Help with Pooping in the Potty

Russiandea12

My 34 month old son seems to have figured out peeing in the potty, but cannot seem to figure out pooping.  If we smell a toot we put him on the potty and ask him to try and to push, but he crys and trys to get off.  Usually he pees then says I did it.  Then a few minutes later he poops in his pants.  Sometimes he will say afterwards he needs to poop, sometimes he will just continue playing.  We have tried rewarding with mms for pooping in the potty but they he wants them for pooping in his pants.  Any suggestions would be helpful.  Thanks.

Andie_83

Following! I'm in the same boat as you! DD is completely pee trained but has recently started HATING to poop on the potty. She actually held it in for 7 days which led me to give her a suppository. She was fine for a couple of days, then back to not wanting to poop on the potty. She will hold her butt and cross her legs so I know she has to go, and sometimes ends up with little streaks in her underwear. I don't understand it at all I'm just hoping she gets over her fear (whatever it may be!) sooner rather than later.

thedash

I was heading here to ask the same question...

DS has struggled with constipation for a long time and if he holds his poop for just a day or two gets completely backed up. Then we have to use a suppository or even a few times an enema. He takes Miralax daily per our pedi but if we don't give him some diaper time every afternoon he manages to hold it and then gets constipated. He is fine with pee, even for naps. He's turning three in a few weeks and I would like to get this figured out soon.

lorist202

I'm in the same boat.  We put DS on the potty as part of his bedtime routine.  He puts up a huge fight, or avoids it, and then within minutes of wearing his nighttime pull up, he poops.  Sometimes twice.  He clearly has complete control, and I can't motivate him with toys, candy or excitement.  Fully day trained, and I'm at such a loss with this. 

*LrCg*

For my kids, the week prior to PT we upped their fiber intake.  All my kids love oatmeal so I switched to high fiber oatmeal and also lowered milk intake.  I also gave a fiber gummie.  None of this was a stimulant, it merely made their poop softer so they wouldn't be scared to poop.  And as gross as this sounds and very TMI- my DH is a daily and same time a day pooper so he always took the kids with him when he pooped and made pooping seem like fun.  It was always a game to get a bigger "monster poop" than Daddy to tell him about it.  And believe me I've had to take pictures of poop in the bowl to text to Daddy because his little ones were supper proud of their accomplishments!  hahaha

vtec26

I'm probably one of the rare dad's on here, but I'm having the same problem with my son who is almost 4.  He's fully trained for #1, but refuses to go #2 on the potty.  He will sit, but says he's done without doing anything.  He'll also hold it if I refuse to give him a pull up.  He has not responded to rewards, consequences, or punishment.

I liked the poster who suggested flushing the poop from the pull up.  Also the suggestion of making it a game of kid vs. parent.  I'll try both of those.

If anyone has any other suggestions, please keep them coming!

vtec26

I just found this article.  One of the best, most well thought out, logical article on the poop topic.  https://www.drgreene.com/qa-articles/learning-poop-potty/

I'm definitely going to try out some of the suggestions...

Russiandea12

We flush the poop but then he thinks he pooped in the potty not his pants.  I will check out your article.  As this is becomming very frustrtating for him and us.

vtec26

Hi everyone, thought I'd give an update.  So we followed some of the suggestions in the article I posted earlier and I'm happy to report that my son is now fully potty trained.  We followed just about every suggestion except for using stool softener and cutting a hole in the pull ups.  The entire process took about 2 or 3 weeks and he's all done.  Now he's a happy kid and I'm a happy parent.  We did have to make good on a lot of promised rewards however, like a trip to Chuck E Cheese and some Legos.  It's a trade I'm more than happy to have made.

 

Good luck everyone.