Potty rewards and too much poop?

[ExcitedMamma]

When we first started PT with DS he would almost never poop on the potty but he was great at peeing. Then instead of my usual potty rewards, stamps and stickers, DH started offering cartoons for poops. I never let DS watch TV but DH sneaks cartoons in on weekend mornings when I'm sleeping so this must have been a great offer for DS because he quickly became poop trained and we haven't changed a poopy diaper in months. But now I call him my poopy con artist. Every time we take him potty he tries really hard to poop, announces he's trying, tightens his hands and strains because he knows poop = cartoons. I hate that he's now getting so much more tv but I can't fault DH too much because I no longer have to worry about him being constipated and going too long without pooping. I have phased out his rewards for peeing and he doesn't ask for them anymore but I'm not sure when I'll be able to phase out this cartoon reward. Any ideas? Also is it bad for him to strain so often because he wants to poop to get tv time?

[karstmama]

i have no btdt (ds is 5 & not potty trained), but how funny!

maybe de-escalate by having a cartoon a day he doesn't have to pay for with a poop? so that he doesn't have to produce to watch a cartoon?

[wellyes]

Clever boy!
I'd take away the cartoon reward entirely for potty, becaue i do think it could be bad to strain when you don't have to. We did 1 m&m for pee, 2 m&ms for poop, and no longe needed any reward after about 2 weeks. You might just want to give one (whatever treat) for any successful potty use.

Maybe let him have cartoons some other time so it doesn't feel like you are punishing him by taking it away. Maybe one 30 minute cartoon on Saturday mornings with dad. While mom gets to play on the Internet :thumbsup:

[catsnkid]

We just tried playing angry birds as a reward for poop. It worked to a certain degree.