[Solved] Potty help..

Hi JimJamsDad,
Interesting post... and for me it was graphically helpful (eeeuuurgghhhh).

It's been soooo long since I had to deal with this sticky subject (I just had to add the imagery) 🙂 Sorry.

One thing is to make a note of what time(s) of day he generally poos.

I assume:
- potty is close by and is always in the same visible and accessible place
- some books and engrossing toys are by the potty

My gut feeling (oops) is to try something like this:
EITHER: - When it is
OR - dum du dum du dum... aha: you spot him pooing
OR - you first realise he has pooed
- get down to his level and make eye contact
- ask "are you pooing?" and acknowledge his reply, then suggest "lets sit on the potty anyway"
- then both of you walk to where the potty is and help him to sit while distracting him ehtusiastically with "ooh! lets read !!"
- read the book which takes time, read it again (asking have you pooed, lets carry on reading).
- keep reading if it is content or enjoyable.
- before he becomes too distressed ask "have you finished?" then decide "ok, up you get."
- [whatever the result] congratulate him with "Well Done"!"" wipe, trousers, etc
Of course you need to do this in whatever way becomes natural to you so you both find it positive or verging on fun.

Over time (and each child is different, and so is each parent) he will gain confidence and be more accepting of reading the book and being praised for sitting on the potty. When he is more relaxed about pooing, it will probably be the case that one day he will do a bit of a poo in the potty. At this point you give some extra praise (raising the pitch of your voice perhaps, maybe you're into clapping, very up beat!!)

Maybe drop back to whatever worked when he got the idea of potty training for wee.
I have come across a couple of books giving rewards with smiley faces on a chart of each time attempting to sit, or telling you he had an accident, or actually pooing in potty.

I hope you get through this without too much stress.
Please let us know about your ups and downs as you try things out.

/mister orange

We used some great potty stories at bedtime too that gave our youngest especiallly more of the general idea about using the potty.

My niece had a real issue with going for a poo when she was little and the Dr/Specialist ( yes it got to that level) suggested that my sister had an open door policy for the loo so that my niece got used to Mummy and daddy pooing too! 😯

I think Mr O has given some great food for though on the matter.

Hope it works out ...

Hi

I agree with MrOrange in that it's best not to get stressed out about it and take each day at a time. If your son knows you are getting anxious/frustrated etc this will just make the situation worse. These things tend to sort themselves out by themselves in my experience. My daughter, once potty trained would regularly poo in the garden, behind the sofa etc almost as if she was embarassed/ashamed of what she had produced!

Cheers for some of the suggestions guys,we seem to still be struggling to get him to poo on his potty but im staying calm and trying to distract him a bit. Hopefully it will sort it's self out-he's still young at 25 months. 😀 D

Our 5 year old is still having problems with toiletting. She struggles to poo on the toilet.

She never does anything in public, and we encourage her to go and try and when she does do something we praise and reward her still. We also try and not make a fuss of it when she has an accident and for the most part she'll go for a few weeks and do her poo's on the toilet (although usually with prompting as she tends to get distracted easily and forgets to go and try), but then she'll have a week or so where she just doesn't do anything at all on the toilet and ends up going in her knickers when she's sleeping despite us waking her up at regular intervals to help try and train her to go.

Any advise would be extremely welcome.

It may be that she is constipated, it's very common in youngsters. Lots of kids hold their bowel movements to avoid the pain of constipation, which sets the stage for having an accident. Might be worth checking it out with your GP.

The only advice I can give is for lots of praise and encouragement when he gets it right - don't get stressed when he gets it wrong, he wants to get it right really, but only when he's ready. Same advice as I gave on another topic - give him attention when he gets it right, not when he gets it wrong.

My little boy is still not going for a poo on the toilet/potty really,he does from time to time but more often than not he just does it in his pants. We are really trying to deal with it but it's just quite frustrating really.

Yeah I find it frustrating. I try and not make an issue of it when she does mess herself.

Shes definetly not constipated, and she claimed she couldn't feel it. But we've monitored her and notice she is holding it back, usually when she does it and I ask why she didn't go she says she was playing etc.