Potty Training Confusion

I do not like pull ups because I feel children confuse them for diapers. Tell him there are no more pull ups and he needs to poop on his potty. If he is afraid of the big potty buy him a little one. They sell all kinds at walmart. My son is three next month. We started back in April. One day back in May
( about a month ago or so) he told me he had to poop and he wanted a diaper. I told him no he needed to go on the potty.I told him I would buy him a pillow pet if he pooped on he elmo potty and he did. We bought a pillow pet and I think since then I have changed 1 poopy diaper. Get rid of the pull ups and buy him some big boy underware and a training potty. If you find something that he likes then he will go poop.. bribery works for potty training.

My daughter did this. I was actually pleased because she had been withholding poops and doing this was an improvement. She did it for about a month.

At our 3yr doctor's appointment my pedi told her she had to put her poop in the potty. There was a poo poo party under the house and her poop wanted to go to it.

At home I had bought a packet of princess stickers I would give her when/if she pooped in the potty, but not in the pull up.

Reminding her that her poop wanted to go to the poo poo pary (which we made up a song about) and reminding her that if she pooped in the potty and not the pull up she would get a sticker seemed to do the trick.

When she pooped in the potty we had a party, everyone went in the bathroom and sent off the poo poo.

It took about a month, but now she goes in the bathroom and poops on her own without prompting. It is such a great accomplishment for her. She is so proud of herself. We are out of princess stickers, but she no longer needs them. Once in a while she'll say you forgot my poo poo sticker, so I give her whatever stickers I have around.

I have to respond to your first response back. I'm sorry but your first response just sounds cruel. "make him take responsibility for his laziness" HE IS THREE! I feel sorry for the children growing up in that home.

I would say for a 3 year old- getting his own pull up, then redressing himself, then finding a place to hide-doesn't sound lazy. Many children have a fear of going #2 in the toilet. Have you tried putting him on the toliet when you see him going for the pull up?

Lol I have the same exact problem with my daughter who turned three the 31st of may ugg....I look forward to seeing the suggestion:)

my daughter is two, but she does same thing. so i take her to the toilet and cover my eyes and tell her i don't see, so she feels like she still getting her privicy. It works

My son will be 3 next week, and only one of his many little friends who are boys actually does BM on the potty, and my son certainly doesn't either, so rest assured that this is not unusual. Also, the vast majority of the preschools I visited said they WOULD take a child who isn't fully potty-trained. They pointed out that b/c they are only there for 2 hours, those children who aren't willing to do BM on the potty, at least have enough control to wait until they get home to do it, so they usually don't have to do it. According to the moms I've spoken to, one day it will just "click" and he will do it, so we are sitting back and waiting patiently for that day. At least your son asks for a diaper - mine just poops in his underwear. Now THAT is a mess!

Just sympathy here... we're in the midst of this too, and it is hard to know when to push and when to back off. You want them to do this, but not to scar them for life! I personally love the idea of the "poo poo party"--- I'm totally using that one! :-)

Good luck. As my mom says, "No body ever graduates from highschool not potty trained"-- this will end! :-)

I would move the Pull-Ups to someplace he can't reach by himself and where they're out of sight (a high cabinet or something similar). Explain to him that he's a big boy and he needs to put his poops in the potty, not in his pants. Without calling him a baby or belittling him, talk about how babies poop in their diapers, how he's not a baby, he's a big boy who puts his pee-pees in the potty and needs to put his poops in the potty too. Check with him throughout the day and ask him if he has to poop. If he heads off to a "quiet spot," go with him and don't give him the time or the opportunity to poop in his pants. Take him potty instead. It will take some time, some accidents and some patience on both your parts, but it will eventually work. If you don't remove the Pull-Ups from the equation, you will be fighting this battle for a long time. Good luck!

Hi Leah, first of all sweetie get rid of the pull ups, they are nothing less than a diaper anyway, if he is going to a private place in the house, it's because he knows it's wrong. if not he would not hide, and theres nothing funny about that.
You need to be the parent and press the issue, and you are right pre schools won't take them if they are not potty trained, I'm a daycare provider and i have been potty training children for 13 years with great success before the age of two, You don't want him to resist more, sweetie he's not suppossed to be able to resist, he has to learn to obey what you say, and you can't be afraid to discipline or do what it takes to fix this problem because you are worried how he will react. My husband played a big role in potty training our sons, by age 2 he had taught them how to stand up and go, we made it fun, we used reward and discipline and we had a 19 month old and 21 month old potty trained, used training pants only, back in our time there were no such thing as pull ups. He needs to know that you will no longer tolerate this behavior, and he will get it. J.

he obviously knows its gooey and gross. but he doesn't want to go to the toilet. I would make him clean himself up. give him a wash rag and make him rinse it out. :) make him take responsibility for his laziness. get rid of the pull ups. if he goes in his underwear make him wash them out. he knows it gross and that will gross him out and maybe he will start using the toilet. make him take resoponsibility for his actions. :) but just to make you feel better this is not abnormal and some kids can't tell when they have to go poop.

One of my sons did that at that age. And then one day, out of the blue, he didn't and went in the potty. He never looked bakc after that and never had a single accident. I stressed at first about it but then just accepted it and it resolved itself.

I'm just starting to research potty training for my son and I can't tell you how many times I've hears/read this.

It's completely common. I know people who thought their kids weren't going to poop on a potty before Kindergarden!

One theory I've heard is that somehow they see it as "theirs" and they don't want to get rid of it (in the potty). Ask your pedi if he/she has any suggestions.

Here, most pre-schools will take kids who are "mostly trained" like you son. The only thing I've heard is that most preschools will, if your son has a BM every day at school, will ask that you come "take care of it."

But if it's only a shortened day, he'll likely make it through.

Good luck!