Potty training question

tawillers

What's the deal with pooping?  DD really, really, really doesn't want to poop on her potty.  And she'll run into another room to poop in her pull-up, crying and saying "Oh no!" while she's doing it.  She *knows* she's supposed to go on her toilet, but she just doesn't want to.  I don't think she's scared.

I know that pooping is one of the last triumphs of PT, but how did your kid start doing it?  Did your kid freak out like mine does?

Also, we stopped bribing.  Well, I should say, she stopped asking for treats everytime she goes.  I made a potty chart for her and she thinks it's the most awesome thing in the entire world.  Forget the GS cookies, this girl wants STICKERS!

6fsn

Maybe she gets bored?  6let only has issues poopling when we are out because he isn't comfortable.  He did get upset when he pooped in his Thomas undies, so maybe give her some fancy ones?

AuntFlo

Well, DD has had all kinds of poop issues (constipation, withholding, plain old denail that she's doing it), so we haven't been pushing her at all to do it on the potty - - but she does!   In the last few weeks, she's only had one #2 accident and of course she had on panties when it happened. (She just started wearing panties towards the middle of last week.)  
For whatever reason, she won't tell us when she needs to pee, but she'll tell us when she needs to poop.   She'll ask for a book, but usually doesn't have time to even open it.   She gets the job done very quickly.   And then gets a TON of praise for it.

Maybe you can find some super fancy, glitery stickers to reward her with when she does poop in the potty?   Let her poop in her prettiest/favorite panties, and then tell her you have to throw them away?   I don't know.   The whole potty training thing has been all trial and error for us and I think we kind of lucked out on the pooping part of it.

tawillers

We have Minnie Mouse panties but we aren't quite to the panty stage yet (I don't think).  She stays dry all day but I get nervous about panties.  Should I just bite the bullet and put them on her?  We just started this last Monday so it seems kind of soon to go to panties.  I thought you weren't supposed to ever go backward?  I mean if we go to panties and she decides to go in them, we wouldn't go back to the pull-ups, so we'd be stuck with panties.

I have no idea what the heck I'm doing.

AuntFlo

Nobody knows what they're doing, taw. 

pegasuskat

Every single kid is different, you just have to figure out what works for them.

DG1

Agreed on no one knows what they're doing.

I'm sure you've googled this issue - what do they say?

I say try the panties. Give it a week. If it just isn't working, go back to the pull-ups. (Pull-ups? Why not regular diapers?) Maybe ask her first and tell her not to poop on them? We did a lot of "Thomas will be sad if you pee pee/poop on him" with the big-boy underwear.

You'll definitely be washing some pee clothes. And you'll toss the occasional pair of pooped-in undies. We had a random poop 2 months after we were done with regular accidents.

My only other idea is to make sure she sees you poop. Show her the poop in the toilet. Let her see that you are OK even though you went through this traumatic experience. I'm sure you've done some of that, but maybe really play up the poop part.

Also make sure she isn't having any constipation issues or anything that would make pooping unpleasant in general. Try to push fiber-rich food and water, that kind of thing.

kjsbride2008

Amelia is STILL scared to poop on the potty. She holds it in for days until she can't hold it in any longer. We've tried to give her Metamucil to help soften it up a little (thinking it was hurting). Now I've taken to making sure she drinks prune juice 1-2 times per week to keep her from getting constipated. That was the culprit for her accidents in the beginnings.

FWIW, we went through 1 pack of pull-ups, then straight to panties. She was dry all day and night, so there was no point in buying them any longer. She's so proud of herself, she still announces it to people she's just met, or if she poops she tells everyone. It's been a few months of being potty trained.

AuntFlo

DG1- Part of potty training is getting them to learn how to pull down their pants and then pull them back up when they're done.   Diapers are an unnecessary obstacle to this and so Pull-ups are a must, IMHO.   

6fsn

We went straight to underwear.  We used pullups for long carrides the first week or so, but then went to underwear.  The only reason we did pullups in the car was to protect the car seat.

DG1

Eh. I always felt like it would be confusing. "These are big-boy things, but it's OK if I pee in them?" Also? Lots more expensive than diapers. We managed without a single one. Pulling underwear up/down is the same as pulling pants up/down, which he had been able to do for at least a year.

I guess he just always told me, "I have to pee pee."  We also kindof did the naked potty training thing. We were visiting my parents, and he was running around naked most of the day anyway. So he just went and sat on the potty. By the end of the week, he wasn't having accidents anymore. Almost immediately, he had like 5 dry nights in a row, so it was an abrupt switch to underwear.

We also waited a longass time. He was 2y10m when he finally decided to potty train. For all of the prior encouraging and bribing, he was in diapers.


Anyway, Taw, just goes to show there's no right way. 2 very different methods, 2 kids who are excellent potty-users.

tawillers

They're not actual Pull-Ups.  They're the Huggies Slip On diapers because I got them so cheap.  She's good at pulling them up and down on her own, and we call them panties, not diapers.

We've done everything in your post, DG.  We'll keep trying to get her to poop on her potty.  Like I said, it's only been a week.  Maybe we'll give it a few more days and put actual panties on her.

AuntFlo

We just bought one box of pull-ups and now that they're gone she's switched to panties.   I don't plan on buying any more, but will never say never. 

tawillers

Yeah, we've got about 15 of these Slip Ons left.  I am not planning to buy more - these 15 will last a long time.