HELP...my 2 almost 3yr old doesnt poop on the potty....

United States
April 9, 2009 10:30am CST
My son Tyler is almost 3, and still wont poop on the potty. He'll use it all day long to pee. I can count on 1 hand how many times he pooped on the potty. Its fustrating but when it seems like I finally got him to use the potty for number 1 and 2, it goes right back to him goin in his pants. he doesnt wear pull-ups or underwear during the day. I do put him in a diaper at night when he is in bed cause he still wets at night. Other than that he doesnt have anyting on, besides cloths. My older son wasnt as difficult. Any and all advise is welcome!!!!!
2 people like this
9 responses
• United States
10 Apr 09
i recommend that you use a child toilet seat, dont force him, but ask him if need needs to take a b.m. , also take him consistently, every hour and just let him sit for no more than 15 min, if he does go poopy, praise him, hell feel like going more often. hope this helps.
1 person likes this
@marciascott (25529)
• United States
10 Apr 09
That is what I just said Praise them when they go to potty. I do this to my Grandtwins all the time.
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• United States
10 Apr 09
I have tried everything! He doesnt like using the child seat, he wont sit on the potty at all when it on there. He has been praised, givin candy, got money to put in his piggy bank(which he loves). He just barely goes number 2 on the toilet. Im hoping that with me starting to potty train his lil brother that he'll come around.
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@Dugsmom (279)
• United States
9 Apr 09
My son did the same thing...he was potty trained by 3 then we moved and he regressed. He started peeing and pooping in his pants and wouldn't go to the bathroom. What I did was kinda not so nice but let me tell you it worked. At night he'd pee in bed and I just got tired of having to stay up half the night washing the sheets so one night I got so frustrated and made him get up with me. I didn't let him sit down...he had to stand up with me. He was so tired and I felt so bad but I knew that if I let him go back to bed it would be easy for him to pee in bed again (I would put pull ups on him before bed but he'd take them off after I left). He hated having to stay up with me. he had one more accident after I made him stay up with me (make sure to put some protection under the sheets so that you don't have too much to clean up) and I made him stay up again. That's all it took...he never peed in bed again! I don't know what to say about the poop so I can't help with that one. Sorry! I hope someone here can help you because I know what a pain it can be. Oh and another thing, I read that most boys aren't fully potty trained till they are 3 1/2-4 years old. My son wasn't fully potty trained till he was almost 4! Good luck!
1 person likes this
• United States
10 Apr 09
Well my guy will be 3 in May, and he pees on the potty like he's been doin it since he was born. I just cant seem to find a thing that works for him to go #2. I had a friend whose son wasnt doing #2 on the potty til he was 5. So I guess we're doin good. Thanks for the advise.
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@marciascott (25529)
• United States
10 Apr 09
My Daughter is having the same problem with her Twin boys that is almost 3, June 3 they will be 3 years old. My daughter is just lazy and so are he Kids, they know how to go to the Bathroom, but mthey wion't twll them to go, I always tell them to go when I come over to there house, they will go,and after they go I clam my hands and say Yay Yay, you went to bathroom, i praise them for it. Mabe you should do this. I hope you have some luck in trying it out.
• United States
10 Apr 09
Praising doesnt work. The last time he went poopy on the potty he got to say up later than his older sibling and got ice cream and the praising, the whole 9yrds and still nothing since than and that was last week. Im hopin he'll come around with me startin to potty train his lil brother.
@CatsandDogs (13963)
• United States
10 Apr 09
Since I don't have any kids (not by choice) I can only tell you what worked for a couple of my friends. The first one said that when kids start to use the bathroom to do a "number 2" and they see it in the toilet, they think that they lost a part of their body and it frightens them but if you or daddy were to clap your hands and get excited about it that they'd learn that it's a "GOOD thing" instead of a bad thing and they'll want to do more because they see how happy that it made you two. lol What ever works, huh? lol Now my God kids mother couldn't get her youngest son to use the toilet at all. Since he didn't use the toilet at all, his older brother and sister were allowed to spend the summer with "their God parents" - us but if he would start using the toilet and not wear diapers anymore, he'd be able to go see his God parents with his brother and sister next year. He started using the toilet THAT very day and has been ever since! So maybe a promise to him if he starts using the toilet might work. It'll give him the incentive to want to do it and also know it's a good thing and not a bad thing. Good luck!!
• United States
10 Apr 09
He knows goin poopy on the potty is a good thing! He actually says byebye to it when he flushes the toilet and than we do high fives and he gets hugs ans some short of reward. But all that still doesnt work. Even my parents who he loves dearly have tried everyhting when we go to visit and nothing. Thanks for the advise, hopefully he'll come around.
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@daneg33 (1128)
• Canada
9 Apr 09
I am going through the exact same ordeal with my son, except he just turned 4. It is not that they don't know how to do it, it is more of a "control" thing. Don't stress about it too much, it will work out. I went through the exact same thing with my daughter and I remember being worried because she was nearly five before it got straightened out and I was worried that I wouldn't be able to register her for Kindergarten. A friend of mine has a son around the same age as mine and she told me I should just put him in underwear at night instead of Pullups. You can buy those padded covers with plastic backing to put on the bed, buy a couple and rotate them, you will be washing sheets every night. Try to limit the amount they drink up to two hours before bed and make sure they have a pee before they go to bed. I know the entire thing is frustrating, I feel your pain, because I live it every day. I repeatedly ask my son - do you have to go to the potty (#2)? and he says "NO!" then when he goes to bed he poops himself. I think I might just have to start putting him on the potty when I suspect that he is going to push one out. This is the last thing that your child has control over, so he is going to keep the control as long as he can (that's just my experience on it). Another thing I have been trying is that I have a sticker album and lots of really cool stickers and a bag full of small dinosaurs. When he does poop on the potty, he gets a sticker in his album and a dinosaur. (I buy the dinosaurs at the dollar store for a buck each). You can use almost anything for bribery, whatever works. Just get a bagful of prizes at the dollar store and let him know that if he does go poop on the potty he will get a prize. Also, you can take him to the store and let him pick out his own "big boy underwear". Sometimes boys don't want to mess up their new undies. What I do is when my son poops in his undies, I throw them in the GARBAGE.
• United States
10 Apr 09
My son does the exact same thing. I put him the diaper,b4 bed. I ask him to go potty first b4 bed. Always #1 not #2. Ask him if he needs to go #2, and it always "nope". He says goodnight and goes to bed and I go to check on him and his brothers later and I end up changin a diaper. My son doesnt like undies either, lol. He wont wear them, so I gotta work on that 2!
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@trina48D (88)
• United States
12 Apr 09
I hear you, my son is just 4 and he know what is expected and knows how to but it seems dirty to him I guess. He just doesn't like to see it in the toilet. He will go hide in the corner or under something curled up so I know when he has to go but I still have to catch him and make him go. When he does I high five him and remind him since he did so good he won't have to do it again till the next day. Sometimes I get so frustrated with him that I do spank his butt once. I have had him clean out his own pants but I just pay attention to what he is doing so I can catch him and figure the day will come when he will just do it. Hopefully before he starts dating.lol
• India
10 Apr 09
Children alway creates typical situation for parents. Due to this caring children is more typical.
@Niah1976 (739)
• Paranaque, Philippines
10 Apr 09
HI there! Childs develop differently. So maybe you should give him more time to practice on his potty. Besides, he is still young. Just ask him often as you could if he wants to poop. Maybe talking and explaining to him will help him understand. Because that what I did with my 2 years old kid. She started to poop in the potty at the age of two.By the age of 3, she don't want to use diaper even at night.She gets up in bed when he needs to pee.Now that she is 4, I have no more problem with her.
• Malta
11 Apr 09
My son will be 3 in May too. As for nighttime he still wears diapers cos he still pees and when i asked the doctor he said that some kids wont feel the need to pee at night until they are 5!! As for your poop problem, I wouldnt know what to say. My kid copies a lot. So he comes with me to the bathroom and that's how he learned to use the toilet, instead of the potty!! I also bought a very good stool, so he can reach the toilet. Since he has a brother, why not try to make him copy the big brother in toilet matters, maybe he would feel important.