Hi,
I have hit a brick wall so to speak with potty training. My dd is now 3.5 years old, she has been wearing panties for a while now and goes pee all the time without an accident. The problem is, she does not want to poop in the potty. What we were doing was putting pull ups on her through the night but now she is able to go all night long and be dry. So we decided no more pull ups. This is where we ran into the problem. What she would do is instead of pooping in the potty, she would wait until she had a pull up on and then go. Now that she does not get pull ups anymore, she doesn't want to go poop in the potty. We have tried to 'bribe' with "poopy prizes", getting to go somewhere, etc., and all have not worked. We tried for quite a time today to get her to poop on the potty. All to no avail. It has been 2 days now and she still has not gone, which I know is going to lead to constipation. She has had quite a time with constipation, she still takes medication to help her go. So what do I do? Do we give her pull ups back so she will go poop and 'give in' and wait until she is ready later on? Not sure where to go from here.
Any advice would be great.
Thanks,
M

My ds would do exactly the same thing! ARGH!!! Not sure if you'll like my advice...but since he would always poop in his pullup while supposed to be sleeping/napping, I sent him for his nap one time with nothing on but a shirt. [clapping] I tell ya, I had everyone on here nervous for me!! [whatwacko] BUT, it worked!! He got up out of bed and yelled to be that he was going to use the bathroom. By the time I made it upstairs, he had pooped in the toilet! I figured it was worth a shot...I was at my wits end!! [halo] Hope you find something that works for you...

((hugs))

I wish I had some sage advice for you. With the issue of constipation and medication I am sure this plays some part I am just guessing it does. With that I would maybe consider a dr's opinion on how to handle this for starters.

I know the issue of constipation and if he is strong willed could also play a part.

Hope things improve for you M.

Hugs

Ahh, alas...potty training...the valley of the shadow of death! That is what I referred to it as! ;-)
The constipation may be adding a whole new spin for you it sounds like, yes, many kids are scared to poo in the potty, but if they have to strain, it can be even more scary or hard. I would make sure there is a stool or the potty chair used provides good foot contact with the floor, because if they are straining at all, dangling legs can make it worse....maybe try the whole 'naked' route a couple of days before it gets too cold out and see if that works. I am sorry that I don't have any other helpful tips! Good luck!

You have my deepest empathy. Potty training a strong willed child is the pits!!! Personally I would probably give in a let her use the pullups. Just because eventually she'll use the potty, until then making it a battle only frustrates both of you. Keep offering prizes, and hopefully she'll take you up on them soon.

I would try and come up with another way to motivate her. If prizes aren't working then try a pt dvd. Each kid learns differently and for us prizes didn't work but when Dd started watching her pt video it motivated her to start going in the potty.
Hope you find something that works for you soon.