Totally out of ideas re: potty training

[Rhianna'sMommy]

Dd2 refused to poop on the potty until 4 1/2. I didn't think she'd ever do it. We knew she knew how to do it - she did it for a couple weeks early only in Potty training and then stopped.

We talked to our pedi at one point and he recommended that we reward the effort of trying. He said to pick out a prize that she'd like. To earn that prize she had to sit on the potty 15-30 min after every meal for 15 minutes (he said poop typically happens 15-30 min after a meal). The idea was to accidentally catch the poop in the potty. We were to give her fiber suppliments to make sure she culdn't hold her poop (she was an expert in holding it for days and days). When on the potty encourage her to lean forward which made it easier to get the poop out. He said typically by the end of the week you've caught several poops on the potty and they figure out what they're doing. But they earn the prize no matter what because the prize was for trying, not succeding, even though most kids succede.

Dd2 cannot be bribed and can hold poop for days so this totally failed for her. But our pedi said he saw good results with this method usually. I don't actually know what started dd2 pooping on the potty. She just started pooping on the potty one day and never has had an accident again. It was a very frustrating year for us so I feel for you OP.

[Rhianna'sMommy]

Dd2 refused to poop on the potty until 4 1/2. I didn't think she'd ever do it. We knew she knew how to do it - she did it for a couple weeks early only in Potty training and then stopped.

We talked to our pedi at one point and he recommended that we reward the effort of trying. He said to pick out a prize that she'd like. To earn that prize she had to sit on the potty 15-30 min after every meal for 15 minutes (he said poop typically happens 15-30 min after a meal). The idea was to accidentally catch the poop in the potty. We were to give her fiber suppliments to make sure she culdn't hold her poop (she was an expert in holding it for days and days). When on the potty encourage her to lean forward which made it easier to get the poop out. He said typically by the end of the week you've caught several poops on the potty and they figure out what they're doing. But they earn the prize no matter what because the prize was for trying, not succeding, even though most kids succede.

Dd2 cannot be bribed and can hold poop for days so this totally failed for her. But our pedi said he saw good results with this method usually. I don't actually know what started dd2 pooping on the potty. She just started pooping on the potty one day and never has had an accident again. It was a very frustrating year for us so I feel for you OP.

[kateroc]

Thanks so much for all the great ideas! I am going to try giving him privacy and I'm also going to try this:

Originally Posted by momtojande This is what I read awhile back to get a child past whatever hangup is keeping them from pooping on the potty: Try going in several steps. 1. Since he knows when he needs to poop, have him go into the bathroom and poop in a pull up. 2. When he's ready, have him sit on the potty in a pull up and poop there. 3. The site I read even suggested, if necessary, that you could add a step where you cut a hole in the bottom of the pull up, so he can still wear that while sitting on the potty. The idea is to help him still have some familiar sensations while getting used to new sensations. I never actually had to go past step 1 with either kid, but this was the plan if that wasn't enough.

I honestly think this is kind of genius! (in an, omg, why didn't I think of that? kind of way )

[momtojande]

Originally Posted by kateroc I honestly think this is kind of genius! (in an, omg, why didn't I think of that? kind of way )

I hope it works! Some kids do just have some deep fears about the whole process. If that's the problem, then he'll probably be fine as soon as he works through that fear.

[Sha-nanagins]

We're sort of dealing with the same thing with our just-turned-3 DS. For him, the issues seem to be that he wants privacy, that he doesn't want to stop what he's doing to go sit on the potty, and then when it's almost too late and we run him in there, he tries to hold it to get to the potty and then can't go.

We finally found the motivator for him - he discovered Angry Birds on DH's phone. So we put it on mine. He gets to play Birds while he sits on the potty and poops (or for 10 mins. right after, if I think he's just saying he has to go to get the phone), and for 10 mins. in the evening if he stays dry and clean all day.

So far, it's working great.