2.5 year old will not poo on the potty!

[Chuckybean]

Help I'm at the end of my tether! My youngest daughter is 2.5 and has been potty trained for 10 weeks. She quickly grasped weeing but flatly refuses to poo on the potty or the toilet. I know it's a common problem but I have tried everything I can think of and am totally at my wits end and extremely frustrated. I'm finding it really hard not to be cross with her - so am writing to ask for any tips. Have tried reward charts, books, treats, being blase about it when she does it, leaving her dirty for a while after she's done it, sitting her on the potty in front of the tv when I know there is one on the way, and I've really gone OTT with the praise when she has managed to poo on the potty or toilet. Any help much appreciated before I lose my cool! Thanks :-)

Well, personally I'd just drop it altogether and put her back in a nappy/pull up and try again a couple of months down the line (probably not what you want to hear though)....

I posted on here about the same thing last week as my 3 year old is just the same. No matter what I have tried nothing seems to work and it almost seems like a phobia. Other mums have been really good and it seems our children are not unusual and it is fairly common. The other thing is that they are still very young and it is just a matter of time before they develop this skill. A bit of reassurance for me is that my daughter only does a poo when I put a nappy on her when she goes for a nap or bedtime. At least this way I know there won't be any accidents during the day when we are out. I guess we have to accept its a matter of time no matter how frustrating.

Ladies - I am in exactly the same position. My 2.5yo is the same. Wees are OK 90% of the time - poos are always in her pants. I can tell when she's going to do one and try to sit her on the potty/toilet but she always screams and cries. Then will do it in her pants 5 mins later while staring at me defiantly! I have tried all sorts of rewards/charts/ignoring/praising and try not to get annoyed but it is driving me nuts. It's been going on for 4 months now.

Oh my God, ladies, a 2.5year old and a 3year old...you have plenty of time. I know you dont want to hear this but for some children, there are no quick fixes, you need to be determined and consistent for an extended length of time, the kids will finally tweak. Take it from a mum who had to do it till her son was 4years old( im not saying that will happen to you as my son has special needs)

Be patient ladies, it will happen :-)

My daughter was like ths and for a time I just used to put a nappy on her for pooing. Then there came a point when I decide to go for it and I just decided that was it, pooing would now be in the potty. It told her that clearly and then just when she needed to to I put her on the potty and just didn't offer anything else. She screamed and cried but in the end she had to do it. After that's she was ok. I had the same again when we moved from potty to loo so my top tip would be go straight to the loo.

pasma - I think you are right - I see no other option. I now realise I was very lucky with my eldest one who took 1 week to get it at the same age.

I'd keep her in pants, if she's good for wees and just keep washing or binning the poo pants. My son has decided that he will poo in potty only last week, after about 2 months of potty training and numerous previous failed attempts. he's 3.5 yrs. Although the thing that swung it for him was the promise of an ice cream cone if he did one in the pot. So now he eats a lot of ice cream!....but sometimes he will do a poo in potty and forget to ask for his ice cream reward, so i guess we should be able to phase that out!
Just keep going, change the dirty pants, and one day when she performs you will be able to make a huge song and dance, and she will realise that its quicker and easier to do it your way!

We are having exactly the same problem with our DD (2.9yr) she was fine to begin with did both in the potty or toilet but now poos in her pants.
We are gritting our teeth and hoping she will get it soon (crossing fingers)

Same problem happened here. It made us all a bit stressed, me, him and his dad. Especially as we had a 3 month old baby at the time too. What worked for us was putting him back in pullups even though it felt like going backwards as it took all the stress out of it. He still did wees in the potty/toilet. Then i told him he couldn't go to pre-school until he did poos on the potty too. Which he seemed to get and before long he'd cracked it!

Yep, we are going through a lot of pants - I throw them out as can't bear the gross washing. Today she has already done 2 wees on the carpet and 1 poo in her pants and it's 10.30am. It's getting worse rather than better. I tried giving her a telling off (or rather couldn't stop myself) but it didn't help. I can't face going back to nappies but equally can't face much more of this (4 months and counting) - we are driving each other crazy!

Yeah - we're reading that A LOT - she loves it but doesn't seem to help. I think it's really for kids who are scared to go and hold it in for days. Mine is really happy to crap anywhere except the toilet/potty! Thanks for all your advice though ladies.