Potty Training - Fort Lauderdale, FL - Mom with 1 kid

Hi C., my friends daughter had the same hesitation about pooping on the potty. She recieved a book from a family friend called "Where's the Poop?" It's a "lift the flap" book that lets toddlers know that all animals poop and even people do too ,and it's ok. Each page has a different animal who has pooped and the toddler has to lift the flaps to find it. At the end a little girl is behind a door, when the toddler opens the door it says "excuse me i'm making a poop please shut the door" After reading it a couple of times my friend's daughter just "got it" and it hasn't been a problem since. I was so impressed with the story I went out and bought one for my daughter who is 2 1/2 and is making potty training a very slow process. When we practice going to the potty my daughter loves to say excuse me I'm pooping please shut the door. It's so funny, but i really think it is helping her understand that it is a normal bodily function. I don't know if this helps, but it's another option. Good luck!

I will second the Miralax suggestion. My pediatrician said to give 1tsp and if nothing happened in a couple of hours, give another tsp. It's very common. He just needs to get over that initial fear and that will be much easier if he's not constipated. After a couple of days, you probably won't need the Miralax anymore. It's OK to use on and off as needed.

C. since your son is so young.he may be getting constipated and it hurts when he goes to poop who knows but if he hasnt had any problems until now that very well could be the problem.otherwise if it has been a ongoing problem i would get him to a dr.seriously.you sure need to find out the problem four days is a long time with no bowel movement.try to find out fast.lots of luck.C.

My son is going through the same problem. I have had to take him to a GI and a psycholigist. I have to give him Miralax once a day. That softens his stool and he cant hold it. Check with the dr but they told me its very common when potty training.

From what you wrote I take it you are training him on a toilet instead of a potty chair. A lot of children do not like the sound of their poop when it drops in the toilet. Also a lot of kids won't sit on a big toilet because they are afraid of being flushed down it. I had a potty chair and just would sit my nephew on it and we would read a book. Sometimes we would get half way through the book before he would go, other times we would end up reading two or three books.But it was worth the effort. With in a week I had him completely trained. Thank God my girls never had this problem. Do not give him rewards for pooping in the potty because this is starting a bad habbit. Be patient and make him sit there.

Relax. Give him a piece of gum, candy, an M&M, and put on some fun music. This is where anal retention starts and we have to release it...pun intended...Give yourself a break and relax. He'll do the same and have a bowel movement.

I have learned to never say never, lol. I used to say to myself that I will NEVER bribe my children with food/use food as a reward. but you know what?
w/ my second son the only thing that worked was just that- BRIBERY/promising CHOCOLATE. yep. I keep a bag of m&ms in my purse & he gets 2 or 3 each time he poops in the toilet. *sigh*
so, while I do not believe in using food....you gotta do what you gotta do...my son was also holding it; he's in a pull-up at night and when he takes a nap so he was waiting until then to poop...
after a week or two w/ the m& m's he now goes in the toilet...

Hi, C.. Well, it sounds like your boy has a lot of anxiety about his poop. It could be because he is super concerned about it being dirty or icky. If he has ever been punished for pooping in his pants or pooping in any other place that's not appropriate for pooping, he might be hanging onto that memory.

It definitely sounds like he's scared of his own poop. Here's what I would do to reassure him that pooping is a good and natural thing.

First of all, I think you need to get his daddy involved in toilet training as well. At his age, he definitely wants to identify with a strong male, and he wants to copy what the strong male does. I think your son needs to be in the bathroom at least a couple of times while his Daddy is making a poop, so that the little boy can see that Daddys do it, all boys need to do it, and it's a wonderful thing to poop in the toilet, which is where all poop belongs.

Daddy can even make it obvious that it FEELS GOOD to poop in the toilet, and that once the smelly old poop is in the toilet, it goes bye bye down the drain...unless your boy is scared of drains??? Just make it a happy time, and don't stress out, no matter what he does.

I can tell that he's scared because if he won't let the poop out, he's basically hurting himself, even punishing himself in a way. He's so scared of the poop or the process of pooping, that he's willing to make himself hurt in order to avoid the thing he's afraid of.

If Dad's not available, and no other man is available to show him, then you need to show him yourself that pooping is fun, and it's not scary at all. Again, make it a fun time, and once he does it right, give him lots of hugs and rewards.

I hope this all works out without anybody getting traumatized.

Peace and hugs,
Syl

First you have to worry about the fact he is holding his poop in. This can cause problems. When my daughter was potty training and doing something VERY similar, her pediatrician said to use a glycerin pediatric suppository to force her to poop. It works REALLY quickly (within a minute or so) so make sure you have a diaper on your son or have him sit on the potty after about 30 or 45 seconds of placing the suppository. This is a safe natural way to do this. no harsh meds.

After that you have to deal with his fear of pooping in the potty. Patience and a lot of love and understanding is what is needed. It took my daughter a while to get over this fear of pooping in the toilet. I just kept encouraging her and after a couple of times using the suppository, she got the idea that holding it in was not going to work. She eventually gave in and started pooping in the toilet. Her fear seemed to subside after that.

Good luck to both you and your son!

Hi C....I feel your pain, my son does the same thing He pee's in the potty only but will not poop. I put A pullup on him while he sleeps and that is when he will poop. So im gonna keep an eye on how people answer this...it drives me crazy!!!

I had to use M&M's like the other poster said, and I also made a game of it. I made my son sit on the potty, and told him he had to fart 3 times, then he could get up. What boy doesn't think farting is hysterical? A lot of times, when they fart, they end up pooping, then you make a big deal out of it, high fives, clapping, etc. Also, letting him see you do it on the potty may help, in case he's scared of it.