Potty Training : Pooping in the Toilet?

It is best not to push a child to train or they go backwards. They often keep the poo to themselves not wanting it to flush out of site. If you push, she could go back to peeing in her clothes. It is her body and her choice. Best to let it be and she will come around on her own.

I teach to never toilet train children. Instead, use cloth diapers, change the diaper promptly when she goes, and talk about what she is doing each time.
In this way the child graduates from diapers to toilet on her own, often before age two. But if you use disposable and show interest in her toilet training, it slows things down. Relax. No one goes on a date with a diaper.

N. Aldort Ph.D.
Parenting guide, author, advice columnist and speaker.

How are you going about the peeing? Are you setting a timer, or is she letting you know she needs to go to the potty? If you are setting a timer, I would stop. And watch her for signs she is about to poop, instead. Then scoop her up and rush into the bathroom, put her on the toilet (using a seat attachment makes them feel safer/sturdier) and when the poop comes out have a big celebration... do the "poopy dance", have a parade around the house, clap and sing, and make it a BIG deal.

It is easier for a child to learn the sensations of pending poop, than it is for pee. And it is easier for them to 'hold it' long enough to get down the hallway in time to poop on the potty than it is to make it in time for pee. Once they start getting the hang of the poop, the pee is usually close on its heels... often they will release some pee when they are pooping, so they make that connection automatically (pee goes into the potty too).

We trained "backwards" to what a lot of people do, and we had no issues with either of our kids with withholding or regression or anything else poop related.

Good luck.

Well I'd love to say there is a magic answer on this but our son took forever with the pooping issue as well. I tried everything and one day he just decided it was time! Try not to make a big issue out of the accidents or they will try holding it in for night time diaper....which leads to constipation, painful bowel movements...and yep, more avoidance of BMs. I speak from a little experience on that one lol. We just encouraged every attempt he made to go on the potty and when we got tired of cleaning underwear let him wear pull ups for awhile until he was ready for the big boy potty. Now for my daughter all it took was her seeing a my little pony which i had on a shelf in my kitchen. I had planned on giving it to her anyway....but when she asked about it i decided to say when she poops in the big toilet she will get the pony. Guess what...7 pm rolls around and i hear from the bathroom "Mommy you have to give me the pony!!" :) Just try to breathe and know it will take time!

Maybe you could try the reward system with something else...like stickers or something small that she is interested in and can ONLY get if she poops in the toilet..? Here are some ideas that might help you out:

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

My son also took longer to go #2 on the potty. He would wait until nap time and then use his diaper just like your daughter. So frustrating! We did a couple of things. First, we took him to the store and let him pick out his most desired toy (within our budget of course!). This was his potty toy. Whenever he went on the potty he could play with this special toy for 10 min. I also would let him play with the toy after a really good effort to go poop on the potty. After that the toy went back up. I also started to talk to him about his friend. He had an older friend at daycare that pretty much had hero status in my son's eyes. We started talking about how this friend didn't wear diapers, he was a big boy that used the potty. How fun it would be to be just like his big boy friend etc. The final thing I did was just relax and go with it. When he went in his diaper we just cleaned it up and talked about how next time maybe he could try the potty, but there was no anger or shame, it was all matter of fact. Good luck and hang in there! It's so hard to "see the end in sight" but not quite be there yet.

Just sounds like she's not ready to part with her poop just yet. Dont make a huge issue of it, but do show her yours in the toilet when you go... I know that's gross but it really does help them when they get a visual. It's only been 2 weeks, she's doing it at HER pace, just be patient. When she does go in her diaper or panties, just tell her how stinky it is and have her go with you to the toilet and scrape the poop off into the bowl and tell her thats where its supposed to go.

Just stick with one thing at a time. The biggest thing I learned with potty training my first is that it's not usually a 1 shot deal, there are lots of steps to the process for the kid who is learning. There's peeing, then pooping, learning to go on different toilets and in different places, with different people around....
If she's successful in 1 area then just go with that for a bit. My oldest started early but moved along slowly, was basically fully PT a month before he turned 3. But regressed to wanting a diaper when he needed to poop about a month later after he had a stomach bug. I think having some diarrhea hurt and scared him about the whole pooping process. I think we did the diapers for about a month.
My younger son has been rather resistant to PT, just didn't want to stop playing to go or would decide based on how good the reward treat would be. lol He turned 3 last month and we're still in our first week of undies but is pretty much fully pt.
So both my boys are in about the same place at 3 years and 1 month old, but had quite different paths to get there. They all do it differently.

My daughter trained about the same age and seemed to do the same thing you are seeing. Poop was harder than pee. I think at first it's just learning to use the muscles differently sitting vrs standing. Then she got the hang of it for a few weeks and then reverted to diaper--she wore panties all day, but when the diaper was on for nap that's when she'd poop. So then I'd watch her at the time of day she usually needs to #2, and started to let her choose diaper or toilet b/c I was afraid of constipation issues... so she reverted to pooping in a diaper for a month or so while doing great with pee-pee on the potty the rest of the day. Then we tried again and she did it... I encouraged put never forced it on her and then it "clicked" for her on her own terms. If she could care less about the food prizes then stop. I tried stickers, cookies, books, toys, clothes... but prizes were only motivating when SHE was ready. Ultimately we used stickers (which she decorated a picture of a kitty on a toilet that I printed from the internet), and cookies, wagon wheels, or a single M&M.

Pooping is a very strange sensation from a child's point of view, and I think that makes it harder for them to be comfortable with it. I've also read that pooping in the toilet feels different from pooping in a diaper or underwear. My son first pooped in the toilet by "accident" - he pooped after he peed and I made a big deal about it. He got better at it at daycare, and I think seeing the other kids do it probably helped. I wouldn't push it - just keep doing what you're doing, make a big deal when she does do it, let her be in the bathroom when YOU do it, etc. It'll come. Good luck!