Potty Training - Wilmington,DE

Hi K.,

We've tried lots of things and it looks like we're making a little bit of headway now (my girls are 2.5 and 3.5, being potty-trained at the same time). We offer them stickers if they'll sit on the potty, and when they do poop they can have a special treat like ice-cream or a popsicle. They still don't just suggest they have to go, but when they agree to sit and it actually happens, they get rewarded. We also for a while (not practical now that we have partial childcare) left the 3.5 year-old naked from the waist down all morning until she had to go (she notices she has to go if she doesn't have a diaper on) and she did poop in the potty several days in a row -- we'll go back to this strategy after the summer childcare help is gone and hope it will help !

I had the same problem w/my son - he would ask for his diaper back on when he had to poop. So I started putting the diaper on the toilet and the sitting him on top. I also gave him a reward each time he did it (a matchbox car). After about 2 weeks of doing this successfully, I told him it was time to go without the diaper. It was a bit of a struggle initially, he'd keep asking for the diaper, but after a few days, he was fine! No problems since. Good luck.

I have the same situation. My son is 3 1/2 but will not poo poo on the potty. He won't even tell me he has to go. I constantly put him on the potty to pee and he goes but he refuses to go poo. So any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hi- my advice is just to let her poop in a diaper. Just explain to her that she doesn't have to poop on the potty if she doesn't want to- but that she must use her diaper so there isn't a mess. Then ask her to tell you when she has to poop and put a diaper on her. Do all of the diapering and changing in the bathroom so she at least has the right room for the activity! :)
Sometimes just letting a child know that they can do it their way- will actually relax them and before you know it she's willing to do it your way! Potty training is always better done at your child's own pace.
I hope this helps!
-S.

We had the same problem with our son at age three. He is 3 1/2 now. The best thing we did was give up the pull ups all together. Although it was a messy few months, he finally got it. I think when they have the pull ups on they think of it like a diaper and that's it's ok to poop in it. Even today if he is wearing a pull up for some reason like a long car trip he will think it's ok to poop in it, even when near a potty/toilet. So my advice when at home either have her wear underwear or nothing for a few weeks. Good luck!

Hi! We just went through the same thing with out 3 yo. He showed no interest at all in going on the potty. He is in daycare, so it was a little harder for us to keep tabs on him during the day. His daycare teacher was very helpful with this, knowing that we wanted to get him out of dipers soon. We decided to go cold turkey just last week...we put him in underwear (I brought plenty of extra clothes, shoes and socks!). The first day he had a couple of accidents, but he at least realized he was set and told his teacher. The second day, he still had a couple of accidents, but he learned to sit on the potty to avoid another accident. By day three, he stayed dry and was going to the potty on his own. It's been almost a week, and he hasn't had another accident since. He is going to potty a little more than he has to, I think because he is afraid that he might have an accident. He probably only does need to go only about half the time. But he's going! Hope this helps!

Hi K.,

My three year old was trained almost immediately when she was about 2.5 for peeing and it took about a week for pooping. I started letting her pee when she was already naked for the bath and then I put her in big girl underwear immediately. That was enough for peeing.

She pooped in her underwear several times but I never let her sit in it. I always changed her immediately and I never even mentioned one word when she did. My trick for pooping was this: She chose a toy at the store that she absolutely loved. I put it on the dining room table so she could look at it in the package whenever she wanted. I told her that if she would poop on the potty, she would get the gift. I didn't even mention pooping unless she asked me for the gift and at those times, I was very gentle. Finally, she decided to go and she got the gift and she's been perfectly trained ever since.

The toy was not expensive (only about $10) but she really liked it. This was the key. I'm sure you will get a lot of advice but try to be very patient and hang in there. She will do it.

Good luck.

T.

K...have you tried a reward chart? I used one w/ my daughter and it really worked. I had planned to get her a reward after 5 days of going in the potty ( you may want to do less), but found that putting special stickers on her chart when she went was reward enough. She also got to call Grandma and Grandpa when she went.

Good luck

Did you try a sticker chart? Then at the end of the week for each sticker you can give her a certain amount of money say 50 cents and she can buy a new toy or treat with it?

My neice is 3 years old and she prefers to poopy alone, with no one looking. I think pooping while someone stands by is a lot harder then going pee-pee, catch my drift? Maybe if you tell her she can go on the potty all by herself while she poops and to call you when she's done so you can help her out.

ello, my name is L. mother of 3 children and a Preschool Director for 4 years. For some reason going poo in the potty seems to be a problem that most 3 year olds have. There are some that hate it so much that they hold it making themselves so constipated that they need medical intervension. Just be patient she will eventually poo in the potty. Just be supportive and continue doing what you are doing using positive reinforcement. You may want to use bribary and tell her that whenever she poops in the potty you will give her a treat.

Good luck

Hi K.,
I hope this helps! My son did the same thing and what I did was bribe him with his favorite treats that I do not usually keep in the house (M&M's and donuts). When he did finally go in the potty I was so happy I called all of his grandparents and we all praised him so much that he always wanted to go. I only had to do that for about a week and he was poopy trained!
I know its a bit crazy but it worked for me. Good luck poopy training!
A.

I know what you are going through. After 3 months of it with my son we had just about given up hope that he would ever be trained when my family got together for a week. My son adores his cousins. He messed in his pull up & 2 of his cousins "picked on him" by saying phrases like "ewww" & "I thought you were a big boy" & "Yuck gross stuff like that goes in the potty" Well he hasn't gone in his pull up since. So as awful as it sounds maybe you need to call in someone your daughter adores for help. Kids don't always listen to their mother.

K.,

Sounds like deja vu ... My son was great with peeing in the potty, Not so much with number 2. I had been told to remove the diaper and let him wear underwear. That helped for peeing. Once he felt it on him he was done. Honestly, he didn't start pooping in the potty until right before his fourth birthday. He saw another little boy go in to the bathroom to poop and found out he didn't wear diapers.

Monkey see monkey do.
Good-luck.

Hi K.,
Unforunately I don't have any guaranteed advice because I am having the same problem with my 3 yr as well. I can pass on what some mothers have told me that seemed to work for them. Have you tried not putting anything on her for a day. No diaper, no underwear, nothing. My friend swears by this method. My 3 yr old just holds it in when I do it, but maybe your little girl won't. My friend says it only took her a day or two at the most and her kids were trained. The other advice is to leave them in the dirty diaper and bascially ignore them when they asked to be changed. They get tired of being dirty and start going in the potty instead of being dirty. Again, my little guy doesn't care, he stays dirty until he is sore and just begs to be changed. Anyway, maybe they will work for you. If you get any other good advice, please send them my way. I need some help too (: ____@____.com. Either way, good luck!

K.,

I feel for you. We have 3 under the age of 4. My daughter really didn't respond to potty training until we made it reward based. She has a special book that she can put a sticker into. This was when she was at your child's phase; able to use the potty well but not always choosing to use it. We told her that when she filled her page with stickers she could go to the store and select her own "big girl" underwear that her sisters couldn't have. Good luck.

My son was 3.5 years old when he finally started peeing on the potty- and he refused to poo poo on the potty until he was 5- everyone told me (doctors, friends, etc.) that he will do this in his own time-not to push him. So, that is what I did. And when he finally started going #2 on the potty, we had a small celebration- (cake & balloons)- I know it's hard, but he'll do this in time- just try to be patient.

My son was terrified of using the potty to poop. I got rid of the pull ups and put him in underwear. Once he pooped in his pants and didnt like the feeling he held it for a few days, but did end up sitting and staying on the potty with a ton of encouragement and the promise of a present! I also found with my son that if I kept him well hydrated etc, that when he did choose to not go for a few days he did not have to strain on the toilet. I think that was the scariest for him.
Good luck!!

HI K.,

I have the same problem you do. My three year old, Brooke, will only go pee on the toilet, one time she tried to do poop. Everytime I mention it, she starts crying, I think she's actually afraid and I feel so sorry for her even when I try to explain why she should poop in the toilet. I can't start her in pre-K either until she's clean.

My last resort, which I tried a few weeks ago, to no avail, is to put underwear on her again and I'm hoping she won't poop in those like she did once before, have you tried that yet? I did it with my son when he was 2 and it worked.

Thanks!
I.

My daughter was nearly 4 before she would poop on the potty. She was fully capable, she just didn't want to and was scared it would hurt if she was sitting down. She always went and got a pullup for me to put on her.

One day we were at the grocery store and I let her pick out her favorite popsicles, and told her they were poopoo treats. She asked for one, but didn't want to poop on the potty, so no popsicle. Then, I got one out and ate it right in front of her, didn't even let her have a taste. Within 5 minutes of me finishing my popsicle, she was pooping on the potty. She's done great ever since, and we only had to go thru one box of popsicles. Other friends of mine have tried this route and it has worked for them, too. Good luck!

K.,

Congratulations to your daughter for coming this far. YAY!!

Both my girls have learned to do both in the potty, but my younger daughter (soon to be 3 yrs old) has started to pee herself again after having had it figured out for a while now.

So what does that have to do with your daughter? In researching reasons she started to pee herself again I came across some wonderful advice. After meals have her sit at the potty for 10 minutes (usually about 10-20 minutes after she finishes eating works great, and we read stories to make the time fly). After we eat our bodies go through a process of pushing the food through the digestive tract and causing us to have to go. By having her sit for that amount to time she will most likely go both pee and poop, but not always. Now the key is to have her sit on a potty, NOT the toilet. Her knees need to be above the level of her legs when she sits. This stretches the muscles allowing the poop to come out easier.

After reading this, it occurred to me that my girls had always sat on the potty when first learning, and the poops just sort of happened. We used the small Baby Bjorn Little Potty. Not the larger ones with the removable pot (although they do have one of those now for bedside) The larger potties that double as stools also are usually too high. As long as she can sit and her knees stick way up it will work.

She WILL master this too. Best of luck and let us know how it all turns out. You can contact me if you'd like to talk more. Feel free.

Blessings,
Rolinda

We had the same problem. My daughter won't do poop on the potty. We did two things. 1. A really good reward. She got to go to Chuck E Cheese the day of or the day after she did it. We were there 3 times in one week but after a week or so, we toned it down to a new puzzle or a lollipop. Part 2 was that she went into big girl panties. We did throw a few pairs away but it worked. The feeling for her was worse in panties so that motivated her. Pull-ups did not work at all for us. Even with all that it took a week or two before it was consistant but we never had any problems after that.

My daughter was 1 month short of 4 yrs. old before she was trained. She was wearig Goodnights during the day for absorption and size. I made a chart with 10 circles. For each pee she got 1 smiley face,poop 2 smiley faces. When she got ten, she got ice cream from Mr. Softee. It took a week to get the 1st ten but only 4 days for the second ten. By then she was drawing her own smiley face after she showed me the toilet. You might want to do only 5 circles (1/day) since she has peeing down already. My second daughter likes the idea of a family poop. If I went, she wanted to add her contribution.I don't know where this idea came from but it worked. Hope this helps you. Good luck!

K.,
Don't dispair... she will get it. My son had some issues with pooping on the potty in the begining due to constipation. Make sure that isn't an issue as that will certainly impact the desire to go on the potty. Otherwise, I agree with getting rid of the pull-ups all together and picking out some pretty underwear (as cheap as you can find) and if the mess is too difficult to clean, explain to her that you need to throw out the underwear (which most times they really don't like). I agree with your not being too pushy about it as some children do just take a bit longer than others to potty-train and setting up a negative atmosphere will only hurt the situation. I also did the "naked-days" with lots of positive reinforcement on those days with sticker boards for every time he pottied (even unsuccessfully in the begining). It worked like a charm for us-- but every child is different. Definitely be on the lookout for constipation.

Best of luck,
J.

Hi, K.. My little girl will be 3 next week but.... When she was about 2 1/2, she was doing like your daughter. Pee pee all day long in the potty and poo poo in her pants. What I found was that once I stopped using the pull-ups, she didn't like having poo poo in her training panties. She pooped in her panties maybe three times. It was really gross for me to have to clean up, but after that it seems she started running for the potty to do poo poo. She is now completely potty trained during the day, but I still put a pamper on her at night. Good luck. Heather

K.,
Hey my name is L.. I have a 3 yr old as well and was very perplexed that my daughter would pee in potty but when it came to poo she would hide and do it in her pullups. Now she it completely potty trained in just 1 week. This is what worked for us. We used her two favorite things. My sitter during the day has a fabulous pool and the kids swim everyday and watch movies and eat popcorn. Well if she went in her pants she could not swim with everyone else or watch movies. At home we took away tv. We were able to do this because she is vey smart and did understand why we were doing this. With in one week she was going to the potty on her own and letting us know when she was done. It was amazing. I was starting to think she was going to go to college in a pullup. Hope this helps. Every kid is different but it worked for us.

Our pediatrician suggested not changing the diaper right away. He said that changing a soiled diaper immediately won't allow your child to learn that it is uncomfortable to have a soiled diaper. Usually if I smell a stinky diaper and ask my daughter if she has a soiled diaper, she will deny it. But if I ignore it, she usually comes to me after 10 - 15 minutes to tell me she went. Also, my daughter (2) started pooping on the potty when I would have her sit on the potty around the same time she would usually go in her diaper. I let her sit there by herself for however long she wanted. She usually would run out of the bathroom 10 minutes later telling me excitedly that she pooped in the potty. I think she felt more comfortable with some privacy and without the pressure of having me in the bathroom when she went. Hope this gives you some ideas to try! Good luck!