Potty Training Help - Wellsville, KS

We also had the same problems last year with our son. We had a terrible trying convincing him to use the potty for pooping. He would hold the poop in for days, which made the job all the worse because then it hurt to actually go. We would know when he had to go because his face would get red, he would hide, and he would cry.

We ended up using a "pooping chart." At first, anytime he sat on the toilet and tried to poop he got a sticker. After 3 stickers, he got a small prize. We did this for awhile, and then stepped it up. Eventually we replaced the trying stickers with stickers of actually going. We also increased the length of time it took to get the prize. So a chart for pooping 3 times, 5 times, 7 times, 10 times. We also made the toys greater as he learned to go. (ie. the toy for going 3 times wasn't nearly as cool as the toy for going 10 times.) We let him pick out his new toy each week and then kept them on top of the fridge. More motivation to earn that new prize!

I made the charts on computer paper and bought different cheap stickers. It's a great way to reinforce the behavior you want and counting. (ie. Look you have pooped 2 times, only 2 more times and you get your new truck!)

I have a picture of my son with his last pooping chart- full of 10 stickers and a brand new trash truck. He was so excited and I'll never forget how happy we were to be finished!

Good luck! Hope this helps you some. :)

I had the same problem with my son. He will be 4 in Dec, and I just got him completely potty trained about 3 months ago. He still won't sit on a toilet without his little seat on it. In fact, up to a couple of weeks ago he preferred to use the little potty.

Like your son, I got him to go pee in the toilet without much trouble, but he had a hard time getting to where he could/would poop in the toilet. I even pushed him a little too hard and ended up having troubles with him holding it in until he got constipated. (It took months of work to break that cycle.) So, here are somethings that helped.

First, I told him he could have a treat if he used the potty. When he did we went out and got a little toy. (There were times that I tried bringing a toy home and telling him he could have it after he used the potty, but that didn't work. He would try to use it and just get mad when nothing happened. It wasn't fair that he was really trying, but didn't get the reward. Not having the toy in the house seemed to take the pressure off.)

The most helpful thing I did was have him go without underwear. Having nothing to catch his poop really helped motivate him to not go in his pants. He went "commando" for months, but it really helped. There were times that he would still hold it all day and then go in his nighttime diaper, but he got the hang of it.

Of course, you said your son tends to go at night. Could you let him fall asleep without a diaper on, and then put it on him after he is asleep? You can also try increasing his fiber so he can't hold it until bedtime.

I would lay off making him sit on the potty for a week or so and just let him poop in his nighttime diaper if he wants, but not have him wear underwear during the day. (Just be sure he has on some comfortable pants.) See if this helps. Good luck.

I have had the same trouble with my 2 1/2 year old! He just doesn't seem to care about sitting in dirty diapers!! So, I let him run around the house naked! Well, in a t-shirt... but he goes to the potty without any trouble even all by himself! It might just work to let him run around without a diaper after dinner until bedtime to see if he would let you know he has to poop!
Now I just have to figure out how to transition from naked pottying to pottying with underwear on!
Good luck!

My youngest, she is almost 4 years old, went through this same thing we we potty trained her last year. She took to peeing in the potty, but would not poop for anything. She would actually hold it for a couple of days until she couldn't hold it in anymore. I did notice a pattern of her going at night, just before bed. I would take her to the potty and we would sit and read a book, etc. until she would go. Our doctor said it was OK to give her a small piece of a child's suppository to help her out(it made it impossible for her to hold it in because she had to go so bad she would go in about 5 mins of getting it). After we started doing that and she actually pooped in the potty, it was a big deal and we told her how proud we were and told the poo bye-bye and let her flush it and it seemed to have stuck. Good Luck.

Ditto here. My pediatrician just told me to watch for his cues or my son tells me his bottom hurts when he needs to go. He said to put a pull-up or diaper on him to let him poop then put his undies back on. ABSOLUTELY do not make a big deal about it because at this point, you're proving to him that he has control over you. My ped said that when I stop making a fuss over it, let him know it's okay and just let him poop in his pull=up, within a month or two he will just start going. After he realizes that he doesn't hold that control over you anymore. That's his candy at this point. Good luck!