How can I convince my 2 yr old to poop in the toliet?

Question

My son will be 3 in march...He wears underwear everyday and pees in the toliet when he needs to but he refuses to poop. He will go long periods of time with out pooping. The last time he pooped he had waited so long that I had to give him an enima because it was so large and he could not get it out...I have tried reading to him, going potty with him, showing him how it works...Nothing is working.

Answer 1

When you make it an "issue" with a child, it makes it HARDER to do the requested task. Put him in a diaper to alleviate his problem of constipation.

YOUR main concern SHOULD be for his comfort... NOT for yours or who ever else is mandating that he be trained.
Wait for him to initiate use of the toilet. Do NOT harp at him OR embarrass him please.

Answer 2

My son had the exact same problem. Then when he did finally poop it hurt him to go. He would go in his diaper but not the potty. We decided to reward him for pooping so we bought a bunch of toy cars (his most favorite thing in the world) and put them in a bag. I showed one to him and told him that if he poops in the potty then he can have one. It worked so well to the point that whenever he wanted a new car he would sit on the potty until even the smallest turd came out and then proudly announce that he went poop and gets a new car toy now! See if this works with your little one, and if not, he will eventually get it. How many adults do you see walking around refusing to poop in the potty? Be patient. :)

Answer 3

Ok, this is going to sound very weird but it is what I was told when I went through the EXACT same thing with my first son. It actually freaks the child out to see his poop disappear down the toilet.... At that age he feels that his poo is a part of him and doesnt want to see it go. You need to first teach him how yucky it is and show him that it is ok to get rid of it. maybe take him back to a pull up where he feels comfortable enough to go poo in his pants, then have him flush it away and slowly build him back up to going on the potty again. Pushing your child to be potty trained before he is absolutly ready can have some very bad side effects!! my mother in law absolutly insisted I potty train my first son before he was 2 and now he still wets the bed and was very resistant for a long time. With my second son I did it my way(when he was ready) and he was easier and better trained than my older son. Good Luck and dont force the issue too much. Prizes work well too!!!!

Answer 4

I had the same problem with my now (potty trained) 4.5 year old. I called the nurse in fits and she asked right away if her poop was hard. She was constipated and it is harder to poop sitting down. We tried diet, but eventually had to add glycolax. Once the poop was soft we had to deal with the problem that she was a bit scared of pooping on the potty. After all, it has probably hurt trying to poop sometime.
We gave 1skittle for pooping in the bathroom (with diaper on)
2 skittles for sitting on potty and pooping in diaper
5 skittles for the first few poops in potty.
It still took her a very long few weeks, but it worked.

Answer 5

I had a hard time potty training my 3.5 year old. I think if he's getting constipated from holding it that maybe cut him a little slack for the next few weeks. Take the pressure off him and wait until it's his idea. He's not even 3 yet. There's plenty of time.

In the mean time use gentle reminders. When you change a BM diaper just say light-heartedly "Oh well. We didn't make it this time but that's okay. We'll try again another time."

When he does make his BM in his diaper, empty the diaper into the toilet (as best you can) as a previous poster suggested and let him flush and make it fun.

When my kids start having hard BM's, I feed them raisins like they're going out of style.

Answer 6

I cannot agree with the people who said not to push him because he will go when he's ready cause, he very well might not! I just started babysitting for a friend of mine and her 5 yr old son is still in damn diapers and it makes me sick...I just started watching him and I told him unless he wants to sit in poop all day, he better use the toilet because I absolutely refuse to change a 5 yr old boys diaper! But I guess my point here is, if you let the issue of him pooping in his pants go, then he may just figure, hell, why should I go on the toilet when mommy will just clean my mess up for me? I would do everything humanly possible to get him to poop on the potty because I don't think you want a 5 yr old in diapers like my friend has now...And it could come to that!

Answer 7

He's 2 so I'm already impressed that he's peeing on the toilet. Don't force or rush him because poop, for whatever reason, is a bigger deal to give up to the toilet gods than pee. My son needs privacy when he poops and tends to visit the same corner to do his business. We've made his potty available to him there and we leave him alone as he request. We recently discovered that his over-enthusiasm for chocolate milk at dinner loosens him up so we've used that time to practice.

Make a HUGE deal about it when he does poop. Parade him on your shoulders and dance around like he's won the lottery.

Answer 8

AWARDS!! My nephew is like an elephant! He was working for peanuts. Make it fun. If you do potty in the toilet there is an award and always make it a happy thing. Play a fun song and give him a peace of candy. He'll look forward to the next time! Carry candy in you bag and make it clear that it's for toilet time.

Answer 9

Be patient, it will happen. If you had to give him an enema, and he had a hard time straining with stool, he may be afraid to poop because it will hurt. I'd push the fruits/veggies/water to keep the poop soft.

Watch out for the laxatives, they can be habit forming. Stick with natures laxatives

Answer 10

Iam sure you heard this before but, he will go when he is ready this is nothing wrong with him refusing to do poop in the toilet so good luck.James c that is a good idea.