2 year old will only poo in nappy at night/nap

[PetrovaFossil1]

Hi, I have a 2 1/2 year old DS who we've been potty training for about a month. He got the wees instantly and very rarely has accidents (but does hold it a long time which bothers me) but will only poo when he has a nappy on at his nap or night time (he did commonly used to pop at these times before potty training too)

Any tips that don't involve a laundry disaster? He pops every 3 days or so (was every day before training). I've tried to talk about how the poo wants to join his friends, I've offered bribes, let him see me poo () but nothing seems to have an effect!

Back off, leave him in pull ups and he will poo on the potty/toilet when he is ready. Encourage wees in toilet but back off on poos... we did this with DD at about that age (She hates wet nappies) and she's completely reliable now - only accident was 2nd day of preschool when she made it to the toilet room but not to the actual toilet.

You mean put him back in pull-ups entirely? He's been in normal pants for over a month now so I think that would be confusing. He tells me in advance for wees no issues, it's just the poo...

Pretty normal I think. My nearly 3does this and his siblings did too. Sometime he saves an evening one for just after bed as a special treat. He sometimes does them on the potty too. At some point he will do more on the potty and fewer in night nappy.

That's what I did - She was stressed by pooing on the potty or toilet so back in pull ups (She didn't wee in them although the were nappy style so they can definitely feel they are wet!) For a couple of weeks until offering poos on toilet!

Can you get him to ask for a nappy when he needs a poo? Then gradually put the nappy over the potty etc

Talk to the health visitor. Can't be good for him to hold it in.
I can't offer advice as I had a nightmare until he went to school age almost 5.
Lots of accidents and plain laziness. Too busy to go to the toilet.
You two are doing very well. When I was a child back in the 70's we were trained by getting wet and soiled. Effective as I was potty trained by age 13 months.
My Mum had 4 kids she was in a hurry.

My dd was similar. Got wee's very quickly. Wasn't scared of potty or toilet but just couldn't seem to poop in it.

Sometimes had an accident sometimes in night pull up. Poops changed from most days to every 3 days.

I realised her issue was that she couldn't sense a poop was coming until it was too late.

What I did was talk loads about how accidents were normal and she was just learning. Always has a shower after accidents.

Offered bribes. Chocolate buttons and small toys. Although this didn't work.

Best thing was downloading app called poo goes to Pooland. We read it loads. Talks about how a poop feels and how flushing it sends it home to its family.

Took about 4-6 weeks for her to start to realise she is going to poop. First time there were massive celebrations. We had a poop song and dance and flushed mr poo down to pooland. And had a chocolate button. And some toys.

Anytime it was almost right we celebrated. As long as some made it to the potty or toilet. Made a big deal about how much easier it was to clean up after a poop on the potty. No shower needed.

She's now pretty reliable and will go and poop by herself although we still celebrate!!

I would keep him in pull ups/nappies at nap time and bed time. If he's holding it in that's not very nice for him. He'll get there in his own time, I think you just have to continue with plenty of encouragement and keep talking about it and see how you go. My ds had a couple of poo accidents even when he was doing really well with wee but now he does both in the potty no problem.

This is very common, both my DC did it! Don't worry too much, and don't make a big deal out of it, as they are likely to grow out of it eventually anyway. Firstly, to encourage frequent poos (you said in your OP he's cut down from daily to every three days) and make sure he's not 'backing up' give him plenty of fluids, fruit and veg so his poos are softer and easy to pass. You could try giving him a small glass of prune juice each morning... my DD actually liked the taste, my DS not so much! Second, make sure the toilet/potty is inviting, have some of his favourite books there to 'read' whilst sitting, and allow him plenty of time to sit there, no rushing. Get him to try singing and/or blowing bubbles when he's sitting as apparently this uses the same muscles as having a poo and can help things get moving. With my DD we got a special bottle of Peppa Pig bubbles that are only used on the toilet. Third, personally, I don't see the harm in a little bribery promoting good behaviour through the strategic use of incentives. With DD we used Smarties, she knew only she could have them, and only when she'd done a poo on the loo/potty (we gave 4 smarties for a successful visit). Also, we downloaded 'Poo goes to Pooland' a free story from the NHS, which seemed to help. Good luck with it all. I personally wouldn't go back to nappies/pull ups during the day when it sounds like he's doing so well with wees, I think my DC would have found it confusing. Of course, night time is different, if he's still regularly weeing in them during the night keep using them until you're happy he can last the night without. X

As everyone else has said, going every day is the important thing, where he's going isn't the prority, this is so very common right into achool age so don't worry.

once he's regular again and asking for a nappy to poo, get him to use it only in the bathroom.
Then after that get him sitting on the potty or toilet in the nappy.

these are the small first steps.

Just to update here. We did lots of stories about how Mr Poo wants to join his friends for a 'poo party' in the loo (he deemed 'Poo goes to Pooland "too scary!") and suggested chocolate buttons as bribes.
All to no effect until suddenly a few days ago he said he needed a poo, I suggested the potty, he agreed and it going okay seemed to overcome his fear. We've had multiple poos on potty/loo now - I am almost out of chocolate buttons!
Tbh I don't think it was anything we did. He just decided he wanted to.

Glad it's finally clicked.