Potty Training - Myrtle Beach,SC

Hello, Cheryl My name is P., mom to 3 grown children,7 grands and 2 greats. I agree with what you are doing . hang in there , hold the scooter until she decides it is worth the trade. IT want take long. just keep reminding her to poop in the potty if she wants her scooter back. wishing you the best.
hugs! P.

Hi, Cheryl. My daughter did the same thing, so I bit the bullet and started putting panties on her all the time. She had only a few accidents and began using the potty exclusively. Maybe you would put a mattress barrier on her bed or even a wetting pad for the first few times to see what happens, but you will most likely see an improvement. Good luck!

P.S. As others have said in response to your posting, make sure you are patient with your child. Girls respond at different rates than boys, and independent children will respond at a different rate than those who are more dependent on their parents. Also, keep in mind that you rarely meet adults who are wearing pull-ups, so I have a feeling she will get the hang of it pretty soon! Enjoy the experience.

My son did the same thing. I tried incentives, which did work for peeing but not pooping. I would dump the poop in the potty and tell him that it was supposed to go in there. The feeling of pooping on the potty seemed to kinda scare him. I also started keeping him in underwear as long as possible before bedtime (he's a heavy sleeper and won't wake up to pee). He started holding his poop all day which caused him awful stomachaches in the evening (at first I thought he was having gas pains). I would have him sit on the potty and tell him that if he pooped his tummy would feel better. The first couple of times he would poop a little on the potty then stop and ask to go to bed and then he'd poop some more in the pull-up. The third time he had a bad stomachache from holding it he made the connection and pooped ALOT in the potty and realized his stomach felt better. He has never had an accident since then...about 6 months ago. I was sick awhile ago and he asked what was wrong and I said that my stomach hurt and he said "mommy you need to go poop" haha!

Oh my goodness, this is exactly my story! My daughter is 3 yrs old, born Aug 2006. She had a really hard time pooping on the potty, telling us it was difficult and she just couldn't do it. Finally, at my wits end, I just decided one day that I was taking the pull ups away all together, night time and all. I prepared myself for accidents in the bed, and she did have maybe 2 or 3. But now she is completely trained!! Those first few poops in the potty were hard - but once she realized that she could do it, she was so proud of herself, and there was no looking back! Now we take her to pee one time in the middle of the night and she hasn't had an accident in 3 or 4 months. Good luck! Just stick to your guns, she will get it!

We had the exact same thing with my 3 year old. 1st week great, and then not. We have a chart that she puts stickers on every time she goes. Once she got the pee down, then the chart was just for poop (or stinky as we call it!). Once the chart was full she would get the prize that was taped to the chart. This case it was a little pet shop doll. It totally we have done 4 dolls. 2 to get the peeing down, and 2 for poop. About 20 stickers or more for the pee, and more like 10 for poop (since they don't go as often). I found the continual reward works better than just one they get in the end. We will also let her have a little jelly bean. We just finished with charts and when the jelly beans are gone.. she's done. It has worked really well. The stinky was a little tricky at first, because she was scared to relax enough on the toilet. Weird sensation I'm sure. I would sit there with her and read books, or just firmly hug her but not let her off when I knew she had to poop. And I could tell because she would be about 10 times in 5 minutes.. trying to get poop out, but too scared. After the first 3-4 times she was completely fine. So I would suggest, if you know she has to poop, find ways to get her to stay on the toilet until she just can't hold it in anymore. She'll get it!

This may not be what you need to hear, but it seems pretty common for children to get the urine potty training before they get the poo down. Particularly when they potty train fairly early, and 2 1/2 is fairly early. One of my sons started at 2 and though he did not have urine accidents he rfused to poo on the potty. He would actually go hide under his bed and poo there. Often taking off his underwear first. Yes, EEEEUUUUWWWW. That was not a fun time in my life. lol. He eventually got it and once he started going it was no problem, but he had to decide he wanted to. It really is a mental thing, they have got to decide to do it. If you stress them out about it it doesn't help really. I would just keep encouraging her to go on the potty and it will happen eventually. In the meantime, be glad you are just changing a pull up and not a lovely mess under the bed!

Quit using pullups, make her go pee pee before bed and just change the sheets if she has an accident. If she's in a big bed cover the mattress with a plastic sheet first. We had to quit using Pullups altogether to get ours to quit doing that. She might cry for them, but she will stop after a few times. Best wishes.

I saw that a lot of people said avoid the Pullups. I started training a little later so my son got the hang of it pretty quick but he did the same thing. At night I would put the Pullup on and he would poop immediately! But I would just put a new Pullup on and continued to encourage him to go on the potty. He eventually did try it and was so proud of himself. But he still didn't have it down pat. It didn't take long though and now he doesn't have any accidents and is completely dry in "big boy pants" through the night. Just give love and encouragement and eventually when she is ready she will do it. I liked the comment about adults not wearing pullups! She will get it!

I would avoid pull-ups. They are essentially diapers and your daughter has figured that out which is why she is waiting until she has them on to poop in them.

Using underwear instead of pull-ups will result in more messes, cost a lot less, and avoid the confusion of switching back and forth.

Just my opinion but I do have two potty trained children and figured out with my first that the pull-ups would not work for us. Good luck!

No more pull ups at all. And put her on the potty at the time she seems to poop in the pull up. For some reason, it takes a different skill to poop on the potty than how they are used to pooping in diapers. But this is a normal behavior as well. Don't make a big deal out of it, put her in underwear and if she poops those, make her help clean them up too.

good luck!
S.

Please don't take away something so important that she's wanted for so very long as her "punishment" for not being what you want her be so quickly. It's only been a week -- did she learn to walk perfectly that quickly? Just help her understand and accept this big physical change with very different physical dynamics.

Pooping is so much harder than peeing -- be sure she has something to put her feet on for balance and pressure, and perhaps some books/music/woobie she can choose for the time before bed when she typically goes to "get in the mood." Some kids also get scared they are losing "part of themselves" when they poo, and then see it get flushed away. I feel that one tip to make the child "clean themselves up" is so demoralizing!

And think how hard it is for us adults when we have to poop in the public restroom with an audience???

Kids have accidents so get a good mattress cover and accept you'll use it for the next 2 years, and don't worry so much because no one's perfect, not little or big people. And be happy she doesn't poop in the corner or spread it all over the walls like mine:)

Be patient.

It sometimes takes a little longer for them to get the feeling of pooping. We've had poop accidents in panties over here at 2 1/2. Don't sweat it. Peeing comes easier than pooping.

At least she's pooping in a diaper. I've known of kids who hid in a corner to poop.

Cheryl,

I am in the process of potty training my daughter and have done alot of reading on it recently. Children urine train much quicker than bowel training and it is very hard for them to "let go" and have a bowel movement in the toilet. It is scary and a different sensation for them than urinating. I have also found that it can be very detrimental and stressful for a child if they are punished for "accidents" or not making it to the bathroom. We have been working on potty training for several weeks now and she just started having BMs in the toilet. Like yours, she would wait until she had on a pull up or just have an accident in her underwear. We started offering her M&Ms if she poops in the potty. She loves them (you don't have to use candy, any sort of small treat that she doesn't get otherwise will work fine) and always wants M&Ms but she only gets one when she poops in the potty. I find she tries to go all the time now just to get M&Ms. Please try the reward system and I think it would be fine to let her have her scooter back since she did so well and is trying to use the potty with urinating. It can take months for some children to start having BMs in the toilet. Just keep encouraging her and try not to punish or show disappointment when she doesn't do exactly as you wish. Children at this age really want to please parents and it can cause undue stress (and subsequently more accidents). Good luck!

She's nearly 3 and this seem to be a battle of wills. Trying putting her on the potty about 15 minutes before bedtime and don't put the pull up on her until she goes. One other method that did work for one of mine - when she goes poop in her pull up, run water in bathtub, stand her in it and make her clean up herself. Do not touch her to help. She will not like the mess and probably stop doing it when she's the one having to clean it up. V.