. He asked me to make him a third chart, but I conveniently kept forgetting to make it but he kept going poop in the potty. My son is now 7, and we still have pooping issues. He often bleeds a little bit when he poops, so I know it hurts. I also give him Miralax, but I still have a hard time convincing him that if he were to go more often, it wouldn't hurt nearly as badly.

My 3-year old is on constant Miralax too, despite all our efforts! We got her to poop in the potty by letting her stand over it. It was easier for her to push standing up, so we would let her stand until the poop was almost out and then sit quickly. They are so hard it was never a mess. She now can sit and poop almost all the time.

Good luck!

We also had issues with our son going poop in the potty! First - I increased his fiber intake which made him have to go more often. Then - we went to the store and he picked out his own "potty stool" which helps since now his feet weren't dangling and his knees were higher. He couldn't touch at easily at first so we put a phone book on top of it. Lastly - we too resorted to bribery (I mean rewards!). I bought a bunch of matchbox-type cars and each time he went poop on the potty he got one. After a while he forgot to ask for his car and I didn't offer. It was a little expensive but totally worth it! I have friends with little girls who love stickers, and one who loved stamps. The reward system does work!

Best of luck to you. Remember - I've never seen a 5 year old who won't go on the potty so this too shall pass!

Does she usually "go" while standing up? Try giving her a pull up but ask her to sit down on the potty (while wearing her pull up) and try to go while sitting down. Sometimes, kids are so used to going potty standing up in their diapers that they don't know how to use their muscles sitting down. If she can do this successfully, then try bribary. Some people may not agree with this but my son did what your daughter did. He was pee pee potting trained 6 months before I could get him to go poo on the potty. I had this huge fire engine that I found on clearance at Target and just randomly told him one day that if he could go poo in the potty, he could have a new fire engine. He went into the bathroom immediately and did it! I couldn't believe my eyes! Within 2 weeks he was 100% potty trained.

I had a similar situation with one of my kids--can't remember which one. (It's been a LONG time!!) Anyway, the pediatrician told me that some kids actually view their bm's as part of themselves. They have a emotional attachment to it. (I know this sounds really stupid, but it helped me to sympathize with my child and work with him.) Have you considered using a potty chair that is separate from the toilet? One that is free-standing? That is what finally did the trick for my child. There's just something less threatening about "pushing it out" into a small chair and not the big open-ended toilet.

Once she is comfortable with having her bm's on the potty chair, you can have her help you dump it into the toilet so that she can see there' nothing to be afraid of. Then you can "graduate" to the toilet after a while and put the potty chair away.

Hope this helps a little.

Hi S., how about a compromise since DD thinks the pullup insures that it will not hurt. Put a pullup on her and sit her on the potty. Allow that a few times and praise her just as if she had pooped in the potty. Take the pullup off and have her see you put the poop in the potty and flush it. Some children like to say, Bye, poopoo and they flush so they are taking control of the situation. Make the same big deal as if she had pooped without the pullup. Exclaim how she is such a big girl for pooping in the potty. As she sees that it really is no different, perhaps she will transition easier.

As parents we often think the solution is "either, or". Sometimes it is "Both". As my children are all grown, I can say with confidence, that when we used compromise, though it wasnt always to both kids and parents preference, we achieved the greatest success with that measure. HTH

Just stop buying the pull ups. If it's going to hurt pushing it out, it will hurt whether she is in a pull-up or on the pot. Try a reward, maybe.

A couple things to help her :

Remind her of the signs that things are getting ready to need to poop; gas, tummy fullness etc and reassure her that its a good thing that she stops and sits on the toilet.

Had one of my guys think that he would only need to go once during his lifetime and never again. I didn't figure out what was going on in his head until he started crying in my arms and told me, "I won't do it again, Mommy." I thought at first he was meaning have an accident, what he meant was ever poop again. After he understood that it was ok and it was good to go everyday he was ok and stopped having accidents from holding it too long.
I wish I could find the book "Stop and Go Potty" had another with this issue and it was an interactive book that made it fun for them to see she could stop and then go back to play.

I would NOT give a pull up for pooping into. You might up the fiber and liquid in her diet and see if that loosens her stools so that doesn't hurt when she goes. After she gets in the habit of running for the toilet several times in a row she will stop asking (one hopes!) Relaxing to go is always tricky but one of the necessary things of life, anything you can do to help her this way will be good.

Does she ever go in with you when you are having a bowel movement? I know, gross...But, when she sees that it is ok for you, it may help convince her. Also, keep talking to her about it, getting her prepared and convinced that it is ok. That you can't wait until she turns 4 because then she will be big enough to do the same. When she turns 4, try it again and offer her a reward system for even attempting it. If she sits on the toilet and pushes - offer her praise and/or a small reward for at least trying. But, hold off on any elaborate praise or reward until she actually does it. Then, talk about how much cleaner it is for everyone when it is done on the toilet. Just keep talking it up. Offer her a reward system (stickers and so many = prize; except for the first couple of times she needs an immediate prize). In the end - closer toward school - you will need to add a punishment in the mix if it is still a problem. The two work very well together. Also, if and when you don't allow the pull-ups, no matter what, make sure she is drinking pear or prune juice. She won't be able to hold it in and when you regularly put her on the toilet - because you know she will have to go - constipation won't even be an issue. You can hold something that liquidy in for too long.

My son did the same thing until he was almost 4. We tried two things that worked together: he had a younger friend who was pooping on the potty, and had told him how much fun it was to get to yell "hiney check" after he pooped. So we really talked it up - "it will be so fun to get to yell out "hiney check" after you poop". Maybe that's a boy thing, but he thought that was the coolest. The second thing, which our pediatrician suggested, was to count down to the last pull up. Have a few out and when they're gone, there are no more. So the kid can help count, 3 more pull ups, 2 more pull ups, etc. When the last one is used, then that's it. Good luck.

Here's a good blog article on this topic. We've a 4 year old boy who was late 3's before finally becoming consistent. The adage "they won't go off to college in diapers" applies here! :)

http://blogs.goddardsystems.com/Cedar-Park-TX/2009/09/22/...