My 2Yr Old Is Pooping in the Bathtub!!!

My boys did that around that age also but only once I think. Maybe try setting him on the potty before bath time.

Remember, warm water is great for relaxign your body and they are little and don't quite put 2 and 2 together yet. Try to have him go before, if he can't put him in the tub for jsut a few moments and pull him back out. Keep talking and explaing what you are doing. This is a good time to start the potty training.

Discipline probably won't help much, since it's the water stimulating to go (especially if he's not potty trained yet at two, he may not have much control anyway)> Unfortunately this is totally natural and normal, and some kids get over it quickly while others take a while. My first probably did it for a month, and I was so depressed when my second started doing it too! I think we had the same fun with him for weeks too. It's gross and time consuming, but it does end - it could be tomorrow, it could be a couple of months, but it will end. Sorry I don't have better news!

Hi S.! I posted a similar question about 4 mos ago--and things have gotten better since, in that my DD poops in the tub less frequently, but it still happens occasionally. Here's what's worked for us:
1) Like another poster said, change the timing of his baths. If I know my DD is due to poop, I'll even wait and bathe her in the morning, instead.
2)Sit him on the potty before, and if he starts to look like he'll poop, scoop him out of the tub and put him straight on the potty. My DD has never actually pooped in the potty--she's only 18 mos--but scooping her out of the bath into the cold air does stop the process, and she is getting the idea that one should poop in the potty, not the tub. On Saturday, the poor kid ended up sitting on the potty with her hair full of shampoo! But no poop in the tub!
3)QUICK BATHS!!!! No playing, just business. I can get my DD in and out of a bath in about 90 seconds. It's too bad that she doesn't get to play in the tub for right now, but better that than a messy tub! It also means that we don't have toys in the tub for the moment, so when it does happen, there's less to clean!
GL! I feel for you! This, too, shall pass!

Show him that you poop in 'this water' (the toilet) and not the tub, turn the tub on and make him sit on the pot until he poops! Mission accomplished!

I wouldn't discipline so young. Have her sit on the potty right before she goes into the tub or make sure you watch for signals while bathing and pull her out of the tub to go poopy on the potty. I can always tell when my daughter is about to go poop. She stops and stands in a very strange position; or makes a face. Try that!

Hi,
If you know he's going to poop, and he hasn't pooped just recently, can you sit him on the potty?

So, here's a thought just to save you from having to clean up poop from the tub, what if you put her in a swim diaper until she grows out of pooping in the tub.

I had a tiny little problem with this too for a couple of days. Poop grosses me out so I guess you could say it was a bigger problem, but here's what I noticed:

I was feeding my daughter dinner, then about 15-25 minutes later, giving her a bath...I would watch her and then see this "face", every kid has their own little face or position they do when they are about to poop in the tub...so anyways, I see the face, wonder about it, ignore it, and boof, there's the poop!

So, I started playing with her for a minimum of 30 minutes after dinner, putting bath time off as long as possible, and as soon as she would poop in the diaper, I would clean her off and then bathe her. It seems like we did that for about 3 days after I got this bright idea, and after that, her "schedule" shifted and she was back on poops in the mornings.

Good luck, I hope this helps!

There may be something about the warm water that makes him go. Put him on the potty just before the bath, and explain we must try to poop , so you won't get your nice clean bath water dirty, maybe read a short story while he is on it to give him time to go, if nothing happens , maybe say lets pour some nice warm water on you to help you poop in the pot, and try that. I don't feel like he is going in the tub to be naughty.

Warm water relaxes ALL muscles!! Be patient, this is not an issue for discipline. It isn't a deliberate act...of defiance or anything else. The bath experience is relaxing, probably the reason you give her a bath right before bedtime. Maybe change the bath time ritual to a different time and remind her how yucky it is to bathe in water full of poop. She may honestly not be able to control it right now. If it is quite a while after dinner, she may be close to having a bowel movement anyway. Again, I would try different bath times and be VERY patient. I sympathize with the aggravation and hassle, but it truly is not her fault.

I don't think you need to scare or discipline him. He is not trying to be "bad". The tub is nice and warm and it relaxes him,hence,making it easy for a poopie to come out. I'm sure he pee pees in there too.

Mine did it about 3 times when he was almost 2 and all I did was say "yucky. poopy not for the bath. stinky poopy goes in toilet". and I let him watch me scoop the poopie out with toilet paper(or a cup) and dump it in the toilet. And he would then imitate me and say "yuck".

When you see him start to do his poopie in the tub, immediately pick him up and sit him on the toilet,wet and all.
Or you can sit him on the toilet while the bath runs before putting him in and see if he gets his poop out of the way before the bath.

Warm baths have always been recommended for constipated babies and anyone for that matter. Has he been potty training? Is he going during the day? Every day he should be going, and he really should be going more than once a day. Boys are the worst at this, but they all do it. . .they hold it in all day because they don't want to go (whether they don't want to stop playing or they're still a little nervous to go in the toilet, whatever). He could be holding it in all day (or for several hours), and the warm water doesn't allow him to hold it anymore. He may not even realize he's going until he already did. I don't thinking any kind of scare-type of discipline should be done here. It doesn't sound like a discipline issue at all. I think I would just talk to him about what he's doing. Start having him sit on the toilet before bath time. If he's like my son, though, he doesn't want to sit there. If that's the case, pay attention to the time frame between being in the water and going to the bathroom. Get him out right before that time is up, and sit him on the toilet.

Also, if he is just now potty training, it may be that he truly wasn't ready, and you might need pull ups for a while until he starts going regularly in the toilet. That's mostly what it sounds like to me. Boys take a lot longer for the #2 part for whatever reason. If he doesn't like pull ups, then just explain to him that you're just doing it for a while until he starts poo pooing in the toilet when he needs to so he won't have accidents in or out of the bath. See if that helps a little, and good luck!

My son did it once when he was this age. I told him that if he did it again, he would have to clean it up. He never did it again, so I guess he didn't want to have to clean it up.