Poo's in the toilet not the nappy

Salli-Ann Spencer-Cribbin - posted on 11/26/2008

Thank you so much I have been given some great ideas that i will absolutly try Thankyou everyone I'm glad I'm not the only one to ever go through this. :)

Renee - posted on 11/26/2008

my daughter went through a similar thing..i tried everything. Then my mum turned around and made it a game...listen for the 'PLOP'! it took about 2 times and she never pood her pants again!....remember lots of praise from all family members, best of luck...

Sherry - posted on 11/26/2008

Hi Salli-Ann. I'm an RN and have spent most of my career working in Child Psychiatry. I am by no means an expert on the topic, but this is my interpretation of your situation. Children actually gain bowel control before bladder control and it sounds like your son has good bladder control, which is excellent. That being said, one would have to assume he also has bowel control... which is evidenced by him controlling his poop time until he has a diaper on... that is control. Your son has trained you to meet his needs and resists/refuses to meet your needs, which is pooping in the potty. There is absolutely no harm in using prunes to promote bowell movements, but it doesn't sound like this is the issue, anyway. There are bowel routines that help promote positive toileting experiences. One routine is to sit the child on the potty at reqular times throughout the day, for example: 10 minutes on the potty every hour. Positively reward the child with stickers or something small just for sitting on the potty every time. When he does poop on the potty, praise, praise praise! Bed wetting is not uncommon in boys, and if you get a plastic cover for his bed, I would suggest eliminating the bedtime diaper/pull-up altogether. Let him know that when all the pull-ups are gone you will not be getting anymore... and don't, then you won't be tempted to fall back on old habits. I has been my experience that all children can positively change their bowel habits inside of three weeks. Once you start, be positive, stick with it, no turning back... and it will work. I don't know what info is on the internet, but you might try looking up Encopresis or Encopretic routines for more guidelines. I hope this helps.

Michele - posted on 11/26/2008

I had simular trouble. My son finally started going poo on the pottie himself, when he was 4 yrs 2 months. After 2 years of struggle. Hang in there. Don't get frusterated it will happen. Unfortunatly it will be on his terms.

Kathy - posted on 11/26/2008

Try to make the toilet fun and not a job, Have him watch one of your older boys put cheerios in the toilet and them aim at them. Instruct them to be laughing while they do it. Also have your older boys take him to the washroom when they go, learning by watching what big brother does is always an awsome way to teach. Children will often follow what their older syblings are doing and when it looks like a lot of fun they are sure to follow. I would not suggest the prune juice solution, speaking from a nurses point of view it can cause the bowels to be lazy then problems with constipation occures.

Christie - posted on 11/26/2008

My son also has issues pooing on the potty but when he's like that we give him some prune juice and wait for it to kick in and then sit him on the potty and play crash-up cars for him to distract him until he goes...sometimes an hour or so. We also read special books to him that he can only have on the potty. and rewards after he goes help too. My son loves hot wheels etc so we give him one of those sometimes. Patience is a must and if he sees us getting upset because he's not going he will play on that!! Potty training is NOT easy! I wish you luck and hope that what I've said may help you!

Candace - posted on 11/26/2008

stay with the nappy on but let him sit on the toilet as well. mavbe hes afraid of the whole sitting down thing. let him empty it in to the toilet and do everything else that goes along with it. my son did the same thing. took about a month to get him to take it off. the sitting on the toilet is intimidating to hm. such a large hole and a teeny bum. somewhat scary.