Potty Training Almost 3 Year Old

My grandson was the same way. My daughter tried everything. Everyone kept telling her that one day he will wake up and go poopy in the toilet. Well, the day has finally arrived!! YEAH!! He will be 4 in August and 3 weeks ago he just got up one morning and pooped in the toilet. He did great on pottying in the toliet and picked that up fast. But no. 2 has taken about a year and a half. He was promised a bike too. And he got it. It's been great ever since. So just be patient and it will happen.

It is highly unusual to poop on the potty that soon after learning to pee on the potty.

As long as she is pooping on a regular basis then you don't have anything to worry about. Nothing is worse than a child who is blocked up from constipation or withholding.

Just keep encouraging her and it will happen on her terms not yours.

good luck

Dr. Phil.com might have some advice. The other day he had a "potty training in one day" show!

My sister refused to use any bathroom but the ones at home!

With our daughter, we tried "bribery" with bikes and things, but at that age we just weren't sure she really comprehended what the "bonus" was all about.

What we ended up doing was this: no matter what she starts asking for: Potty first. If she wants a drink, to watch a video, or to start coloring in the coloring book? Everything is "You can, but go potty first." Or set the timer for 30 minutes, and every time it goes off....time to go potty.

Kids do NOT want to take the time to go potty. ANYTHING is more fun than going potty. Who wants to take time out from doing something fun to go potty? 3 year olds don't, and 30 year olds don't....how often have you sat through a movie when you really had to go, but you didn't want to miss anything?

Further, since they're young, they don't fully comprehend the "reward system". SO, instead of us coming up with a "suitable reward", we made whatever it is they want to do become the reward. They know they want a drink, it's immediately on their mind, and they really want it. "OKay, but go potty first..." and they'll actually do it!

Our oldest daughter would sometimes have "relapses" even at 4+, and we'd start setting the timer. When it would buzzz, she'd say, "I know....time to go potty." We'd let her know that if she would use the potty like a big girl, we could stop using the timer. And that was usually all it took.

For what it's worth, and good luck!

My 4 year old (just turned 4) is potty trained but sometimes when he is playing he will go in his pants. They sometimes just don't want to stop playing. Take your daughter to the potty every 30 mins. and I promise one day it will happen on it's own. I know its hard. You start to wonder if you are the only one with a child that does this... You are NOT!! :)

This might make you mad, but my 20 month old daughter has been going #2 in the potty for 5 months now. The only thing that I can think that helped us was that we didn't make her get out of the bathroom if we had to go. So, she saw us using the big potty and many times she would sit on her little potty (that makes music when you go) at the same time. I think she saw the bigger kids going at the in home day care she attends, too. She went #1 in the potty at 15 months and then 2 or 3 days later she sat down and went #2. Haven't had many accidents on #2 since. Unfortunately, though, she doesn't consistantly tell me she needs to go #1 and she doesn't like to potty in the morning first thing, so we usually have some wet diapers during the day, but it has been nice to not have poopy diapers to change. Good luck.

My 3 1/2yo doesn't poop at school either! Come to think of it, I never went #2 in school even up through 12th grade! Is your daughter wearing big girl panties? I just started putting my son in underwear all the time and if he had an accident I would make him help clean it up too. I didn't act like it was a punishment or anything, I just said "OOPS! That's not where poopy goes we better clean that up!" And I would have him help me dump the accident in the toilet and rinse his undies. He now poops in the toilet.

Gosh, this brings back such memories... I have three kids (now 8, 7 and 4) and each one had such a different potty-training story. At that age, I don't think bribes do a whole lot, especially if they are not immediate. Did you try a little treat after a poop? I used to give one Hershey's Kiss. But my middle child had the worst time with pooping on the potty and eventually caused some serious problems with her large intestine... I guess once you don't use it regularly, like any other muscle is starts to not work as well. So if she's not going regularly, it could be more problematic down the road. Mine started off holding it in because she was nervous (she was 3 1/3 at the time) then it started to just become more difficult/painful and she COULDN'T go. We ended up putting her on medicine that the doctor prescribed to loosen her bowels so it would come out less painfully. Geez - this is a bad story - I don't want to scare you! But maybe some prune juice or whatever might make it more loose so it comes out easier. She still seems pretty young, and often times pooping on the potty just naturally comes much later than peeing. I know it's hard to deal with as an adult who just wants to be rid of diapers, but barring no other medical problems, it will happen when she's ready! Sorry if this just made it worse - I wanted you to know you weren't the only one with this problem! :)

-A.
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