Potty Training Help! - Charlotte,NC

First, we all have the same problem! My mother actually straightened my son out...she stayed home with him one day and literally made him sit in "it" on the kitchen floor telling him she didn't have time to clean him up that he either needed to start going in the potty or sit and wait. Think she made him wait 30 min and then cleaned him up. He was uncomfortable but hasn't had any accidents since! Hope this helps and best of luck!!

My daughter is 2 1/2 and is holding in her poop, so we can't figure out a schedule for her. I'm trying to get some new ideas too!
We are still buying the pullups, but now she's stopped peeing and will just go the bathroom after she's peed and then she'll go to her room and get some clean pants. It's hard for them to UNlearn going in their pants - it's been the norm for them until now.
With my boys we took away a favorite toy/activity and only let them do that on the days that they had no accidents. I guess that I can try that with my daughter as well. The trick is finding the motivator that works!

Good luck to us both! LOL
M.

What is his favorite thing in the whole world? Cars? Books? Gummy Worms?...........I would try to think of his very favorite thing and incorporate it into a reward. With my son....it was M&Ms. I took a glass mason jar and filled it with bright colorful M&Ms and put it on the counter right beside the toilet, so he could see it every time he was on the potty. I sat him down and said, "OK, every time you peepee, you get to pick out 2 M&Ms and every time you poop, you get to pick out FIVE M&Ms!" That's all it took. Like your son, he was a rock star with the peepee, but we needed that extra little something for the poop. We didn't even make it to the bottom of the mason jar before it wasn't even an issue anymore. I wound up throwing the rest of the M&Ms away. Candy is easiest b/c it's less expensive, but heck!, if you need a jar of matchbox cars sitting there, so be it! LOL =0) There's lots of fun candy options out there....gummy worms, ring pops, airheads, etc. Things that most kids don't get on a regular basis. Just whatever works! Good luck! =0)

Hi J.,

My son wouldn't go stinky in the potty either. I gave him a very simple explanation of what happens to the "stinky" (where it goes...septic tank in our case)and he immediately started pooping in the potty. Worked like a charm.

Best wishes!
T.

We had the same issue for the longest. I was at my whits end on what to do. I had tried the reward thing, then the punishment thing nothing seemed to work. So then I started taking away favorite toys and putting them on a shelf in my room and told him that they are now mine until he poops in the potty and tells me he has to go. Each time that he pooped in his underwear I would go to his room with him and pick out one of the favorites with him watching. He did not like this at all. It took one week of me taking things. He would come into my room and look at his toys on my shelf and comment about them. Tomorrow will be 3 weeks with no accidents what so ever. He comes and tells me and goes right away and he will comment I dont want my helicopter taken away.
Good luck

Leave him in just a t-shirt. Since he has something under his bum to catch he's not going in a regular potty. Good Luck!

Hi J.,

I definitely feel for you - we just finished going through this as well. My 3 year old was a champ with no peeing in his underwear (he skipped pull ups as well), but pooping in the potty was a whole different ball game. It's taken us 4 months to really get him going poop regularly on the potty. We tried every treat under the sun... all the positive rewards... and it just didn't matter until he was ready to make the decision for himself. I also made sure that I encouraged him to use the potty around the same time that he poops every day (thankfully he's pretty regular). I will say, try to stay as positive as you can. Try not to let your frustration show. My son had a preschool teacher that was NOT patient - and he got so scared of making her mad that he started holding it in - which caused constipation and is a whole different nightmare. :-) Needless to say, we are no longer going to that preschool.

We keep a few books in the bathroom for him to sit and read when it's time to sit. Anything to make it more inviting in the bathroom!

Anyway - I'm sending lots of good thoughts your way. Hang in there - this will soon be a distant memory.

-D.

It could be the plop and splash it makes scares him. Try him on a little potty for a while to see if that helps.
If that fails, try making him clean out his dirty pants himself. Of course, you'll have to go after him and wash them properly, but the chore of cleaning them makes him more aware of the consequences of his actions. It will teach him resposibility, if nothing else, and should help prevent accidents as well.

I had the same problem with my son. It is apparently very common with boys. It takes alot of patience, but I would stick to the rewards. The one thing that I did that my son really responded to was to make a rewards chart. He got a sticker everytime he went to poopy in the potty and after he went 7 times he got to trade in his sticker chart for a trip to chucky e cheese or a toy. After that he did pretty good. Also, make him sit on the potty about 15 min after he eats one thing I learned was that children have a tendency to go on a schedule. But every child is different and some just take more time or are more stubborn than others. A good reference to have is "Potty Training For Dummies" it had alot of good advice. I also want to comment on the making him clean it up himself issue. This could have very negative consequences! My son would take his poo out of his underwear with his hands and then hide it, so just be careful with that.

Have him take care of the mess -- in his pants AND on his bottom. Sometimes when positive rewards/reinforcements don't work, negative consequences do!

i don't know if this will help, or just put the kid in therapy :) with my little guy, we started the big boy underwear and he picked them out. So we said "Ok, don't get Lightning McQueen dirty. He doesn't like that!" and that worked for a while but we had issue with pooping as well.

so he got good at peeing because he didn't like feeling wet, but was scared of pooping. I'm guessing because it feels like something is falling from their bodies. anywho, i told him that if he was going to continue to poop in his pants, he was going to have to wear a diaper again because babies pooped in their pants. Whether this is a good idea or psychological damage? i dont know, but it worked :) and he didn't do it any more.

He did try to hold it in because he was afraid and ended up with a tummy ache. But we just pumped him full of fiber and put him on the potty every hour to try to poop. when he knew he couldn't hold it anymore (glycerin suppositories :) he sat on the potty and I helped him "Push them out". I pulled on his hands and he pushed them out. Once he saw that everything was ok and nothing bad happened....we were homefree and have been doing well ever sense.

Good luck. I know it's frusterating!