Potty Training a 3 1/2 Year Old Boy

What finally worked for us, when our son was 3.5 and would pee on the potty, but not poop, was a sticker reward system JUST for pooping. Started with he had to earn two stickers that he put on a card and once they were both there he turned the card in and got a highly desired Cars movie matchbox car. The car of the moment was in site at all times (but he couldn't touch it), he knew that's what he was working for, he knew only poops got him the stickers, etc. He was not happy at first, and he still did go in his diaper at times, but it worked. After he earned the first car, we did the second one for three stickers. Then kept upping the amount until he had to do 4-5 to get a car, which is hard as they only poop 1-2 times a day! But he did it and that is what finally FINALLY worked for us! We had been trying since he was 2, so we were so ready! LOL
Good luck.

do u have a cushion on top of big potty?

We had the same issue with our son when he was a little over 3, and we decided to put him in underwear overnight and just deal with the accidents, at least until he'd pooped on the potty a couple of times. Of course, this will only work if your son does not want to poop in underwear. Anyway, much to our surprise, our son not only pooped on the potty but also made it through the night (usually) with no accidents! So you just never know until you try. But the worst-case scenario is that you have to do extra laundry for a while until your son gets comfortable pooping on the potty, and then you can go back to pull-ups.

We also noted that our son seemed to need to poop at the same time each day (right before bedtime), so we'd ask him to sit and try to poop for a few minutes before bed each night. He performed fairly consistantly (this was after he got over the initial fear of pooping on the potty, of course).

Good luck!

It seems like it's time to just let it go. I know you don't want to deal with it anymore -- believe me I understand!-- but not making it a power struggle might be the best option at this point.

I have a 4.3yr old who JUST started to poop on the potty--sometimes. She would just refuse, and, like your son, would wait until she went to bed at night to poop. Nothing worked. Not the poo poo party, not reading books, not having her sit on the potty... nothing. The doctor told me just to let it go. It would happen in it's own time.

Having 2 others younger than she i was so sick and tired of it.

Finally, around the time she turned four It started happening. And it's still happening. Slowly