Getting 3 Year Old to Poop on Potty

Let me try and offer a simple suggestion. You may have already done this, but here it goes. Take him to the store and let him pick out his favorite underware. Then let him pick out a "big" boy outfit to wear. Hang the outfit in his closet where he can see it. Put it visibly somewhere in his room if the closet doesn't work. Explain to him that he gets to wear the outfit only after he is accident free for an entire day! Also, reinforce the fact that he doesn't want to mess up his new underwear that He picked out. Giving him the chance to take an active part in this process will hopefully give him a reason to change his behavior.

This method worked for my two. My son was completely trained in 3 days (now 7 yrs old) and my daughter was trained in 5 days (now 5 yrs old). I hope this helps. Remember to enable him to make decisions in this process and make a really big deal about the fact that he gets to go to the store and pick these special items out. Good luck to you. I am interested to hear back from you if this works.

Has he ever had any problems with pooing? My son was in pain, literally, everytime he had a bm. We would sit for over 30 mins sometimes, doing puzzles, reading, and he still would not go. I took him to a hollistic therapist for about 3 weeks, major relief for us! he re-aligns his spine to the correct position, he didnt mind it at all. He was almost 3 at the time. Negative re-inforcement helped as well. If he had an accident, we took a special toy until he went in the potty, and then it was returned. gl!

it is called potty training for a reason.....they just have to get used to it. And you have to clean up and be the one who remembers for a while. You might have missed the natural inclination, he is older than any of the three of my four (I have 13, 11, 7 and 23 months)when they potty trained. I usually go at 2....it takes a month to six weeks for them to get the hang of it...so hang in there...

A way that worked for us was to have our son help clean up his mess. He realied quick that it was yucky. It took only one time of him cleaning up poop off the floor and washing out his own underwear that it's best to go in the potty. And you will have to keep reminding him to go, esp. when they are playing. Just set a timer for 15-30 min. and when it goes off, have him go sit on the potty to just try. Or every time you go, take him with you to try. Try a sticker chart too. If he is in to them.

In order for your son to get more familiar with his body, you are going to have to remember to get him in there every hour or so. Get a timer and set it so you remember when the hour is up so you can take him in there. If he doesn't go, set it for 5 or 10 mins and take him back. Keep doing that till he pees and then set it for an hour again. As far as pooping in the potty, your son probably goes around the same time every day, make him sit on the potty at that time and give him a book or read him a story so he sits there. It's not easy to teach a child to push sitting when they are used to squating to go poop. Are you having your son sit or stand to pee? You might find that you'll have more sussess with him pooping if he is sitting to pee.

Good luck!
S.

The absolute best advice I got when potty-training my twins at 3 yrs old (from the book by the American Academy Pediatrics) was "View it as a 6-month process!" It didn't actually take that long, but this advice saved my sanity. All those "one-day" "three-day" "easy potty training" methods really did me a disservice by making me think there was a magic wand out there somewhere. I mean, come on, I didn't expect them to learn to walk, talk or feed themselves overnight, what was I thinking about this?!? Ok, sorry, I got on a little rant there; you've probably got this figured out already. Best of luck!

Have you noticed if he goes to hide when he poops? Once I figured out that my daughter was always going to the same spot to do her business, I put a potty seat there. That did the trick, she started pooping in the potty seat with no problems. Once she was comfortable with that, transitionin to the regular potty went easily. Good luck!

Someone mentioned having him clean up his accidents. It is unsafe for a young child to be messing around with poop accidents. (Which is why you see the daycare workers donning latex gloves when dealing with soiled diapers.)

Urine is at least safe for them to handle without the possibility of spreading germs such as e-coli. I still question the wisdom of that punitive approach, because I've seen firsthand the way negative associations with potty training can backfire, but at least it isn't physically hazardous to thier health.

Generally, I try to avoid bribes because they can backfire. (For example, a kid that gets a treat for reading gets the idea that reading is work, not reading because it's enjoyable. Humans (not just kids) are funny that way.) BUT, in the case of potty-training, bribery doesn't seem to have much of a downside. There's not much satisfaction derived from going in the potty, other than the "I can do it!" aspect. Too often, the novelty of being able to do it doesn't last long enough for the habit to sink in, and sometimes kids backslide.

The most important thing is not to get into a power struggle. (Sounds like you haven't yet, or your post would sound much more desperate.) If you get into a situation where you're having to coerce him into sitting and he's arguing or fighting you... THAT's what I mean by "power struggle." Find SOME way out before you get to that point, because that's when you REALLY run into problems. Generally, I never want to go backwards once starting on this kind of thing, but if you start to lose your patience and get frustrated... it *may* be better to go back to diapers for a short period. That's NOT the OPTIMAL solution, but it sure beats "power struggles" which can drag out potty training from months to 1-2 years. Seriously.

Worst case scenario that can result if you "go negative", an example of what NOT to do that happened to a friend of mine:
When he was about 4-5, his father got tired of bedwetting accidents and hung up a clothesline outside to dry the underwear, telling the boy that all his friends in the neighborhood would know that he was wetting the bed. My friend was so embarrassed that he NEVER wet the bed again. Instead, he forced himself to never get into a deep sleep state, wake up every few hours during the night, and never sleep past 5am or so. So he wasn't wetting his bed, but he developed a sleep disorder that was a much bigger issue. He was sleep-deprived through all his school years into adulthood, until he finally sought treatment. There was some long-standing resentment to his dad over that... Yikes.

Not to freak you out, just reinforcing the importance of keeping it a positive experience.