3 year old has yet to poop in the potty

Amanda - posted on 03/24/2013

Has anything changed in his life? ie new baby, moving ect. The doctor told us that any kind of change will mess up potty training. our 3 yr old son was just getting it and when we had his little sister, he hasn't pooped in the potty since.

Sammy - posted on 03/24/2013

My daughter was like this. what i did at the start was let her finish the poop then just change her making no fuss. she sometimes just did if for attention so i didnt speak to her just bchanged her.
The next step was every time you see her poop pick her up and take her to the potty and wait for about 10mins before removing the child from the potty.
then we made her clean her own bottom when she pooped and even though they dont like it they either go dirty or be clean.
then finally the last stage is leaving them in poopy pants. if you are out just leave them and in thehouse leave them and if they come to you and say mommy done poopy say youll have to wait for 10 mins or im busy right now honey.
hope this helps you
sammy x

Carrie - posted on 03/06/2010

I feel so much better after reading these posts! My little girl is 2 1/2 and I was worried she should be fully trained already, but it sounds like I may be jumping the gun a bit. She is an extremely strong-willed one, and goes to the potty when she wants to. She's only gone poop on the toilet about 5 times so far, but does a lot better with the potty. Thanks all for the ideas!

Angela - posted on 03/04/2010

I understand exactly what you are going thru...my 3 yr old will pee all day long on the toilet but not go potty...and since I have him in underwear all day long he does fine but I have figured out that he only asks for a pull up when he knows he has to go potty and when he does I tell him no and that he has to go like a big boy...I have offered candy toys etc and the point is still not working as a matter of fact we are still working on it but I guess he will be fully potty trained when he is ready...and I have come to terms that if I am consistant with himn until he is ready then it may be sooner than he wants! But anyways good luck and I hope that helps!

Jackie - posted on 03/03/2010

I tried sitting in the bathroom waiting for the golden moment (that never seems to come) and would read a magazine that daddy gave him but he cried about it so much that he fell asleep. Just watch the clock for a couple days to see when is his time and then pay close attention to them for them to have to go. As soon as I would see the look on the face I would run them to the bathroom. Going well so far.

Jackie - posted on 03/03/2010

Some of these are so funny! My son will be 4 in July and I'm so nervous about him being poop trained. Until 2 weeks ago he would not poop either in the toilet. I would catch him trying to go and I would literaly scoop him up and run to the bathroom. He watched the movie Flushed away and has been scared of the toilet ever since. So my friend told me to put food coloring in the toilet and that seems to be going very well, he'll sit on the potty until I get the colors and use every color then he will go and be very happy that he went. To top that we have to call Nana and daddy and tell them and he needs to be told that they are very happy at him. Makes him so excited for the next poop.

Sherilyn - posted on 02/20/2010

Hi . Goodluck. My 3 year old daugher will control her bladder, but not her bowel. She hides and does her poo in the knickers, we have been doing this for 8 months and I am simply throwing the knickers out which ca'nt be salvaged. She gets upset if we try to explain it's not the right place to poo. Interestingly my little boy when he was 3 1/2 we started to toilet train him. His first milestone in Poo Potty Training was acknowledging that he needed to go to a special place to do a poo. ( this ended up being a bush poo ie doing a poo in the garden, in Australia it was very warm and we were able to do this.)

THe Paediatrician indicated that this was an important step as the child acknowledged that he needed to go somewhere to do his business..so look out for that too!

Would love any further advice on little girls...I think my girl is scared of the big toilet hole...
Regards
Sherilyn

Brandi - posted on 02/19/2010

My Two year old son had trouble going in the potty then I got advice from somebody to turn him backwards so he could hold on to the tank and as soon as I started putting him on the potty backwards he started using the potty and shortly after about 2-4 weeks he was fully potty trained!

Annie - posted on 02/19/2010

My name is Annie. I have the same problem. My son will be 4yrs old in may. What I am trying is for 7days write down the time he poop's. On the eight day set him on the potty in the morning, or evening witch ever time he went the most (last 7day) so far my son still poop's in his pull up's but he has pooped in the toilet 3 times in less than a week and a half.

Diane - posted on 02/18/2010

GOSH...MY 3YR OLD IS STUBBORN...HE WAS GOING PEE PEE IN THE POTTY,BUT NOT POOPING...NOW HE DOES NEIGTHER POOP NOR PEE IN THE POTTY...WHAT AM I DOING WRONG!!!

Raquel - posted on 02/18/2010

I am going to use some of these ideas also. :-) My 3 yr old is having the same problem. He has done it a few times and we make a huge deal out of it. Our big trip was supposed to be Chuck E Cheese this week but he's been sick so we put it off. Hopefully once he's well we can get on track again and make a trip to Chuck E Cheese. :-)

Jenny - posted on 02/18/2010

What did the trick with my son, at about the same age as yours, was I sat his Buzz Lightyear toy on the potty and secretly dropped cocoa puffs in the toilet. My son was right there and I asked him if he thought Buzz was done trying to poop and he said yeah and when we took Buzz off the potty there were little dropplets in the toilet. I made a big deal about it and was talking to Buzz telling him how proud I was of him. My son was in shock that Buzz pooped in the potty but it worked. He started pooping in the potty nearly immediately after that. He cried a little bit the first couple of times saying he was afraid it was going to hurt and I sat with him and explained that whether he goes in his underwear or in the potty it's the same and that the potty was better because it wasn't all of his cool underwear and getting him all messy. Buzz started going into the bathroom with him (even though I'm against toys in the bathroom but I made this exception) and reminded him that Buzz didn't cry. It didn't take him long to realize that it didn't hurt to go in the potty.

Angie - posted on 02/17/2010

My son went through the same thing until about a week ago! He would ask for a diaper when ever he had to poop. I always told him that he would get a lolly pop if he went poop in the potty. That didn't work. So one day when he asked to go poop in a diaper I told him if he went in the potty he'd get a lolly pop. he said no, then I told him that I went this morning and forgot to have my lolly pop. So I started sucking on one in front of him, gave him a lick and told him he could finish it if he went poop in the potty. He did and has ever since.

Shiloh - posted on 02/17/2010

My son is the same ! he will pee in the potty just fine but he will never tell me when he needs to poop ...... Their was only 1 time he ever pooped in the potty and i had to sit in the bathroom with him and wait lol we were in their for 20 min lol so im goin to take some of everyone advice on here and see what works. I wish you luck and im sure you'll get it soon !!!

Sharon - posted on 02/17/2010

I am in your same situation. I have thrown away so many pairs of underwear. I finally gave up on pushing the issue. My daughter turns 4 next month and I was beside myself with the frustration. Now I just mention it in passing because she must not be ready, even though she has been peeing in the potty for 7 months. She gets pennies for her piggy bank if she poops in the potty and a big toy from Target if we do it every day for a week. So far, she has done two days in a row and I am quietly doing a happy dance! Big breakthrough, not just coincidence. I feel your pain! Hang in there!

Megan - posted on 02/17/2010

When he goes poop in his pants, try taking him to the toilet and putting the poop in the pot. If you show him that is where the poop goes, he may get it.

Ellen - posted on 02/16/2010

I have the same exact problem with my 3yr old son. I tried everything from potty charts to rewards, but he just dosen't want to go poo poo in the potty. So I told him that he cannot wear 'big boy' pants until he goes poo in potty. And I put him back in pull-ups. I have not given up, but decided that he is just not ready yet. I guess boys seem to take a little longer figuring it out. my daughter on the other hand who is now 4, started doing both by the time she was 3. Just try to be patient with him but keep trying, that is what I am doing with my son. Good Luck

Rose - posted on 02/16/2010

With Gary my oldest we told him that we would take him to the store and get him anything he wanted if he would start going in the potty. That night he started going poop in the potty. If that don't work my sister-n-laws son learned about germs at pre-k, and he came home telling her about what he learned. He said that germs are tiny bugs. Had had to constantly wash the germs (tiny bugs) off his hands. She asked him what do you think is in your poop? He started to go in the potty after that. No more accidents.

Jenniefer - posted on 02/16/2010

I have the same problem with my son. He refuses to poop in the potty. I've tried giving him treats such as cars or candy. I've tried telling him that if he goes poop in the potty we can go get a new toy. I put him in underwear only and made him clean them out when he pooped in them. He poops in pullups, pants, underwear, or even the floor but not in the potty.

Lisa - posted on 02/15/2010

I'm not clear on what he is doing now -- pooping in underpants? pull ups? what's his behavior?

That said: Boys and girls are often different when it comes to potty training, but this is what I did with my daughter. She was trained as far as peeing but for pooping she still insisted on a pullup. This went on for months and nothing worked. Finally, I told her that she would still be allowed to use the pullup, but that she would have to sit on the potty, in said pullup, while she pooped. I explained that she would have to do this for a week, and that at the end of one week, she was going to try to poop directly into the potty -- no more pullups would be allowed. I took a calendar and showed her the days, and every day we discussed it, counted down, and put an "x" through the day that had just passed....at the end of that week I was shocked when she had no problems. She clearly was not happy about it, and during the first couple of days she was able to finnagle a babysitter into whipping out the pullups, but other than that we've never looked back. I also promised her that at the end of one week pooping into the potty and no pullups, we would have a special trip to the toy store, just the two of us. We did.

Hope that helps a bit.

Cassandra - posted on 02/12/2010

Thanks for suggestions!

Annie - posted on 02/12/2010

i have the same problem. hes perfectly fine at going pee in the potty but when it comes down to pooping he goes and hides. i actually had to start putting him back in the training pants because he was pooping in his underwear. his godmother gave him candy when he went poop in the potty but it doesnt work at home. it really is frustrating.

Areial - posted on 02/12/2010

i read online if you take them to the bathroom when you go poop it helps also if they poop in the potty help them pick out names for the poop i know it sounds nasty but it help with my 3 year old son and it only took me a week to fully potty train him. You can also tell him that if he starts to poop in the potty you will get him a new toy or a pet fish that also worked with mine. Go buy so hot wheels and every time he poops give him a new car.Potty charts are fun too. i found some at WWW.FreePrintableBehaviorCharts.com and went to the dollar tree and bought stickers to go with the cartoon on the chart and every time he peed he got a sticker and if he pooped he got 2 stickers in one square. there are 7 squares a day. Just take to the potty every 30 min and have him sit on the potty for 2 or 3 min to see if that will help out any also give him juice it helps soften up the poop to make it easier to come out with out it hurting.

Areial - posted on 02/12/2010

i read online if you take them to the bathroom when you go poop it helps also if they poop in the potty help them pick out names for the poop i know it sounds nasty but it help with my 3 year old son and it only took me a week to fully potty train him. You can also tell him that if he starts to poop in the potty you will get him a new toy or a pet fish that also worked with mine. Go buy so hot wheels and every time he poops give him a new car.Potty charts are fun too. i found some at WWW.FreePrintableBehaviorCharts.com and went to the dollar tree and bought stickers to go with the cartoon on the chart and every time he peed he got a sticker and if he pooped he got 2 stickers in one square. there are 7 squares a day.