My 22 month old daughter is in the middle of potty training right now, its only been about 4 days since we really got going with it. She is doing so great, she tells me when she needs to go pee pee, and runs to the bathroom. My question is about going poop. She tells me that she needs to go poop and she sits on the toilet but wont go. I know it is something different, and she needs to adjust to it, but she didn't go poop once today, and yesterday she pooped in her undies.
I have asked her if she want's to wear a diaper to poop and she tells me "no, I want to toilet!'
She is comfortable on the toilet, because she has one of those little seats that sits on top.
I feel so bad, she wants to do it, but cant....
I know its common for kids to learn to pee before poop in the potty,
but does any one have any advice? Have you been through this?
Thank you so much in advance
Thanks so much everyone for responding! We had another poop accident today but we put it in the toilet together and I feel like she was happy with that, so lets see what happens tomorrow. I tried giving her books but she is not interested, instead she would like to unroll the toilet paper or hop on and off of her stool...haha. We are taking it day by day, and today actually she has regressed with pee pee, so who knows... I only potty trained her this young because she was so interested in it, always telling me when she went, hiding behind things to poop, sitting on her potty all the time and putting her babies on the potty to go pee pee. She is also dry at night so I know she has the control, just today she is not relaxing on the toilet at all... ahhh, the challenges of toddlerhood
Give her credit for trying.
People don't poop every single time they sit on the toilet.
Let her try and tell her it's okay if she can't go.
It's only been 4 days and she's got the peeing down. She'll relax enough to go if she doesn't feel like she HAS to every attempt.
Best wishes.
We are about one month in to potty training my 21 m old daughter. I was a bit nervous about the pooping b/c she tends to poop while sleeping and I wasn't sure she'd have many chances to poop in the potty. However, my fears were fortunately unfounded.
I agree that she might need to brace her feet on something. Either get a tall stool or get a small potty for her to sit on with her feet on the ground. We have both the family toilet seats and a couple of little potties and sometimes she prefers one over the other.
I tend to be a little more enthusiastic about my celebrations when she poops in the potty vs. peeing. She likes to look at what she's done so I make a big deal about looking at it and seeing it (she'll say "see it" and lean over and get way closer to her poop than I ever want to be, but heck if it keeps her excited about having done it then more power to her! :) )
And then we go together to dump it in the toilet, and she gets to flush and we say "bye bye poop!" and she closes the toilet lid and then opens it again and says "all gone!" So it's a big whoop de do ritual. Maybe once your LO is successful being super celebratory about it will help.
The potty training method we used recommends your LO be naked from the waist down for the first three months after you potty train them whenever you are at home, and when you go out you should only have them in loose fitting pants. Her theory is that undies feel too much like diapers for most LOs. It makes me a little nervous b/c there's nothing to catch the poop if there is an accident, but then again it makes it super easy for my daughter to run to her little red potty and pull up her dress and use it. It saves me full time monitoring, thank goodness!
Good luck!
My son is 3 and 1/2 and just now making strides going "poop" in the potty. The most success tactics that we used were allowing him to either be naked-bottomed around the house or in underwear as he prefers to poop in a diaper. By having him without a diaper, he personally is more likely to go to the potty. BUT the real incentive for him was I made up a "poo poo fairy". When he poops in the potty, he gets stickers on a "poo poo" chart. And after 3 stickers, the poo poo fairy will bring something in the night and leave it by his chart. It could be any small item (coloring book, small bag of pretzels, bouncy ball) or something he really wants (Thomas DVD or new train). The chart has been a real incentive and has worked terrific! Good luck.
I know this is going to sound a little silly, but I swear by it, and my son potty trained very quickly. I was very nonchalant about using the toilet. I would tslk to him about it as if it were as normal as talking about what I was cooking for dinner. I left the door open when I went, which was fine with him, he's always been a clinger! When I felt a poop coming on, I'd say that my belly was feeling crampy and I had to go poop. I know this sounds weird reading this, really I do, but I was just straightforward and very calm about it all, and I do think it helped. Also, I'm somewhat of a lingerer on the toilet(sorry for this info!) Sometimes, I like to just sit on the toilet and hide a bit for a quiet moment if I am able to. I remember when he went through the uncertain part. I grabbed him some of his books, plunked them down next to his potty across from my magazines, and told him to have a seat and relax, it'll happen sooner or later. Hope this helps.
Just keep encouraging her. Some kids feel like their poop is "part of the." Explain that poop is the waste from food after the vitamins are gone & it's good to get it out. And keep being patient. Sounds like she's doing great!
my son just went through the same thing. he would go every one or two days and hold it in. he would walk around on his tip toes and not want to go #2 and say that his belly hurt. #1 was no problem. we explained to him that 'pushing in out' was only way to make his belly feel better. after about 2 - 3 weeks he started going everyday. sometimes they dont want to go because it hurts. when our son would hold it in for 2 days there would be a little blood because of fisures because there was ALOT coming out. we would reward 1 sticker for #1 and 2 stickers for #2 and alot of celebration when #2 finally happened. eventually they see that more frequently is better.
For a child as young as yours to say that she wants to do this is interesting. I know as the mother of 5 that going poop in the toliet is the harder part of toliet training, often it takes time for them to have the understanding of what their body is doing, my 2yo twins I care for hate the sound of it hitting the water and the splash that may hit their little botoms.
Just give her time and it will happen.
I've just been through this with two boys. The best advice I have is that you just have to be patient. The only other thing I would suggest... and this is something you probably won't want to do until she at least has going pee in the toilet mastered... is find something that's really important to her in the way of an activity type of reward. Let her know that she will get to do that only if she has first gone poop in the potty. For our boys it was during the hot weather to be able to play in the wading pool in the back yard. This was a 'natural consequence' type of reward, as we told them we couldn't have them accidentally pooping while they were in the pool so they had to go in the potty first to assure us they wouldn't have an accident in the pool.
You could try putting a stool under her feet so she has something to put her feet on. she may not be sturdy enough to be able to push the poop out while sitting on the toilet. Think about it, I know I would have a hard time pooping if my feet weren't on the ground!
It sounds like she is on the right tract. Keep supporting her, but if she has an accident have her help dump it out of her undies and into the toilet and wave bye bye poopy as you flush it. this helps with the seperation stuff, but it will happen just keep doing what you are doing.
Hi Jessica - I found that putting the potty in front of the TV for a show made my daughter relaxed enough to go. I know it is weird to have a potty in your living room but once it is established you can move it back.
