Potty training a 2 1/2 year old, help please!?

Question

My daughter is doing wonderful going pee pee on the potty and is even wearing panties! My only problem is she refuses to go poop in the potty. She goes and hides in a room or under the table to go, and tells us about it afterwards. It's not just once in awhile, it's everytime she goes poop and if we catch it right when she's starting to go, she stops going even if we leave her alone on the potty. Is this going to pass? what can I do to encourage her to go poop in the potty instead of in her panties?

Answer 1

most children will start potty training by successfully urinating. some children take weeks more, even months, to start having a bowel movement in the toilet/potty. it's very normal. don't give her any negative statements, try instead to reward her for even trying to have a BM on the potty. you can get her a potty book about it (there's a good one called "everybody poops"), get her a sticker chart, or get some cheap toys and let her have one for every successful BM. it may take time. it may also help to take her diaper after she had a BM and bring it to the bathroom, let her watch you put in the toilet and explain to her "this is where poop goes". some children are afraid of the flushing sound of the toilet. one last suggestion is to let her watch an older sibling or a parent go to the bathroom.
i have two small children, 5 and 4, and mine were not fully potty trained until almost 4 years old.
just be careful that she does not become constipated by "holding' or stopping her BM's. try to keep track of how many days its been between BM's. most important is that her stool is not dry and hard. it should be moist, formed stool.

Answer 2

This is normal for children potty training. Whatever you do don't scold her for not using the potty. That will only make it worse. What about giving her a special treat for going poo on the potty. Perhaps, a little something extra served with breakfast. Or, you could stash her favorite candy by the potty. And, when she poos she gets the snack. Make the reward immediate otherwise, she'll forget about why she got it.

I would also have her help clean up after the poo in the panties. Haver her take off her panties and dump in the potty. And, have her flush it. Then, soak them in the sink or however you clean them. Also, she should clean herself off. Hand her the rag and have her soapy it up. Let her see there are consequences for her actions.

Reinforce to her that her body makes pee and poop. Just like mommy and daddy. It is her job (responsibilty) to get rid of the pee and poop.

Reward her heavily when she does it!! Even to the point where you feel absolutely silly - that's when it's most effective.

PS: I think seeing the candy by the potty is the best incintive!

Answer 3

Most kids are afraid to poop in the potty. Don't know why. Try telling her that if she poops in the potty, she gets a candy. Have a bag of candy to choose from out of reach somewhere, so she can choose one after the job is done, and hands are washed. If she asks for candy, tell her she needs to poop in the potty first. Praise her like crazy when she pees, or if she finally braves the poop fear. If friends or family drop by, tell them about what a big girl she is. (most are ok with hearing about kids going on the potty, theyve done potty training too)
When you put panties on her in the morning, talk about how special her big girl panties are, and how pretty they are and how they would be very very sad if they got poop on them. Give her underwear a personality and a voice if you need to.
Good luck!

Answer 4

Here is what you do. For the next 2 weeks monitor her BMs i.e. what time she is going. Write the times down and compare to the rest of the times. If you notice a pattern, say she is going every morning from 900 to 1000, then try taking or encouraging her to go potty. I potty train about 11 2 years olds and have a high success rate. Hope this will help. Good luck!!

Answer 5

In her little mind she has an issue about putting poop in the potty. The issue is huge enough to cause her to poop elsewhere and hold it when forced on the potty. She has some crazy idea afloat in her brain. You need to find out why she is afraid to poop in the potty.From what you write it appears she feels too out in the open and prefers more darkness, more hiding, more privacy. At any rate you need to find out her need here. She has some fear here and yelling or threatening is counterproductive and makes it worse. I'm a big believer in parents being very low key when it comes to potty training. Kids learn and there is no need to introduce stress here or make a major issue of it. Get your daughter to talk about the issue as she sees it. It's probably really silly, but it is serious to her. Good luck.

Answer 6

Have an enormous "POTTY PARTY!!!!" Balloons, streamers, cupcakes, singing, dancing, hooray! Here's how it works:
1. Have a doll sit on the potty and go "poop"
2. Enormous POTTY PARTY that lasts for a few minutes
This should be all the encouragement she needs
3. She poops on potty
4. SUPER ENORMOUS POTTY PARTY!!!
If she's a tough cookie
5. Mom/Dad poops in their potty
6. POTTY PARTY!!!!
Then she should use the potty.
You slowly reduce the party to shouting HOORAY!! POTTY PARTY!!! while holding hands and dancing.
Make the party as memorable as possible. Stage a phone call to Santa where he gets told the good news. No half assed potty parties, make it good!

Answer 7

This is very common in potty training. It just takes patience. Positive reinforcements are very good. Yes, when she finally does make it a big deal.

You can make it a game. Let her wave bye bye to the "pee pee". Let her know that she can do this to the "poop" too if she goes in the potty. Also, you can sing a parady to "It's my party and I cry if I want to." "It's my potty and I'll poop if I want to."
Try to make it fun for daughter and mother.

It is just trial and error to see what works. My daughter took a while to be "poop" potty trained. But this too will pass. No pun intended.
I hope this helps.

Answer 8

When I was potty training my son, I had the exact opposite problem- he wanted to poop in his potty, but wanted to pee on every tree or building in the area. To beat this, we made a chart for the bathroom and every time he went he got a star. After 7 stars he got a special treat. It was neat because he was always excited about what the treat might be and he got to do the stickers himself.

Answer 9

sweetie Do'nt worry cause I am going through the same things
you are I have a 2 year old as well here is what you do what is it that she holds on to the most? take it and tell her o.k you're not getting this until you poop now that worked on my 6 year old son he was potty trained in one day at 2 1/2 and they said boys were harder than girls I guess I fooled them!

Answer 10

This is normal and will pass. For her going pee pee is fun and not "of my body" but going poop is very disconcerning for a toddler. Think aobut it, you know something is coming out of you but you don't really understand what it is. She may think it is her insides coming out. My son thinks that and the best we, as parents, can do is to be very supportive during this phase. The best thing I could suggest is to talk to her on her level and let her know what poop is and what is going on inside when she poops. Let her ask questions. My son loves the book "Everyone Poops" and it makes a game out of it. When she does tell you that she has gone poop or need to go poop praise her and thank her for letting you know.