Son Won't Poo in the Potty!

You are not alone! I am having the same situation with my 4 yr old daughter. She is doing wonderful with peeing in the potty but holds the poop until I put her in a pullup at naptime or bedtime. She will even TELL me "I'm pooping" but refuses to do it on the toilet. I am very proud of her progress (this has been a LONG process) but do not understand why she does this. Power struggle? I am anxious to see what advice you get!

Update: I tried the "poop party" idea that another poster suggested. Well, I am astounded because it worked!!! My DD pooped in the potty! We will see if it continues, but at least she has had one sucessful poop. a BIG thank you to whoever suggested that!

My first son also took a while to potty train. We tried the potty chair, with no success so we just had him sit o the regular toilet. It worked. Then my husband had a heart attack (at 41) and he regressed again. Got him trained again and then we had another family tragedy, regressed again. We refused to pay the exorborant cost to buy pull-ups. He refused to try to train again. I got frustrated but then thought of what he liked most: trains and cars. I bought a tub of inexpensive rubber vehicles at our local Art and Learn store and let him choose a toy every time he pooped on the toilet. We only used a few of those toys before he was trained for good. From beginning to end it took about 8 months. I believe it would have been faster had we not had the hiccups in the process. We are saving the tub of toys for the little brother.
Another tip: To keep your bathroom cleaner train your little boy to pee sitting down. They are too short to pee in the toilet standing up anyway and end up getting pee everywhere. A friend of mine suggessed to this to me and I love her for it. That may help him poop in the toilet as well as he might "accidentally" poop while he is sitting down and find that it is no big deal.

"How long does potty training last for before they are completely potty trained?"
I had to laugh at that question. Are you sure you really want to know? ;)
It will last as long as it lasts. It's not even predictable.
About your son hiding to do it, though - Yes, he does know, and for some reason he does not want to do it in the toilet. YOU CANNOT MAKE HIM DO SO - Do not turn this into a power struggle! Try to figure out what it is about the potty that he is trying to avoid (my guess would be the water-splash mentioned previously) and work on ways to make it more comfortable for him. Good luck.

A., Here's an idea for you. Did this start when he pooped in the toilet? It could be that if the water came up and splashed him he got freaked out by that. I know that's what happened with my cousin. Try limiting the pooping to the little potty and see how that goes.

Here's a really funny thing that I did with my guy who would not go poop at all unless he had a diaper on. I got this idea from a friend who went through the same thing. I thought she was cracked, but gave it a try and it worked in 2 days.

I told him that when people poop it gets flushed down and goes to a big poop partry. So Mommy's poo and Daddy's poo are at a big party and want DS's poo to party with them. They were said that his poo wouldn't party with him and didn't he want his poo to be with Mommy and Daddy's poo. This of course is a short version, but you get the hint. Funny huh, but it worked. Plus we had the bribery thing going, which hadn't worked for 2 weeks but worked after the poop party was introduced.

Good luck.

A.,

I don't have any advice, but I will say that I feel your pain. We have been doing great with potty training since the end of March (my son turned 3 on March 24). We started right after his birthday. He RARELY has accidents with peeing.

However, I can not get him to poop on the potty. He asks for a pullup and will poop in there. He holds it in otherwise. He has only twice pooped in his underwear. I know it isn't healthy for him to hold it in, so I try to put him in a pullup at naptime so he has a chance to poop. Still, he seems to be on the every 3 day pooping schedule, which is not normal for him as he used to poop every day. And, it is extremely gross which bothers me too. I WOULD LOVE to know how to get him to poop!

Anyway, today we went to Target and he picked out two prizes for pooping on the potty. He is super excited about them, and I know he has a poop that could come out (don't ask, but I can tell). But, he has yet to put it in the potty. Maybe tomorrow. We'll see.

I do have a friend who's son has been potty training since October, and STILL refuses to poop on the potty (he uses a pullup). I think for them it has become a power struggle... I am trying to avoid that.

Good luck to you, and I"ll be watching the other posts to your request.

J.

A.,
I went trough this with my little guy. My husband finally said,"We have got to move on. He has been potty trained since he was 2.5" So i took his diapers away. Oh, he was mad! Then we got a little bug and had very loose stools. We spent a good part of a day in the bathroom. Everytime he had the feeling we ran to the bathroom. I thought several times I should just put a diaper back on, buut I did not give in. I stuck with it. The next night I had to be gone. I left the boys with my dear husband. While I was gone, my son had to go #2 several times. Well, my husband got tired of spending his night in the bathroom, so he went and put a diaper on my son. I thought when I got home, you hypocrit. Here you complain because I was hanging on to those diapers and then I finally give them up and you put one on. I was not home 5 minutes whne my little guy came into our room crying and yelling at his dad. "I am not a baby, now take this baby diaper off me." lol We have been diaper free since. I would not wish this on anyone, but my little guy spent so much time in the bathroom that he got the connection. Best wishes.
J.