Potty refusal!

[Grandhighpoohba]

DS is 3 and a half, knows when he needs a pee or a poo, but refuses to even consider sitting on a potty or the toilet. We have gone cold turkey and put him in pants, but cannot get him on a potty. Am keeping it lighthearted, have tried bribery, but he is the stubbornest child known to humanity, and just says, " No, I can't use a potty"

bump. Please, there's pee everywhere!

My DS is 2 and a half, so I'm not sure if this would work with an older child. In order to get him to sit on the potty I made it into a race. Whoever gets to the potty first is the winner. He seems to find the idea irresistible. It worked for me for a while, although he's starting to get bored of this game now...Must invent other games now.

Best of luck!

My son has just turned 3 and will do a wee on the potty now without reminding, but will not do a poo in the potty or toilet at all! He holds it for days or does it in his pants, if I try to get him to sit on the potty he gets very upset. I have tried reading stories, showing him the rest of the family goes on the loo, re assuring him its ok and normal, but he will not try. We have a star chart but that wont work....How can I get him to do it in the potty? HELP!!!

We have just been through similar. My DS is 3.7 and we started potty training last feb. got the hang of wees pretty fast but poos have been HELL for the past few months. I saw a nurse about it as was beside myself cleaning poo off his pants all the time ( sometimes 5 times a day!!!) she gave me a copy of a story called poo goes to pooland and we read it as a family together a few times. Something then just clicked for him. Not sure it was the story or if he was just not ready before but one evening I caught him in his 'poo squat' and quickly transferred him to the potty with the promise of a treat and he obligingly produced! I made a huge fuss of him and we waved goodbye to it down the loo! He thought it was hilarious and has been keen on potty ever since. I think the story is online too somewhere if you google. It's just line drawings and very basic but seems to appeal! Basically I wanted to say I totally understand the frustration but it will most likely just happen one day and you won't look back. Good luck, hope it clicks soon for you both.

Bunnyboo1, thank you so much for your kind words! It is so lovely to know we are not the only ones. This seems to be a much more common problem than I ever thought. I am going to try and find the Poo story and I will show my son. Im very curious now, and as I cant think of any other way to address this, Ill give it a go with my fingers crossed. Thank you again for your advice and I will keep you posted on our progress. :)