Potty Training for My Almost 3 Yr Old

He's doing amazingly well for a 2 1/2 year old boy. Boys often don't train at all until 3 or later so he is moving in the right direction now. I know it's frustrating, but it sounds like you are doing everything right and should just keep praising the good things. Let the "accidents" go. Be matter of fact and just clean them up and tell him to try to put it in the potty again next time. Kids this age feel like they are letting a part of themselves go when they poop in the potty and it can be very scary for them. Good luck. By this time next year you will be laughing at the memory!

I am unfortunately in the same boat as you with my three year old daughter. She is in Pull ups now and has been for almost 10 or 11 months now. I take her to the potty about every hour (two at the latest). It helps because I am pregnant and always going to the potty myself now. :-) But she just can't grasp the concept that she needs to hold going in her pants and only going in the potty. Although she fusses when I ask her to go potty, I take her anyways and she usually ends up going in the potty and I make a big deal out of it and so does she. She has a little sticker chart on the wall as a reward chart and she also gets a sticker herself. This seems to be working for us but it has taken A LOT OF TIME to do it. Since she isn't in her "school" (aka. daycare) for the summer and we will spend a lot of time at home, I may just try to put her big girl cloth panties on and let her go and take her every hour to the potty until she gets it...I'm thinking she thinks that as long as she has that bulky pull up on, it's ok to go in her pants and not on the potty. So, we will see. I may not have been much help, but, just letting you know what we have tried and let you know you are not alone in this. :-)

It can't be TOTALLY a boy thing because I went through it with my daughter when I trained her. I saw all the signs that she had to poop, asked her and she denied. Minutes later I would smell it!!!! Wish I had some really good advice, but all I can say is patience and consistency. Reminders, encouragement, etc. Eventually, she did it. If it helps any, she's been in underpants successfully for about 10 months now! :-) You'll get there too!

Good luck!
B.

hi victoria,
it IS frustrating when they seem to be ready but just don't tip over that last hurdle of 'getting it.'
but try to remember, it must be on his timetable not yours. (okay not 'must', many parents DO force it onto their own timetable, but it works out so very much better if you let it happen naturally.) he's really quite young for a boy, and he IS making progress. i honestly think the best thing you can do is relax and let your frustration flow away, keep your sense of humor and praise him heartily for what he's doing well so far. frustration will only confuse him and it won't help you.
before you know it you'll be facing this with the baby and this phase with your older boy will be a faded memory. it may sound wacky to hear 'cherish it' but you really should.
:) khairete
S.

I've heard stories of this type of thing before. There was one frustrated Mom who had her son trained during the day, but getting ready for bed she'd get him in a diaper, and he'd hide behind his bedroom door, squat and deliberately fill the diaper, like it was some kind of game. Some kids actually develop a fear of the toilet for a little while.
There seems to be a lot of potty training questions on here lately, and a lot of Mom's seem to think their kids are ready when the marketing starts telling them to try the training or they want to get it done before another baby comes along. But many kids are just not ready until they are older. Some useful info I've found follows.
Signs your child may be ready:
* Your child is staying dry for longer periods of time (often two hours or more). This indicates that her bladder capacity is increasing.
* Your child recognizes when she is in the process of urinating or voiding. If you try to potty train before this time, you'll likely run into trouble, since your child isn't really aware of what she's doing and so is unable to control something she can't understand.
* Your child is able to easily pull her pants up and down. She may not have had any reason to do so in the past, but luckily, of all the readiness factors, this skill is easily learned.
* Your child can follow simple instructions. There are many steps to using the toilet that we take for granted as adults. For example-- go to the bathroom, turn on the light, pull down your pants and underwear, sit on the potty, wipe your bottom, flush the toilet, wash your hands-- the list goes on, so this is a very important skill.
* Your child is able to sit and engage in an activity for several minutes without becoming distracted or irritable.
* Your child is walking and running well. Because the urge to potty is often sudden in toddlers, and because a potty isn't always steps away, it's important for your child to be able to make it to the toilet before an accident occurs.
* Finally, and perhaps most importantly, your child shows interest and desire. Interest in keeping dry or clean. Interest in wearing "big kid" underwear. Interest in what you're doing when you go potty and a desire to do what you're doing.
Remember, age is not the most important factor. Potty training will be best accomplished when your child's physical and emotional development are taken into account as well.

That is completely a boy thing...which I am experiencing as well. Try letting him read a book on the potty. Also my pediatrician said to make sure his feet are flat when sitting on the potty, i.e. a stool under his feet, so he doesn't tighten up, which happen if his feet are dangling. My son has gotten progressively better over the last month. But it is still a daily issue, and I sometimes have to do the pull up as well. Hang in there!

I hate to tell you this but pull ups can sometimes be a curse. I used them with my son and the same thing happened except it took me about a year and 1/2 to break him of pooping in his pants. I think underwear were like pull ups in his mind. I don't know the answers because obviously I didn't do it right but I would suggest eliminating pull ups as soon as you can. I also want to encourage you to hang in there, eventually he will get it as hard as that is to believe.

Victoria,
I have a 2 yr. old girl and she sometimes pees in potty but when she has to poop she wants her diaper on OR she will take it off and let the poop fall on the floor!! I know, yuk .. but she is just curious and always says, "see poopy". Cause I come running to get it up yelling ; "dont touch it?" She knows everyone else does it (4yrold sis. esp.) and I am just letting her "get there" herself. A little more time and it will all be over. Dont worry or press the issue even though it causes you some inconvenience right now, it will pass. :) Have a good day!
Kathy :))

Hi Victoria! We started potty training my son when he was 2 yr, 9 mo and he caught onto peeing in the potty pretty quickly. Pooping took longer, and when I pressured him too much or made too big a deal about it, he started holding it in and got constipated. So I totally backed off and just let him poop in diapers for a while longer. The only time I'd mention it was sometimes when I was changing a poopy diaper, I'd calmly comment on how much cleaner and easier it would be on the potty because the poop wouldn't be all smushed against him, etc. Then I'd just say, "It's your poop and your body, when you feel like you're ready to poop on the potty, let me know, and I'll help you." Anyway, after another month or so, he got ready on his own! Hope this helps. Good luck!

my daughter seemed to bond with her poops (strange but common in the preschool set). She was afraid to flush the poop because it meant they were never coming back. The pediatrician said to give her lots of foods that would make her have to go (fig newtons and snackwell cookies went over well) so she wouldn't hold it. One time my mom was watching her when she started to go and she held her down on the potty kicking and screaming, then made a big deal of the poop (I don't know if I would have had the ability to do that). We made a point not to flush in front of her for a while. after that we told her that the poops were going to a party (she loved parties) and they would come see her the next day. she bought into it, that and she got a piece of a Ho-Ho when she went (out of all the possible motivaters, it took me months to figure out that tastycakes and ho-hos were hers). And I also got to see much of the grocery store bathrooms, for some reason going in them was a treat for her. We are beginning to train our son now, and it has been a challenge. so I am right there with you (it doesn't get easier the second time around)

Letting my son pick out a nice toy at the store worked for us. He was so self motivated. The next day he got up and sat on the potty every 5 minutes for 2 hours until he did it! And never looked back. (We did offer poopy prizes for about 10 days, then went on vacation and dropped them.) Find something that motivates HIM. Good luck!

My son will be 3 tomorrow, and we just potty trained him a month ago. He did really good with the peeing, but like your son, did not want to go poop on the potty. He wouldn't even go in his pull up. He held it for 4 days, and I didn't want him to get stopped up, so I gave him half a dose of baby laxitive. First we took him to the dollar store and let him pick out like 10 toys (he had a blast doing this)! When we got home he asked if he could have his toys, and we told him no, that they were his poopy prizes, and he could only get one if he pooped on the potty. Later that day, he had to poop and reluctantly went on the potty. We made a huge deal out of it, called Grandparents with the good news, and let him pick one of his poopy prizes. We told him he could get another toy the next time he pooped on the potty. The next day he pooped twice, and we let him choose a poopy prize each time. By the third day he was pooping like a champ! We kept giving him a poopy prize unti they were all gone. We told him no more poopy prizes since he is a big boy now and can poopy on the potty. He now goes at his own will, and yells for us when he's done, so we can wipe....that's our next step - teaching him to wipe! Good luck! Oh yeah, also, I ordered some poop books from Amazon. The Potty Train, and Where's the Poop. He got a kick out reading these about how everyone poops.