Potty Training - Olney,TX

We also had a hard time with our son; what we finally did was start a "Poopie Chart" and every time he pooped in the potty he got a sticker; after 5 stickers we went to the store and he got a small toy; we also gave him the option to wait until a few more stickers to get legos. It wasn't easy but we finally got there! We always made a big deal about him putting a sticker on his poopie chart and we never took stickers away; we didn't do any sort of negative reinforcement but rather explained that accidents will happen and we just need to be more aware next time. It got to be a really big boy deal to him to be able to put a sticker on his poopie chart - it made him feel good and like a big boy.

Did he have some constipation? Sometimes that scares kids off for a while. What kind of a potty? If he has a small potty, what about a potty seat (of his design choice) for the toilet? Maybe that would be incentive?

I would talk to the dr. it may be painful or there is another reason he is so uncomfortable about it. he could be scared or something not right.

It's not unusual for kids to be peeing in the potty for months before they're finally comfortable pooping in the potty. If he's only been peeing in the potty for 2 weeks, I wouldn't stress about him not pooping yet - especially at 2 1/2. The running around the house may be due to the pressure he's feeling from mom/dad/aunt to sit on the potty. What you DON'T want to do is traumatize him tot he point that he becomes constipated - then he'll associate the toilet with pain, and it will take even longer (I have 3 boys; trust me on this one!). I would back off a bit, continue to praise him for peeing in the potty, and let him do whatever is comfortable for #2. For my oldest 2, that meant going #2 at bedtime, when they had a pull-up on (both of them took a really long time to be completely trained through the night, so we did pull-ups then).

I know there are people out there who will insist that a 2 1/2 year old should be completely in control of his bodily functions, but I'm of the mind that it's easier to train them when THEY'RE ready to train. For my oldest, that was right around age 3. For my second one, it was at 2 1/2 for peeing, but pooping didn't come till he was 3.

I answered a question last March about potty-training. It is below. It was in answer to mother of a little girl. But some of it may apply to your nephew's behavior:

"A big toilet is a scary thing to babies. Their minds are still in the Piaget stage where size difference doesn't compute - - so they think they could fall in and disappear down the hole with the water. Some babies even fear going down bath-tub drains. (Look up Piaget's stages of development. His theories of brain development can help you parent all the way through teenage years.) My advice: Buy a tiny training potty that sits on the floor. Place next to where you change diapers. Any morning you wake her up and she has a DRY diaper, sit her on her tiny potty to go pee-pee. A dry diaper at night is the BIG SIGN. I also noticed when my children were starting to stay dry at night - - is when night terrors starting waking them up. My first-born son's first night terror - - he screamed hysterically about "a big bee in the room," but his eyes were closed. I discovered that if I sleep-walked him to the potty and gently said, "Go pee-pee, honey," that he'd pee like a race horse and then, back in bed, he'd sweetly drift off to a peaceful sleep. I started to make sure to sit him on his little potty at night right before putting on his night diaper and pajamas. ((This was 25 years ago, so PULL-UPS did not exist. Those would have been nice to use.))"

Awww....well going poop is the most difficult for LOs. Maybe you could try a rewards system for when he goes on the potty so then he has more incentive to go. And explain that it is not anything to be scared of..? Here are some more potty training tips you should definitely check out:

http://www.theskinnyscoop.com/search/potty+training?utm_c...

Is he using a child's potty or an adult potty? If it's the latter, he could feel uncomfortable because his legs don't touch the ground - a stool is great for that. Otherwise, I'd say it's just a phase and he'll out grow it. My boys didn't potty train until later though because they were having similar issues about going number two in the potty. I just stopped pressuring and waited a little while longer. It could be that he's just developmentally not ready. At any rate, if you stick it out, it will resolve itself. I promise, he won't be running through the house screaming 'do-do' when he goes off to college :)