Toilet-training an Almost-three Year Old

I was always told that when you start potty training and start using underwear, do not use pull-ups or diapers, because going back and forth only confuses the child. The day you start underwear don't put a diaper back on them. Have you tried some kind of treat if she poops in the potty. With my son if he pee-peed in the potty I had an M&M dispenser in the bathroom and he got some when he pottied. If he pooped in the potty he got to pick a prize out of a basket. I just went to the dollar store and got some things to put in the basket. He liked that a lot. Good Luck!!!

Both of my sons would pee int he potty before they would poo. They had no pee accidents, but absolutely refused to poo there for some time. I didn't push it. I just had them wearing training underwear (the slightly thicker ones) and kept washing them out. They would come and tell right away when they had done it. So we would put the poo in the potty and flush it and talk about going int he potty. Eventually they just went there and did it, without me "making them" sit there or anything. W emade a big deal out of it and fromthen on they had it down. Now I have a girl that will be three in September and she shows no signs of potty training. She has never gone ont he potty and doesn't seem to "get" at all what to do on it. She will sit there and then put her arms up and say "All done! Yay!" But hasn't done a thing. <sigh> I'd love her to get the idea soon! But my two boys taught me that it's easier to simply let them figure things out in their own time. They generally do it when they are ready. But I would assure you it is quite common to get the pee side down before the poo!

My son is three and a half. I thought he'd never get the pooping thing down. He got the peeing part right away, of course it was fun to do. We tried a lot of things to get him to poop in the potty - candy, reward stickers with a fun treat for getting 5 stickers, praise, call grandma, special treats, etc... One day, it just finally 'clicked' and that was it. We've only had one 'accident' where he was too busy playing to go, but otherwise, it was just waiting for him to get it. Good luck!

When my oldest (7) was potty training she had a hard time going on the potty. I talked to my ped and he said to put a stoll under her feet that she could put her feet flat on. They need leverage to help stable themselves to push. We do it too but just dont think about it. I also told her that the poop was in her stomach and that is where she had to push it from. It really did help! Hope it will work for you:)

I was one of those parents that would guilt to get them to understand how important it was to go on the potty. I know it may seem mean but it worked. I really didn't like cleaning up the poop! I didn't belittle them or anything but i just showed how hard it was for me to do it and how happy I would be if they would do it on the potty. Then I would tell them I would reward them with a prize if they went so many times in a row on the potty. When they got their big prize, we would sit down in the bathroom and talk about the fact they were big kids now and they knew how to do it and that they should keep doing it and how proud I would be of them and they should be proud too! I told them to tell their grandparents when they did it and anyone else that was close. With my son, he would tell me that he needed me to hold his hand and that I needed to squeeze and help push, LOL!! It's definitely better than bagging up poop!! Good Luck!!!

What a coincidence. I just went through the exact same thing with my almost 3yr old daughter. She started going peepee in the potty, but then I noticed that she hadn't had a bm which lasted for a couple of days. We tried having her sit there for awhile and told her to relax and that it would just happen, we sang songs, we read books, we moved the training potty in the living room on newspapers and put a movie on for her, we tried bribing her...........what I am getting at is that even with all this nothing. It only resulted in frustration for all of us. Finally, she was begging me for a diaper (and I felt so guilty afterward) but I told her that we didn't have any and that if she needed to go she needed to go in the potty. She continued to try and hold it in, which as we all know it eventually comes out. I just figured when she was really ready, she would go on the potty. She ended up having an accident in her panties and was so distraught over the accident, that she was almost inconsolable. We explained that it was an accident and that when the poopy is ready it will come out and you can't stop it from happening.
A friend of mine had given me some leftover pull-ups so what we ended up doing is our daughter wore panties all day and over night. And when she was ready she would ask me for a pull-up, she does her business, we take it to the potty and flush it. Don't get me wrong, I was completely opposed to going back and forth b/w panties and pull-ups. But her despair over the situation was not worth it and she was begging for the diaper and we just didn't want this to be any worse of an experience for her than it already had become. We made it no big deal that she did her business in the pull-up, but we kept asking her if she wanted to try to go on the potty and would occasionally have talks about it but didn't put any stress on the situation. It lasted about 5 weeks and just this past Sunday morning all on her own accord she told her daddy that she needed to go poopy on the potty. They went in and she did, and has continued to go.
For us just taking it one day at a time, and not making a big deal out of it was what worked. And when she was ready, she went. Good luck to you and just know that when she is ready she'll go. I don't believe in punishment over potty training and I've seen what pushing them when they're not ready can do as well. So take cues from your daughter and follow that.

Be patient with your daughter. She doesn't have to be potty-trained by the age of three. Some children are potty-trained by the age of three, but some aren't potty-trained until they are four. So be patient with your daughter.
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hi A.,
my three year old daughter has just become completely trained over the last couple of weeks, and one thing i noticed was that she would tell me after she pooped on the potty.."i pooped on the potty and it didn't hurt at all"...i think they are so afraid that it'll hurt, that they hold it in until it does hurt. the key is to get them going on a regular basis so that they don't get costipated. i remember with one of my sons we used a suppository to help, like a stool softener...once he went and it didn't hurt, the fear went away. i also think if they know you'll give them a diaper when they need to poop, they'll be less likely to try...and it will take longer before they get over it...good luck!

My daughter was the same. So we took a gradual approach to going poop in the potty. She would tell us she needed to go and ask for a pull up. A friend's pediatrician gave her this idea: We told her she could go in a pull up but she had to stand in the bathroom. Poop belongs in the bathroom, not playroom, kitchen, etc. After a few weeks of that, we told her she cold wear her pull up, but she had to start sitting on the potty while she pooped. That got her used to the feeling of sitting and pooping. All along I had some nice toys on top of the entertainment center (in sight, out of reach) that she could pick from when she pooped in the potty. Then one day, her poop leaked out of the pull up and fell into the potty! I took that occasion to tell her that she's a big girl and her poop is to big for a pull up, next time she'll go in the potty, etc. Well, she didn't poop for 5 days!!! Another friend has a son with constipation issues. So per her advice I got Babylax. It's glycerin in a little squirt bulb. After using that, my daughter was very upset with me, but she couldn't hold it in any longer, put her on the potty, and voila! Poop in potty! After that,no major problems. It had obviously been a mental thing with her, and doing it once, showed her it was ok. Plus the toys helped!
Good luck!

Just get her to sit and relax on the potty. I had to make grunting sounds and scrunched up silly looking faces to show my daughter how to push in a way. Give her some books to look at and sit there with her while she goes. You might have to do this a few times but she'll get the idea and be able to go much easier on her own.

S.

My daughter didn't like to be dirty but she struggled with this as well. I waited until I knew she had to go and then I pushed the issue (which some say is bad) and made her stay on the potty. We sang songs, read books and colored. When I could tell she was about ready to go I held her hands and told her it was going to be ok. Then I kinda talked her through it so that she could figure it all out. I also told her that the potty liked poopy and that it really needed hers lol.