Monday, April 26, 2010

potty training update & a call for help!

We survived an entire week of Nate in underpants.

He's doing really well with peeing in the potty. We're finally to the point where I can usually trust him if I ask him if he has to pee and he says no. We don't have to just sit on the potty for the sake of sitting there anymore. Hallelujah. He tells us most of the time that he has to pee but we still ask regularly. And yes, we still have a few pee accidents but overall - he's doing great. Oh, and he likes to stand up these days which I was a little unsure of but it's actually a lot easier!

Now, the pooping in the potty is an entirely different story. He pooped on the potty on day 1 (last Monday) but hasn't since then. He's scared, I think. He was constipated for a bit because he was holding it in but now he just poops right in his underpants.

My call for help - has anyone had the pooping problem? Any suggestions as to how to help him understand it's not scary?

Funny {or not-so-funny} potty training story:
Nate kept telling us his bum hurt, which means he needs to poop. We tried over and over to get him to sit on the potty for a little while to work it out. We sat on the potty and then Nate told me he wanted to clean the tub (not an unusual request) so I put him in my dry tub with a spray bottle full of water and a rag and he went to town. I walked a load of clean laundry in to his room and as I was walking back I heard a "moommm". He pulled off his underwear and pooped right in the tub. {talk about disgusting.} I come in and he says, "i took off my underwear so I didn't poop in them." I guess that's progress, right?

7 comments:

laurel said...

Avery had this problem. Would not do it on the toilet. She was still wearing pull-ups at night and she'd go all day without pooping and then when I put the pull-up on and put her in her crib, a few minutes later she's tell me she had a poopy diaper.

I can't remember what eventually solved the problem. Remind me to remember more things so that I can give you advice in the future!!

Is there anything grosser than cleaning up poopy underwear? Ugh.

mrs. timberlake said...

has claire been talking to nate? cause they sound awfully similar.

i have no words of advice other than... this too shall pass.

Alyssa Griffeth said...

I was seriously going to write this exact same post on my blog today. Olivia is doing great with #1, but HOLDS her poop for days at a time or until she's in a diaper at naptime. Thankfully she's too scared to poop in her panties, but I think she's also scared to do it in the potty. It's SO frustrating!!

Olivia LOVES opening presents, so the other day I wrapped a big gift for her (just a game I already had on hand) and tied it with a big bow. We put it on top of a tall bookshelf where she can see it, and she knows that she gets it when she goes poop in the potty.

If we figure out any great tricks, we'll be sure to let you know! Good luck!

Alyssa Griffeth said...

Oh...P.S.-- My cousin had a son who ALWAYS pooped in his underwear. So she decided to start cutting off his underwear anytime he pooped in them. Yes, it got expensive at times, but that way, she didn't ever have to clean up the poop, and it was SOOO traumatic to have his favorite characters litterally cut off and thrown in the trash. He eventually decided to save his Disney buddies and went poop in the potty. :)

katierose said...

mia totally had the same problem. i was at my wits end with knowing what to do. i learned that getting mad at her did NOT help because she'd cry and then i think it made her even more afraid of pooping in the toilet. honestly, nate'll get past it. after 2 weeks mia was pooping in the toilet and hasn't had an accident since.

congratulations, nate!!! such a big boy :)

The Baker said...

both of my boys did the same thing with the pooping. you just have to make them sit on there until they go. it took weeks for jack and not as long for Lincoln.....don't worry soon he will be a pro!

Amy said...

we've had our potty issues with jeff. he was potty trained and then had dental surgery and regressed. so i pretty much had to retrain him. we had issues with the pooping in the potty too. the only way he would do it was with the little potty seat (a red dora seat) that sits on the big potty (toilet). now he does really well going both on the toilet. :) my friend suggested i put him on backwards on the toilet seat so he's facing the back of the toilet (the lid) so he doesn't feel like he'll fall in as much. that's how i've been putting hayden on (though he's not really potty training yet) that might help nate not be as scared. goo luck though. i know it's hard but he'll learn. :D good luck!!! and i hope this helps. :D