Potty Training 2 Year Old Boy, 3 in June

Hi L.,

Since you are a stay at home mom like myself, my only advice is to remove his pants during the day and allow him to go bottomless (naked, not even shorts or pants on). IF he does poop on the floor (I know, it could happen) you use that as a teaching tool to show him where poopy goes. When a child is bottomless, they are quite aware of what they need to do and without a pullup or diaper on, the need to put it someplace will be intensified (watch for the poopy dance!). That is when you bring him to the toilet and have him hop on up there and sit there until it comes out. Bring a book with you to read...a toy for him to play with and just be patient. Once he poops in the toilet, I would clap, get very excited, tell him how very proud and happy you are of him and reward him with something special that he will ONLY get for going poopy on the toilet. If I may make a recommendation, I used Gerber gummy snacks. They are sold in the baby aisle in most grocery stores and they come in little snack bags within a box. One snack bag has maybe 10 gummy treats inside so a box will last a LONG time. Give him ONLY one treat...not the whole bag and he only should get the treat when he goes poopy on the toilet that way it will be something that he knows will be his special reward for going poopy on the toilet. My son is 2 and totally potty trained and I trained him like I did my two girls...bottom less all day. Good luck!

1 mom found this helpful

Hi L.,
Congrats on your son peeing in the potty. My son is 4 yo and he was fully potty trained by his 3rd bday.

What I did was removed all diapers/pull ups, only put him in underwear/cotton training pants. Then when he did #2 in his pants I made HIM wash it himself, then he got hosed down in the shower. My son hates showers and he hated having to deal with his own feces. So for him it only took one time of that, and he never pooped in his pants again.

I rewarded him also when he did poop and pee in the toilet and praised him for being a big boy.

This worked for me.

Good Luck!

Other moms have already mentioned the reward system... that didn't work as much with us. My DD did so well with #1, but only transitioned to #2 in the potty WHEN SHE WAS READY. It took awhile, and may require a bit of patience to wait for it to happen. Keep reinforcing it and it will happen... you're probably not too far away. My daughter started being consistent around age 3.
T.

Bribery is the only thing that I have ever found to work. Figure out something that he would want and make it something that he ONLY gets when he poops on the potty. It has to be something you are willing to give him several times a day because at first you should give it to him just for TRYING to poop on the potty. For my first born, it was stickers, but for my current toddler, it was chocolate. I keep a bag of semi-sweet chips in the freezer and just give him a small scoop of them. I didn't beg or insist. I just kept letting him know when he was ready to give it a shot he'd get some chocolate so within a few days (of me offering the bribe several times a day) he was ready. He has pooping down pat now, so now we're working on pulling his own pants down, which he doesn't like to do.

The decision to poop has to be his own. You can't do anything to "make him" do it, so you can make him WANT to do it by offering a special reward.

Kids are so funny. It's reward time for pooping in the potty...So, make a simple sticker chart and offer a tiny treat (another mom suggested one gummy bear) or one m&m, anything he does not get regularly.
Hope you don't freak when he's hiding and pooping, we have enough "anal retentive" adults to deal with. Know what I mean? Patience, love and understanding are the keys to happiness.
Blessings

I understand your worry but I am sorry I cannot help you but if you could help me. My son, 30 months old and only child, is still in his diapers. My husband and I are trying to get him to pee-pee in his potty or the big potty but is not going. He has been showing the signs for months now. I think he is lazy but I don't know. I ensure that he watches his parents go pee-pee so he gets the idea. I am not about to chase him all over the house having him naked and peeing on my carpet. What should I do? Maybe there is a remedy for the both of us someone has an answer to. What do you think?

Men need reading material in the bathroom! I couldn't believe how this worked for my then 21 month old when my mother told me she tried it... She was visiting for a week right after I gave birth to #2 and was ready to just throw in the towel on potty (poopy) training my oldest even though he was doing excellent with potty on the toilet. I was exhausted and couldn't stand the thought of washing out another pair of poopy underwear for my oldest when my mom and he came out of the bathroom and they told me he went poo poo on the potty!! She brought a book in there and just started reading him a story. He relaxed after a while and it just came out! We keep a magazine rack in the bathroom anyway for my husband so now my son just puts his preferred reading material in there as well. Even now--he's 2 yrs 8 months-- he still wants me to sit down on the stool in the bathroom and read him a story or a magazine... or now he wants to "read" to me which is great!! Good luck to you. And don't be afraid to let someone else try to work with him as well. New approaches by others can be invaluable in turning the corner!

Hi L.,

Thanks for your post because I was just getting ready to ask the same EXACT thing. My son just turned 3 yesterday (May 4), and will pee on the potty all day long, but refuses to poop (which is really strange because when he very first went in the potty 5 months ago he pooped several times & then that was it!). I have tried keeping him commando all day long & he actually holds it. He's not pooped for as long as 2 days until I put a diaper back on him & then he promptly pooped in the diaper. I was told by another mom when they start holding it like this - it's not good because they can get really constipated. Please keep me in the loop if you find something that works for you - I'm in the same boat over here ;c) ____@____.com Thanks! W.