Potty training- will not poop on potty

spring_time · May 2013

My DS is three years old and we started potty training last week. He has done a phenomenal job with pee, but he refuses to poop on the potty. We have tried sticker charts, immediate rewards, cleaning out the underwear together, and talking about where poop goes. He hides around the house when he goes poop, so he recognizes when he needs to go. I ask him frequently and remind him about the potty. Any suggestions on how to get him to poop in the potty?

sschwege · May 2013

If you have a small potty you could always try giving him the potty to take to a hiding place and poop. DD has always liked to play with her Little People when she poops, so now we just put the potty in front of the Little People and that's where she goes. Maybe give that a try?

I guess you could also try bare bottomed. Would he be more likely to poop on the potty if it was a choice between the floor and potty?

TMDMJAOCT07 · May 2013

After DD was pretty good about pee on the potty, then I moved on to poop - first I asked her to please go into the bathroom to poop and she could have privacy to do so. Then once we had that covered, we moved on to "pushing to get them ready" in her pull-up but once the poops were ready then she'd sit on the potty to finish - that seemed to be the ice breaker. And we did that for a few weeks, then she took it upon herself to say that she had to go and wanted to start pushing on the potty. It takes time, and patience and more time. Hopefully he'll get there soon. Good Luck.