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Hi Ladies, Glad to see I'm not the only one as well! My son is almost 4 and will go pee pee in the potty all day long, most nights he even goes to bed in his underwear with no problem so far. (Knock on Wood) BUT...He will not poop in the potty as well! He hides like the other children! I did not sign him up for Head Start because of this problem. I don't understand why this is so hard for them? I thought great he's going to the potty, but this No Poop Policy he has is stressing me. I try to watch him and catch him every evening. He has stopped having BMs everyday, I think to avoid the potty issue or because he's not wearing pull-ups. As soon as i put a pull up on him after two or three days of not going, He will go! He cry if I make him sit on the potty when I know he needs to go and is avoiding it. He will say Butts all clean clean, but as soon as I say ok want to put a pull up on he will say yes and within minutes he will disappear and poop. I did catch him midstream once and continued it on the potty and he went. I thought that would help. HA no go! He even uses the big potty if his little potty is not there with no issues. The Poop in the Potty is a NO GO!!!!! I will try a reward for the first time(next) will see how that goes.
If he says it hurts to poop, he could have encopresis, a build up of stool in his colon. Take him to his pediatrician, who will probably prescribe or recommend a stool softener. If this is the case, you will find it easier to potty train after this issue is resolved.
I have a 31/2yr old son and I must admit, I too am relieved that I am not the only one. I have all the below circumstances: he will wear big boy undies all day and hv no problems when it comes to peeing. But that boo boo, ugh it seems as if its the most evil thing lerking our home! lol He also hides but he likes to sneak upstairs and hide in the rooms. He is quick and if u dont catch him b4 he gets to the stairs he could be anywhere. Once I found him under my bed with pillows in front of him so I couldnt see him only smell him from every direction. He then progressed to finding a nighttime pull up and changing on his own to poop! When we put those out of his reach he went back to pooping on himself yet again. He claims it hurts and seems absolutely terrified if we put him on the potty to go. Last night was a true breaking point for me as he kicked and screamed to get off the potty. I too believed it to be a medical issue, which is why I hv a doctors apt for today. I am still going but reading everyones post helped alot. We are not alone but need help quick.
I have a 3 year old son that will pee in the potty with no problem and refuses to poop in the poty. We have tried sitting him on the toilet ever hour , 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours and reading, playing games and even singing songs. After that didn't work we tried getting a "goodie" bag and told him that he can pick a toy from the "goodie" bag if he goed poop in the potty. He says that he doesnt want the pull ups anymore but so far putting him in undies has not worked either (no matter what kind we got.
Nothing working so far and we are going to leaving on vacation at the end of July on a 16 hour flight. I would love to have him trained by then.
My son had issues with the fear of pooping in the potty. Couldn't say exactly what he was scared of, but he was scared. Would poop in his underwear at home. When we were visiting grandma's, she had presents all lined up for him to open each time he pooped in the potty - no luck. Then, by chance, she had this junky old windchime out - Cody thought it was neat and held it when sitting on the potty (trying to get him to poop) and he pooped. Was so happy that he couldn't hear the 'plop'! So then, for months, he would only poop at home when he could hold the windchime and focus on listening to it. That ended up being his fear - hearing the noise. Now his younger brother (27 months) has had no issues pooping in the potty, and WANTS to hear the plop of the poop, especially if he does poop in his pull-up. So....goes to show, all kids are different!
My almost 4 year old daughter had the same problem. She would wait until we put a pull-up on her overnight and then she would poop in the pull-up. She also said she was scared to poop in the potty (although she pees in it just fine). We finally decided to take the pull-ups away. It took less than a month and she has not had any accidents and is not afraid to poop in the potty anymore. She did hold it in and, at the beginning, did not poop for 5-6 days. We ended up calling the doctor because we were worried. The doctor told us not to put pull-ups back on her because it would reinforce bad behavior. She told us to use a stool softener. With a little bit of prune juice, luckily, we did not have to use it. Then, one day of her sitting on the potty for almost 4 hours and now she goes poop in the potty almost every day by herself. I hope this helps and just know that it will happen eventually, you just have to have patience.
Also wanted to state that many Dr's have never heard of this but some are learning from informed parents. Do not rely on a Dr about this till you look it up for yourself and get educated, then by all means take your child to a Dr and ask the right questions.(thru education).
My grand daughter (almost 3) is doing the same thing. She will go in a diaper but not poop in the toilet. It is very scarey for me because I know that she will withhold her bm's until she gets a diaper, she thinks diapers are for babies like her little brother, so she calls them "big girl protectors" She asks for one every time she needs to have a bm. I had 4 grand children that had a bm problem and it lasted till they were 11-13 years old . The pooping in their pants. It was not their fault, it is an illness. Please look up on the internet "ENCOPRESIS' it will give you an understanding of what to look for.There are encopresis sites to get info. Don't want to scare anyone but just look.
Hi there, I'm hoping your doctor has checked out your son and given you some advice.
If he's still wanting to poop in the Pull-up only, see if he'll at least poop into it while sitting on the potty. This will be a baby step in the right direction.
Remember that kindergarten is a big transition time for kids and that they can have setbacks like this even though they may seem to be adjusting fine. I see plenty of kindergarteners have problems with pooping in the potty or having accidents at school, but by the time they're in first grade and are familiar with school (and see that there are kids littler than they are in kindergarten), they seem to magically use the potty without difficulty.
I'm sure you can scroll through these forums and you will see how common this issue is. The reason why I point that out is so you will see that you are not a bad parent. We parents are just too hard on ourselves sometimes. We often find ourselves wondering if we will ever get this right. The parents I worry about are the ones who never wonder.
That said...do yourself a favor. Take him to see his doctor. There are many strategies to help him (and you) with this issue. By consulting his care provider you and he can work together to help him get on track. It makes it a lot easier than feeling like you're working against each other.
I am at my wits end. My almost 6 year old son won't poop in the potty. He only poops in pull ups. He will go pee just fine but refuses to poop. I have tried everything to get him to. Rewards, praising him, trying to do whatever I can. He sits on the potty but cries and says he is afraid but can't tell me what he is afraid of. He goes to kindergarten and I am afraid one day he will have an accident. I am so embarrassed to tell anyone. He waits until we are home and then goes gets a pull up. I tried taking them away but then he doesn't poop at all and that makes me worry that he is going to become sick. I am willing to try or do anything. He is a smart boy and can tell me exactly how to do it he just won;'t go. I think I am a bad parent because i can't get him to go poop. I have even thought about taking him to see his doctor . Maybe she can help me or find out why he won't go. any suggestions would be great!!
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lol He also hides but he likes to sneak upstairs and hide in the rooms. He is quick and if u dont catch him b4 he gets to the stairs he could be anywhere. Once I found him under my bed with pillows in front of him so I couldnt see him only smell him from every direction. He then progressed to finding a nighttime pull up and changing on his own to poop! When we put those out of his reach he went back to pooping on himself yet again. He claims it hurts and seems absolutely terrified if we put him on the potty to go. Last night was a true breaking point for me as he kicked and screamed to get off the potty. I too believed it to be a medical issue, which is why I hv a doctors apt for today. I am still going but reading everyones post helped alot. We are not alone but need help quick.