My 2 1/2 year old son is not telling me when he poops - and my semse of smell seems to have decreased since I had Bronchitis, and I can't smell the poops the way I used to. He is having terrible rashes since he is sitting in his poop! (And I am trying my best to check him often, but sometimes he will poop when I do n't expect him to, or after he has been checked!
I am at a loss as to how best to handle this! We talk about how he needs to tell me when he poops so he doesn't get a rash, but he still won't tell me. The other day I let him run around the kitchen with no pants and no diaper, to let his poor tushe air out, and put the potty in the kitchen, and he peed on it twice. Is he ready for potty training?
Please help with your ideas - I have no idea how to help him tell me when he has pooped, and it is so upsetting to me when he gets a rash and cries so hard when I change him since it hurts him so much.
We are reading books like "Everyone poops" since he sometimes says he doesn't tell me since he doesn't want me to see his poop. He used to tell me "I go poop now" (he tends to go behind our big chair in the family room, but he has other favorite places, too - but never on the potty yet.
I asked him if he is ready to get rid of his diapers, and he has said yes - so I am thinking about going tomorrow to Target and buying him hew underwear. My husband tells me "don't make your life harder just because he has a rash" (I am recovering from dental surgery, and while it is not terrible, I am definately not 100% yet).
Please help!
Thank you!
I didn't say in my previous post that I DO load him up with ointment every time I change him...well, what happened was that when I let him run around with no pants on, he was able to pee on the potty, almost every time. We did try underwear, but he cried and didn't want to wear them. No problem, I just told him he wasn't ready and that was fine, one day he would be and in the meantime,that's what deapers are for. And the funny thing was, he started telling me "I have to go pee on the potty!" - while he was wearing a diaper! And so, I washed up all his new undies, and knew that he would go into them soon, when he was ready. The preschool teacher said not to send a mixed message, and that if he was going pee on the potty it was time to put him in undies. So - we talked about getting rid of diapers and wearing big boy underwear, and we made the switch today! (We were going to do it tomorrow, but I got him a special cookie for when we give up diapers. He said - I want the cookie now. I told him, no, that's for tomorrow when you give up diapers. He said, want the cookie now. I said - only if you give up your diapers now. He said OK. I said OK - we went into his room and took out all the diapers, changed him into new underpants and new pants that he can pull up and down by himself. So far, so good - he peed on the potty 4 times tonight! Wish me luck tomorrow, he has never pooped on the potty yet...but his rash is all gone, and has been for about a week now.
Anyway, I know this is long, thanks for reading, and thanks for all the input you all have given me. He is young to train (won't be 3 until late May), but he does have his older sister to watch.
THanks again for all of your help!
Potty train him. He is plenty old enough. The longer you wait, the more he will be trained to poop in his pants, and the less communicative he will be about the whole process.
Get Gerber training pants. When he is at the 99% success rate, then give him his fancy undies he likes.
Since he did use the potty when it was out, I think you should give potty training a go. How often does your son poop that he is getting a rash? Definetly use a good diaper cream and warm bath every night. I think you should give potty training a try. Give it a few days (every 15-20 minutes) and leave the potty in an accesible place. If he is catching on, continue. If not, let it go for a few months. Potty training should not take months or even a year to "get".
I'm guessing that one of the reasons he won't tell you he's pooped is because cleaning up that rash hurts. Similarly, kids will withhold poop after they've had a painful bm due to constipation, even though withholding will make the problem much worse. Little kids are so immediate in their concerns, and are not really able yet to plan ahead. Experiment with different salves a bit – you may find one that helps more than what you're currently using. Or get in the habit of checking him more often. Or let him run bare-bum for an hour or two each day – he may at least train himself to pee in the potty.
There's quite a broad range of training approaches/ages, any of which may be more appropriate for different mothers and different children. And both physical and emotional readiness is essential for the most common approach used today in this culture. Find readiness checklists, and read about just about any potty training question in helpful detail at http://www.parentingscience.com/potty-training-tips.html. It's a really helpful resource!
Both my boys and my baby girl were *completely* potty trained by 2 years old....Straight to real underwear, no accidents, night and day, no regression, never looked back kind of potty trained... so don't let anyone tell you he is too young...that is simply not true for all kids and especially not true just because he is a boy!
Potty training (for me and all 3 of my kids) was REALLY easy but I only started the whole process when they were waking up with consistent dry diapers in the morning...to me that signaled they were ready!
Now, If you think he is ready give it a try....and this is my advice: If I were you I would use the time while you recover from your surgery to talk with him daily about being done with diapers. Explain to him that pretty soon he is gonna only go potty on the big boy potty and that the diapers are going bye-bye. I gave both my boys (all my kids actually) the heads up like this and we talked about it everyday for a good week before the day came to go for it. Do it like a count down thing. Next week we are gonna wear big boy underwear etc...4 more days and it will be time etc...when you wake up in the morning it's gonna be the day etc. Then when the day finally arrives (and you are 100% feeling better, hubby is right) and you have taken him to the store and let him pick out his favorite characters or you just know what he likes and you can surprise him with his favorite designs, take off his diaper and put on the underwear and sweats or elastic waist pants (easier for him) and get on with it! You will need to be VERY diligent the first 2-3 days (that is about how long it took my kids) about taking him to try and giving him BIG praise when he goes and even high-fives for a 'good try' when nothing comes out. I gave all my kids the lil' Dum-Dum suckers as rewards (for when they actually went potty) the whole first week and LOTS of praise! Like I said, even when they try but nothing happens they still get LOTS of praise, clapping telling everyone in the house what a good job they are doing, the whole nine yards. You have to make it fun!
Good Luck! I have found out by being on this board for so long that some people really do have a VERY hard time with potty training...I hope you do NOT! :)
Take your husbands advise.....Rome was not built in one day.....and the only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.
2 1/2 is so young for a boy! Mind you.....I was never impressed by kids who were potty trained, I was perfectly happy to wait until they were ready. My boy showed interest after 3 for number 1 and never wet the bed at night but was resistant to going number 2 in the toilet.....it was 3 months before he turned 5 that we just had to do it after a horrible constipation episode. My girl....fully potty trained with number 1 and 2 at 3 years old, but still has a wet diaper sometimes in the morning so she's not producing the hormones to stop peeing at night. Every child, every parent is different.....do what works for you and your baby........seriously......we won't be changing their diaper when they're in college....I promise you.
Put loads of desetin on him bum and change him often! Look at this when you're feeling 100%!
S.
just because a 2 year old says "yes" when you ask him a question (are you ready to get rid of diapers) does not mean he has any clue what that means or what the ramifications are. why are you taking his word for it? some 2 year olds will answer "yes" if you ask them if the sky is purple.
it does not sound to me like he is ready. period.
(i'm also not one who is impressed with the "mine was pt at 2" line. that means nothing to me. the people who say that may be bragging because they were nazi parents who forced it, or may have just been super lucky. either way, most kids don't do that.)
Boys "can" be toilet trained at 2 years old, but it's much more common for girls. It really, really is. Boys do take a bit longer statistically.
All of that aside, your son's behavior based just on the information in your question tells me that he's not ready to toilet train at all. He's just not. YOU are ready for him to toilet train.
To help his rash, you need to get Desitin or Balmex on the rash every single diaper change and cover the whole area. It will soothe and protect his skin. If the rash seems worse or it starts to ooze or it has little white caps on little pimply looking bumps then you take him to the doctor in case it's a yeast infection.
I don't have a great sense of smell either, and I know kids can be sneaky and try to hide when they have to poop, but you have to be vigilant. Check him frequently. If you realize he's hiding then you know that means he's probably soiling himself. Let him finish and then immediately take him to change him. Don't give him a choice.
You can't make the toilet training itself be a power struggle. He's going to win every time.
Use a really good diaper cream like triple cream or aquaphor every diaper change while your nose is out of service. It'll provide a barrier between the poop and your son's behind and help prevent rashes. Don't push potty training just because of the situation at hand.
