WHY will a kid PEE in the potty but not poop?? (update #18)

[Mommy_Mea]

Maddening, isn't it?

We went through this with DS1. We did 3 day boot camp, and he came out fully pee and poop trained! Until ~3 months later when he regressed with the poop, and stayed there for about 6 months. After trying every bribe in the book, we just had him ask for a diaper when the time came, try and take the pressure off. He was starting to withhold...

Eventually we made a sticker chart, and for every "X" number of times he pooped on the potty, he got a Hot Wheel (the "X" was an increasing number after each Hot Wheel). And it took a while, but it worked. I think it was a combination of being ready and the right currency.

So I think you are doing great not making a big deal out of it, and having him help clean up, but it might just be a matter of time, and trying different rewards.

As far as the squatting vs sitting issue - we definitely had this. From Day 1 of potty training, he wanted to stand to poop. It took a long time for him to be comfortable sitting to poop. Make sense in an anthropological sense - we didn't always have toilets!

[rin]

That's so frustrating! We went through something similar with DD. I know this is not what you want to hear, but honestly nothing we did (incentives, etc) really seemed to have an effect, we just sort of had to wait it out. In our case she had pooped on the potty, but was clearly doing it defiantly in her underwear (and a few revolting times on the floor/etc). We tried incentives (candy, toys, stickers), we tried giving her different potty options (two different potty chairs, one potty seat insert), we tried taking her to the potty at regular intervals just like basic potty training (made it worse), we tried making her clean it up (no effect except messy), we tried yelling at her (definitely not a good plan) . . . She just finally grew out of it, I guess. Argh!!!!!!!!!!

[chottumommy]

My DS was pee trained for a year and a half before he poop trained. Nothing worked - bribing, taking away privileges, nothing. He would always ask for a diaper to poop since I made him clean his underwear if he pooped in it and it totally grossed him out. Finally I had enough of it and when he was almost 4 I did a whole ceremony of throwing away the diapers and had a party with a few of his friends of him becoming a big boy

He withheld poop for 3 days and then had a to go and went on the potty. First words from his mouth after pooping - it doesn't hurt going poppy on the potty. Not sure why he thought it would hurt but I think this is very common among boys. They have a fear of poop in the potty (maybe they think their penis would fall along with the poop !).

So I would say let it be for a few months but insist that he ask for a diaper when he has to poop. Once he back to diapers for poop at some point throw away the diapers. He will most likely refuse to poop in his underwear and might have some incentive to poop on the potty.

[BabbyO]

I read in an article - might have been in Parents magazine, that many kids are AFRAID to poop on the potty. They feel like they are losing part of their body, they don't like being splashed by the water, or are afraid they will get sucked into the toilet. This is pretty close to what I remember the article being:

http://www.parents.com/toddlers-pres...mmon-problems/

They describe the gradual method of using the diaper, then diaper in the bathroom, then diaper on the toilet, and finally toilet only.

[Tea4two]

Right there with you! Except we are using pull ups because with the new baby, I don't have time for the underwear mess and clean up. We have tried sticker charts, candy, iPad time, lots of praise. DS has pooped on the potty many times in the past, but won't now. He also likes to stand to poop. Maybe sitting feels weird?? IDK but wish I had the answer.

[edurnemk]

DS did that for a looooong time. He pee trained at 2.5 and poo trained at 3. He would request a diaper when he needed to poop. after 6 months of that I told him there would be no more diapers after Xmas, he took it Ok and finally tried to poop in the potty. We used rewards (aka bribes), he got 2 m&m's when he pooped in the potty, after about 3 weeks we wened him of the m&m's.

[TwoBees]

We're right there with you, except we also have the chronic constipation issue (DD is on a daily dose on Miralax). She asks for a pull-up to poop, or waits until she's in her nighttime pull-up to do so (she's not night trained yet). She's on a nighttime pooping schedule, so it is hard to avoid the wait-until-bedtime routine. I keep trying to tell her that nighttime pull ups are more expensive! LOL. I'm so afraid of withholding, which is totally something she would do, that we are moving very slowly. Just last week I got her to sit on the potty and "try" to poop while she played with a special poop-on-the-potty toy. We only got as far as "try".

[♥ms.pacman♥]

update - looks like we are finally turning a corner here!! i was casually mentioning the potty issues with DS's swim teacher a few weeks ago. She mentioned trying the "naked method", as it really worked with her son. I was really skeptical but figured i'd try it when we were at home. So, we started having DS be naked from waist down when we were at home. at first he protested, but then he got used to it.

So, last Thursday, i had the kids by myself and we were upstairs. Then suddenly he says, i think i need to sit on the potty." we had those really tiny Bjorn potty upstairs and then he proceeded to make poop in it! He said something like "I'm pooping! but i'm not crying!" He was SO proud of himself. It was awesome. I guess the fact that he was naked, and he didn't want to soil the carpet or something...encouraged him to do it.

Then one day over the weekend, i put him in bed for his nap. he said he wanted to wear a diaper for naptime. i agreed since i figured he was going to poop and i didn't want to clean poopy underwear and possibly sheets. then, 10 minutes later, he walks into the room, his pants around his ankles, saying excitedly, "Mommy, I made poo-poo on the potty!". I was in SHOCK..i thought maybe he was lying. I ran to his room so fast. But to my utter amazement, he had 1) taken off his pants and diaper 2) sat on the Bjorn potty in his room and 3) pooped in it. At first i thought he maybe had pooped in the diaper and then dumped the poop in the potty and tried to trick us..but the diaper was pristine, and his booty wasn't smeared with poop like it usually is when he makes it in his diaper. I was just so impressed at how he did that all on his own.

Also, yesterday (Monday) DH said that after getting home from school he went to use the potty on his own and pooped. Woo!!

Anyway, looks like he's doing it more and more and is no longer afraid of pooping in the potty. If this trend continues, he won't even need diapers at all, even for nighttime!! You cannot imagine how crazy with excitement this makes me, to have a child that does not need diapers at all. Mindblowing!!

[PunkyBoo]

congratulations!!! Thats great progress! :thumbup: