Won't poo on potty

[IHateTrains]

Hi, promise I'm not a poo troll... Just someone who doesn't post 😁.
DS is 2.7 and we've been potty training him for about 3/4 weeks. So far really good. He will ask to go for a wee and had very few accidents. We have used his nappy for naps and bed time and recently stopped putting his nappy on for nap time. He's had no accidents whilst napping. However, we are finding that he won't go for a poo on the potty and ends up either constipated and in pain, or poos himself.

He knows he needs a poo as he'll ask, he just physically won't have one on the potty. Anyone had similar?

[NuffSaidSam]

This is very common. Will be poo in his nappy at night? Sometimes that can be a short term solution until they're ready to poo on the toilet.

Otherwise try blowing bubbles either with a bubble wand or straw in some water...something to do with relaxing the muscles and helping the poo along.

Make sure he is having enough fruit etc too.

[Happycow]

I came on to start a post - then i saw yours OP which is what i would have written... my DS just just turned 3, and we have been potty training for 4 weeks. Wee is not a problem in either the toilet or potty, sometimes dry overnight too but we still use a nappy like you.

But DS will ONLY poo in his pants. Cant/wont wait for his bedtime nappy, wont use he potty or toilet. In fact he gets really stressed and started shouting and crying if i put him on the potty when i can see he needs a poo!

Ive tried reading with him, blowing bubbles... but nothing. Nursery tell me to persevere but i cant stand scraping sh*t out of pants any more so you have my sympathy even though i can offer no help im afraid!

I will read with interest any posts who can help!!

[IHateTrains]

Thanks for that, we will give the bubbles a go.

I'm with you on the scrapping poo out of his pants,.although some have been unscrapable 🤮🤮🤮🤮 and have gone straight in the bin.

I think our issue is that he won't sit long enough on the potty. He will strain as if he wants to go and then has a wee and thinks he's done. Ironically before we starting potty training he would say when he needed a poo and then run to the draw for a fresh nappy. Now he seems almost content to be sat in a blanket of his own poo 🤪

[bathorshower]

This was DD - she did it for a full year. I scraped a lot of poo. No answers other than perseverence, but I'd really strongly advise you to try not to get stressed - one friend's child started withholding, got constipated, and managed to stretch his rectum so it no longer works properly (needs movicol and leaks a bit). DD did get there in the end, but it wasn't much fun in the interim!

[IHateTrains]

Bathorshower. We just figured it would come in good time, but the nursery were complaining and have suggested we put him in pull-ups and let him use the potty for wees, which seems to be a step backward and I really don't want to do that.

Definitely don't want him to end up with issues later down the line which is part of the concern!

Think we will just preserve and keep trying to encourage him.

[bathorshower]

We were 'lucky' in that DD would only do it at home - she quite literally never pooed at nursery, so (obviously) they didn't think it was an issue.

[NuffSaidSam]

To encourage sitting on the potty long enough to poo you can sit with him and read/do stickers/let him watch an episode of his favourite show. Also explain endlessly that poos take longer and you have to patient. Sit him back if you know a poo is coming.

Bribery can also work well for some children. Buy something he wants, tell him he can have it when the poo is in the potty!

Alternatively, just try a nappy for poos. He doesn't have to wait for his bedtime nappy, that will give him tummy ache/teach to withhold. If you see he needs a poo, offer him a nappy. It's easier to clean up. Also, you can gradually introduce pooing onto a nappy placed into the potty to gently ease him in the right direction.

The other thing worth trying (although it could be messy) is no pants at all, just loose trousers. Lots of children poo in their pants because the feeling is the same as pooing into a nappy. They don't poo into loose trousers because they don't have the nappy feeling. Of course, if they do poo in their trousers it's much worse to clean up! Bit of a gamble!

[MummyBear2352]

Have you tried him on the toilet rather than the potty?

[IHateTrains]

He's used the adult toilet when he went somewhere with the childminder, but he hasn't used it since. Think I'm going to get him a toilet seat for the loo, problem is he is tiny, so even with a step the toilet is too high for him to get onto. He can if he climbs.... (He loves flushing the loo), but that's not a possibility if the lids up!
He did really well at the weekend, but hasn't been for about 1.5 days. Not sure if he doesn't like going when he's at the childminders?

[KTD27]

We were in the same boat OP my now 3 year old started potty training in Feb and is now 99% of the way there. Wees were easy but poos have taken a while and even a week or so ago we had an accident but they are few and far between now.
What helped? Putting him on the potty at the same time on a morning. I realised there was a pattern to it and he’d have poo accidents around lunch if he hadn’t pooed in the morning and often again a danger zone around 5pm (always when I was feeding his baby sister)
Bribes. I’m not even sorry to say chocolate buttons worked wonders.
And andy’s Bloody dinosaur adventure, he will sit and watch a whole episode and if I time it right it seems to work very well.!
Good luck. It’s a tough time but I promise there’s a light at the end of the tunnel

[pastabest]

Poo goes to Pooland. Look it up.

Also try putting a nappy in the potty for him to poo onto. Dunno why it works but it does

[Hoppinggreen]

Ds never used a potty even once, he wouldn’t go within 6 feet of one.
We got a seat for the toilet and he just used that quite happily

[MyKingdomForBrie]

I have a seat/steps combo from Amazon that my short dd can climb up solo, it has handles to make sitting comfy too.

[MotherofPearl]

I've just been through this with DD2, who recently turned 3. She was great having wees on the potty/toilet but seemed frightened of pooing, other than in a nappy.

I'm sure I'll get slated on here but I'm afraid I resorted to rewarding her with a chocolate (tiny mini egg) each time she pooed in the potty. Seems to have worked. Now she's in a routine with it: gets home from nursery, straight on the potty or toilet for the a poo and then gets the (eagerly anticipated) chocolate.