Potty trained a year ago, now pooing himself almost daily!

[NaturalBaby]

Ds is 3 1/2. He is very capable, independent (too independent at times!) and started potty training himself very early as his big brother is only 15 months older so he took himself to the potty when big brother did. He took a long time to be fully potty trained but just cannot/will not get to the toilet in time to poo. He leaves it to the last possible second then can't move because he says it's too late. It's almost as if there is so much of it and he eats so much fruit and veg he just can't cope with it.

He has never had any nappy/bowel issues but I have no idea how to deal with it. He has a sticker chart, we make him deal with the mess as much as possible, we remind him often but he's almost become reliant on us taking him too much - if we don't pick him up and put him on the toilet then he poos his pants. If we tell him to go he poos his pants, if we leave him to it he poos his pants. Every. Single. Day. Up to 3 times a day.

Ds3 is starting to potty train himself now, I can't deal with another round of this!

Be sure to rule out any medical reasons. After antibiotics which played havoc with his insides, my son became mistrusting of the toilet. I didn't realise this as he was generally very independent with it all. He had constipation but what this meant was that his body always felt like he needed to go so he stopped reading the signals. As parts of the constipated poo broke away he would poo his pants. I resolved this by putting him on the toilet with a book 4 times a day (I told him that this was to help his body sort itself out and that he should try and do a poo but it didn't matter if he couldn't). I also cut out refined sugars and made sure he ate lots of fruit. I was willing to go to the doctors if this didn't work but it did. Found all this out on a website but I'm afraid I no longer have the link.

We had problems with DS2 and pops. For over 6 months he was asking for a nappy to be put back on simply to do the poo. 5 minutes later it was back to pants... If you didn't give him a nappy he would soil himself.

We read Poo Goes Home to Pooland with him twice [http://www.scribd.com/mobile/doc/28743654] and something just clicked and by the end of that day he was happy to sit in the toilet to poo. I think it is good that in the story they talk about the lead up to a poo: the tummy ache, the wind, etc.

Try it, it might help?

Sorry, link: Pooland

It seems odd that he would be leaving it too late to go 3 times a day - the frequency suggests it is a bowel issue rather than just laziness.

Have you tried sitting him on the potty at set times every day - after breakfast, lunch, before bed?

Do you think he knows when a poo is coming, or is it taking him by surprise?

I do wonder if he eats too much fruit and have wondered about a bowel issue but how would I resolve that? I think it's a combination of bit of a bowel issue and he's just got so much going on in his mind that he can't switch off and focus on what he really needs to do.
It happens so often that it's just not a big deal for him anymore - he has an accident and I clean it up, or make him clean it up as much as he's able, then he carries on playing.