Potty Training - Baton Rouge, LA

T., she may be constipated and she cannot easily do it sitting down on the potty. I have seen children have this problem and they want to stand to do it. You may want to try a children's laxative and sit her on the potty when you suspect it is taking effect. She will learn eventually. It takes more time for those who tend to have little stomach problems.

I provided child care for working mothers and I had a very similar problem with a little girl that I kept. I tried a lot of things to no avail. I felt that she wasn�t being stubborn or refusing to do it - she did NOT understand what I wanted her to do. I decided I would play a little show-&-tell. I bought a doll {I didn�t want to use one of the �play dolls�} and made a little pile of play-dough poop. I held the doll over the potty chair with the �poop� hidden in my hand and told the doll to �go poopie in the potty�, then let go of the poopie. I gave the doll ALOT �oohs and aahs� said what a �good girl� she was {and everything else I could think of} I was lucky - - - she finally understood what it was that I wanted. It might help you with your � her � problem.
Good luck
S.

You might try a different potty. My daughter wouldn't poop in her little potty, but went right to business when we started her using the toilet. Or if you are using the toilet, maybe it'd feel less like a bottom-less pit to her, if you tried a kiddie potty. Anything's worth a try. :) Good luck.

M. B

I went through the EXACT same thing. The doctor and my counslor said it was about her controlling her "self", "bm's". What they told me was to let her go on the floor and then (this is still sooooo embarrassing!), tell her to pick it up (with t.p. of course), say good-bye to it, put it in the toilet, and let her flush it. Apparently she owns her "poop", and gets to decide where and when it goes away.
As stupid as it sounds, it only took three times and know she is potty trained.

I read somewhere that when this happens, children have anxiety issues because since a bm is "solid," they see it as a part of themselves. Maybe distraction or a reward system would work. My daughters were hesitant, so at first we made poopoo time story time. Each morning we would let them choose books to leave with the potty. When it was time to potty, we would read them a story-as long as they stayed sitting. If they got up, we would stop reading. This might not work if your daughter is very active and doesn't like to sit still through stories. Another thing we did further along was reward them if they told us they had to poopoo and then actually did it in the potty. The reward was usually a healthy snack like applesauce or graham crackers.

You'll probably get tons of different theories on this, but I suspect this is a way in which your daughter exerts control. At 2 there isn't much that she has complete control over, but her BM's (where she has them at least) are certainly within her control. If this is indeed the case, then the more you "force" her to sit on the potty, the harder she's going to fight it. If there is any way you can convince her that going on the potty is something she wants to do, then maybe she'll be more apt. For instance, if she is opposed to wearing diapers, then allowing her to choose whether she wears diapers or goes poopoo on the potty will be an easy choice for her. That's just my thoughts, though. Good luck!

A.

My son would not potty at all on the big one but I bought one of the cushy seats that fit into the big one and after a couple of false starts he really liked it. I gave him 2 stars for poop and 1 for pee and when he had 10 I gave him a treat.
C

Good morning T.. Actually my daughter (who is 6 now) felt the same way. I thought it was just her! I would pick up the poo and put in the potty and say (wierd as it sounds) act pleased. "yep, much better in the potty...yucky on the floor" after doing this I let her 'help me' flush it down the toilet. After doing this about a week, I told her I was 'really tired of doing it...could she use a piece of toilet paper and put it in the potty for me??" After having to do it herself and flush it, she decided it was easier or simpler or whatever to just potty on the potty and not have to 'touch the yucky poo poo'. Don't know, it's worth a shot! Good luck.

Thant is a very frustrating situation.I agree with Jeri P. Ive been a part of alot of toilet learning toddlers - once they have control over their bodies - there are few excuses to accidents when he or she was already mastered that area.

Reverting back to pull ups or diapers will only regress your child - so good job for not doing that! However - what to do when they CHOOSE to not use the toilet even though they have sat on it? Thats right - they made the choice - they can clean it up.

You see, cleaning it up is a negative consequence to their choice to not poop in the tiolet. Once a child has physical contol over their bowels (and every child gets that control at a different time), when they make a mess under normal circumstances - they can help clean it up. Although I would recomend leaving the cleaner/ disinfectant to mommy !

There are times when a normal child who has mastered the toilet can and will regress - seperation, deployment of a parent, divorce, moving, a new sibling, or any other major event - just to name a few.

I would advise a parent to never scold a child for honest accidents- just treat in a matter of fact way - help them get cleaned up - and have them help too. Then move on - embarassing them will only make it worse, and cause the child to have another accident. Also - rewarding with sweets can cause confusion later on ex:Good behavior = candy = risk for obesity and other health/ weight issues. Im not saying a jelly bean will be the demise to your toddler, its the pattern that is set in your childs brain, that is the problem. A sticker might be a good'reward' for having sucess at the toilet - JMO.

PM me if you have any questions regarding my advice - and good luck!

Have you tried to get her a potty that don't have water in it. Maybe what she don't like about it is the splash on her but. It may scare her.

T.,

My son did the same thing. He didn't mind urinating in the toilet because it was a 5 second commitment, but pooping required so much more of his time that he got bored quickly and wanted to leave. So I read him a few books to pass the time and eventually he got the hang of it.

Best of luck,
S.

We went through the SAME thing. I tried everything i could think of. At first she would pee in the potty then wait until I put on a pullup to poop. Then she started using "big girl panties" and would poop in them or poop on the floor in front of the potty. I tried praise, singing and dancing, stickers, and yes sad to say discipline. Finally my friend told me she trained her daughter in 4 days! She gave her dum-dum suckers. I was hesitant about all the sugar and the sticky mess. but i was at my wits end,so i tried jelly beans. they are small enough to eat in seconds, not a sticky mess,etc. I would give her 1 for peeing and 2 for pooping in the potty. I also sent some to daycare, along with change of clothes, and 1 pull up for nap time. She was trained in ONE WEEK! good luck