Poop Problems!~!~

Lol, that's how I potty trained my son so early (he was 17 months at the time). He pooped in the tub once, and as soon as I saw it, I scooped him up and put him on the potty to finish. The next time I noticed him making a "poopy face" in the tub, I put him on the potty right away. He caught on pretty quick. After that, I started putting him on the potty every night before bath (sometimes he would poop, sometimes not, but no more in the tub) and anytime of the day that I noticed his poopy face. within a month he was telling me when he had to go by running to the bathroom door and I never had to change a poopy diaper again. Just keep putting her on the potty every time she does it, and watch for signs to try to catch it as soon as you can. Other than that, there is not much you can do other than cleaning it up, or changing her bath time to later (after she poops) or morning instead.

My son did this several times around the same age. It's actually more common than you think! Apparently, the warm bath "relaxes" them & they poop. If you can change the time of bath, it can help...wait till just after she's already pooped, for example. You can also shorten the length of the bath, or do showers. I also would watch for a cue from my son (which took some observation at first) & when I caught him doing something that would indicated he was about to poop, I would quickly scoop him out of the tub and put him on the potty. He did actually poop on the potty once because of that! But I feel your pain & frustration...I HATED having to bleach the tub & toys every night! He has since stopped doing it, so I do think it was just a phase. GL!

My daughter went through this. She hsould potty train easily too. I bought a baby potty and put it in the bathroom. I let her sit on it and read books while I filled the bath tub. She started pooping in the potty. They are just relaxed and sometimes would rather go in the tub then have that grose stuff in there diaper. As she approached 2 if we missed a bath one night she still would not poop. She would just hold it. Good Luck and know that this is very common.

I had a bathtub pooper, too. It is gross, but this phase passes very quickly. If it make you feel any better, she potty trained very quickly. She is now 12 and never wet the bed or bathtub pooped once she was potty trained at 3.5 yrs.

Just don't take a bath with her. I learned that the hard way....

This is REALLY normal....I had a friend whose daughter did the same thing for a stage. If I remember right,she would not get mad or upset, so as not to stress the little one out but she started putting her in the bath,then after a few min she took her out and put her on the potty and would tell her it was 'just to try'. Most of the time she would go since the warm bath had already stimulated her to go, she was comfy and relaxed, etc. If she doesn't go right away, no biggie, just let her go back to the bath and try again in a few min...sure its lots of extra work, but it won't stay this way forever. If she has an accident, it's ok, but she will realize that it's not fun to do that since bathtime ends. One thing I remember my friend saying was not to get mad or do anything to make your daughter try to hold it....her daughter was holding it at one point and that was even worse...she was uncomfortable, spending loads of time waiting with her in the bathroom and eventually had to do things to get her to go....it was stressful.

Best wishes! It's gross, but really no big deal :-)

Hi,
My 18 mon old boy sometimes poops too. Yesterday it was solid and floated, so I just scooped it up and flushed it. to avoid this I hurry up and bathe him. I sit him on the potty but he's more interested in getting in the bath and hasn't gone in his potty yet. I know this is gross..hang in there.

Try putting her on the potty before the bath. She cannot take a bath until she goes...hope this works.
Then go have a glass of wine, you need to relax, dear...

How odd...I've never heard this one before and seriously, I feel your pain. Have you tried foregoing the bath and showering her instead? Hmmm...I would sit her on the toilet BEFORE putting her in the tub and make her poop and not put her in the tub until she does. I don't have any other ideas. A very intersting dilemma for you indeed.

Try sitting her on the potty before the bath. Give her something to play with and let her sit there until she does her job. Or shorten the bath time. Just put her in the tub, wash her and take her out. Forget the playing.....Your are right not only is it Gross but very unhealthy......I'M SORRY BUT I DON'T AGREE THAT THIS IS NORMAL. MY GIRLS NEVER DID THIS AND ALL OF THE CHILDREN I HAVE TAKEN CARE OF OVER THE YEARS NEVER DID THIS.

ChildrensBehaviorHelp.com- check them out

I'm thinking that maybe being in the water makes pooping easier/ less painful so therefore maybe she is constipated.... I give my daughter fiber gummies 1 a day, 2 if she hasn't pooped in awhile. Just a thought :)

Try losing bathtub priviledges...she can take a shower and no toys until she stops. My son has been taking showers since he could walk. I know it sounds harsh, but it's worth a try and you can't be scrubbing your tub every night. You need a break.

the warm water is probably doing it and it is very common. When I bathe my daughter, I don't fill the tub with water and i wash her with the shower head. We actually do this because we are so fearful of drowning. She loves to lean over and put her head in the water and even though we are right there, we don't like it! She still gets all the bath toys, but she isn't submerged in water. You could try this method. At the very end I fill about a just a little bit of water so she can do some splashing.

I would change her bath time, its probably a mix between the warm water and the time she is taking her baths. Your body gets on a “cycle” and maybe that’s her time to good number 2. Try making bath time a little earlier or later than you normally bath her and see if it helps.

My first inclination would be to just keep bath-time to a minimum. Don't put any toys in the tub. Just put her in, bathe her, and take her out. The less time she is there, the less chance she will poop in the tub.

Being in the warm water is probably very relaxing for her, and so it triggers defecation. If she gets upset about it.. just tell her (realize she is ONE, so it won't mean much, you'll just have to be matter of fact about it) that she can't have toys or be in the tub a long time because she poops in it. The tub isn't the place to poop, so until she can warn you in time to get her out of the tub , then she can't use the tub for playing.

You also might try putting a potty chair next to the tub. Tell her that poops go in THAT and that partway through the bath you will be putting her on the potty chair to catch her poops (telling her in advance should cut down on her protests about being taken out of the tub midway through). Then, when she has put her poops in the potty, she will get to get back into the tub. Obviously, she is not going to be old enough to understand this, but if the tub relaxes her so much that she REGULARLY does this, then just understand it will happen.. and be proactive - stick her on the potty before it happens in the tub.

The only reason I suggest a potty chair instead of the regular toilet, is she is SO small, and she will be wet and slippery. The smaller chair will be safer...

Good luck with this. My son did this once or twice.. but that was about it.