Doing really well with potty training but won't poo on potty/toilet

[amazonianwoman]

I'm sure this has been covered loads but I don't quite know where to start searching.

DD (2.5 next week) started potty training last Saturday and has only had 2 wee accidents, which is fab, and I'm so proud of her

However she won't poo on the potty/toilet, to the extent that she didn't have one from Saturday until yesterday evening, when I put a nappy on her (then did one the size of an adult one!) because she was so distressed. She's just asked for her nappy and has done another poo.

I think she'd already become a bit retentive before potty training, as she likes to be on her own, won't poo at nursery unless desperate, often holds them in for a couple of days etc. Her diet is excellent (LOADS of fruit, likes veg) and her poos look pretty healthy rather than like constipated rabbit droppings (sorry, getting a bit graphic now)

Any tips on how to encourage her to have a go at pooing on the potty/toilet? I feel like we take a step back when I put her nappy on, but don't want her to get a real phobia and hold it in.

Thanks in anticipation

Hi my ds did exactly the same, he was doing wees no prob but it must have taken me about 2 months to get him to do poo. I made no fuss and if he wanted a nappy on to do a poo i let him, purely because he was getting constipated. I just kept saying big boys do a poo on the toilet/potty and you can have a sticker if you do. Wasn't till a couple weeks later that he did a poo on toilet and he wanted a sticker. I would try the reward thing and keep at it. I had spoken to many moms about this and it seems a common problem that they get over themselves. She will just do it one day, but I think encouragement helps

I have just cracked this one after many months of trying. DD1 (3.4) has been completely dry for nearly a year, but simply refused to poo anywhere except a nappy. I put it down to health problems earlier in the year (she was diagnosed with coeliac disease in May) which would have affected her bowels and perhaps left her with an issue with pooing. I did post on here a while back and got some good suggestions to try, but she was impervious to all incentives/rewards etc.

But in the last week she has suddenly decided to both go dry at night AND poo in the potty. I'm so pleased and can only say that the best advice of all is simply to relax...it will happen, but your DD will decide when she is ready!

don't worry about it. As annoying as it is they do grow out of it
DS would only poo in a nappy at first. I was confuse, worried and frustrated. He would always view poo as nothing to do with him and seemed scared by it. His Nursery Key worker said it's a common phase as they feel they are 'losing a part of themselves' (awwhh1)
Now he will only poo on the potty or toilet and loudly informs us if 'THERE IS SOME POO IN MY NAPPY' on a rare morning.
After trying hard for 12 months on the potty training front I now strongly believe that kids will potty train when they are ready. DS would not be hurried along but then, ta dah, like he was born potty trained.
Kids eh...who'd have em!

Thanks all, guess I'll have to just chill and wait for it to happen She's done so amazingly well otherwise

Will try reward chart for poos

My Ds is 3.6 and will still only poo in his nappy. If I don't let him have his nappy he can hold it for days and become constipated, so we're still going with the flow and waiting....

My DS was 2.5 when he started weeing in the loo nad hardly had any accidents but took til about 3.5 to poo in the loo. We tried rewards, star charts etc, but agree with Mummymonster - it happens when they're ready.
I didn't put him back in nappies though for the pooing (bought loads of cheapy pants in Tescos & Matalan and chucked the most minging ones). Maybe try this to encourage her to be a big girl?
HTH

My son is 3 yrs 7mths, and asks for a nappy when he wants to poo, he thinks doing a poo on the toilet is dirty, though he has never, ever done one in potty or the toilet!
Due to the stories I hear about holding it in for days, thought I'd go with the flow a bit. He toilet trained for wees at 3yrs 5 mths, and I was so over the moon he achieved that, that at the moment I don't want to push the pooing yet, other than with gentle encouragement.
You are not alone!

I thought my DS was the oldest poo refuser I'd come across. Glad to hear your DS is the same age Martha, I'm trying to be calm about it but really supressing the worry.

My daughter is over 4 and still has yet to poo on the potty or toilet. I think I put on too much pressure as she now holds onto it and it comes out in her sleep. She's starting to get constipated, though, so have started her on lactulose. Had the same problem, only not as bad, with her brother and sister. They did poo on the potty/toilet, but only around 3.5-4 years. Once they did, they started holding onto it and then you have to take action quickly, read through all the threads on here and you'll see what happens if you don't. I wish I'd found this site sooner, I'd have let her do it in her nappy and not pressured her so much.

She adores 'Dora the Explorer', and I have a 'Dora' toilet seat, a 'Dora' potty and 'Dora' stickers and chart (which I got free online, I printed them off), but she still won't go. I just think I'll gently remind her and no more pressure. There's not a lot else you can do, but do search through all the threads here, there are some useful ideas/suggestions, such as blowing up a balloon/bubbles, sitting on the potty with the nappy on, etc. Sometimes they need to do it standing up. I don't know how you solve that one. Often they need privacy. One suggestion is to sit them on the potty/toilet for 5-10 minutes after breakfast and again after dinner, so that they get used to it, and that's when they're most likely to 'go'. There seem to be no hard and fast rules, as children are different. Good luck.

I did hear that the best thing to do with those who will not poo (TWWNP) is to treat poo as a natural wholesome thing. Don't say 'yuck' or 'smelly' or 'dirty' (or stinky poo in our case) but just refer to it as 'poo' and be matter of fact ('lets clean that up' etc) and let them look at it. DS thought it was so good to help to flush it away. When one appeared in the potty, make a LOT of fuss and praise.

He developed train euphenisms for his functions 'A weewee train is coming' then I was amazed when he said 'it's pulling a stinky poo truck'...well it worked for him.

Mumsnet...where you can talk s**t with enthusiasm

Thanks again all

Very funny re the train pulling the poo truck.

I've always been very positive about poos, have let her look at them for months, taken her to toilet when I've done one... I'd even poo on the potty for her if my ample bottom would fit

She's already been prescribed senna for a compacted bowel, but it doesn't seem to be helping much anymore, so she's only done one real poo in the last 6 days

Guess we'll just have to keep treading gently and offering encouragement/rewards/nappy when needed.

no sdvice sorry, but my dd has been doing this for 6 months, since potty training at 2 years. She is even dry at night, but will only poo in a nappy. sigh. once i made a fuss and tried to force her and she then held on and was hysterical with constipation pain. so don;t be tempted to force her, no matter what! good luck, I guess they all get there eventually.

no sdvice sorry, but my dd has been doing this for 6 months, since potty training at 2 years. She is even dry at night, but will only poo in a nappy. sigh. once i made a fuss and tried to force her and she then held on and was hysterical with constipation pain. so don;t be tempted to force her, no matter what! good luck, I guess they all get there eventually.