Potty Training Woes...

[FishinDave07]

I need some "seasoned" HBT members help...

My daughter is turning 3 this May. She pees in the toilet everytime, all the time. Recently, the past 2 weeks, she has poo'd her pants EVERY SINGLE DAY!!!!

Not only that but she LOCKS the bathroom door, does her dirty little deed and then shows me.

I'm not yelling at her or anything, just in a calm, firm voice telling her that she will get a surprise if she goes in the toilet.

What do you guys do when you have excessive blow-off and never ending run-off (high in tannins i'm sure)

What should i do?

 

[keelanfish]

My kid is only 15 months, so I'm not the seasoned person to give advice, but for issues so far I've found the following website pretty helpful.

Ask Moxie: Potty

 

[Mutilated1]

start by fixing it where she can't lock the bathroom door till she gets it right

then what you have to do is keep a close eye on your kid, they will generally "go" about the same time each day. so when it gets close to that time, go put them on the potty and sit and read a story till they feel like going - its ok to leave and give them some privacy for the act - but you've just got to put them on the potty and tell them to go when its time till they get it figured out.

 

[BrewBrain]

3? normal. She'll grow out of it. Just need to keep positive with her about it and not make it a huge ordeal.

Getting the peeing right at <3 is very, very good.

 

[JesseRC]

Well my daughter would always go pee, but refused to go poop in toilet. We still kept her in diapers. Some therapist on tv said that when she goes poop in the diaper you should walk her over to the toilet and empty the contents in there. So that you instill in them where poop belongs. We did that, it helped a bit, but one day a friend of hers had to go poop , she went in the bathroom, my daughter followed suit after that.

My son is 2.5, he's not even close, but we havnt really tried. I dunno what to tell you. I dont think its acceptable behavior that she locks the door, I think she acting out, but everyone says you shouldnt get mad at them. I would not allow her to close the door...good luck.

 

[TwoHeadsBrewing]

I wouldn't be kind about it, that's for sure. In fact, I'd probably let them see me a bit upset...not scary, but just "attention getting" upset. Once they know you mean business and there are consequences attached to their actions, that should take care of the problem. 3 year olds are pretty damn smart...she's workin you! But then again, that's me...and 2 out of my 3 kids were potty trained at age 2. The last one is 1 1/2 and we're already talking about the potty and stuff...getting him used to the idea that the potty is where to poo and pee goes.

 

[Lukus]

Our daughter never locked the door and pooped, but defiantly struggled when it came to pooping on the toilet. We finally came up with a nice reward system, we made a chart with the end goal being the zoo (thats what worked for our daughter but you could use whatever you want) and when she pooped on the toilet she got to put a fancy sticker on the chart toward the zoo. The poop chart was long so we made little rewards along the way (example: we took her to the store and she picked out a new doll. That doll sat on top of the fridge until she reached the first reward.) The start was bumpy but, we kept on showing her the doll and the chart and lots of positive reinforcement soon there was no stopping her, She was a pooping on the toilet MACHINE.

Well hope that helps.

 

[User Name]

You are on the right track. There is nothing wrong with the way you&#8217;re raising your child or how the child is developing. It&#8217;s just another phase she&#8217;s going thru. Observe her to see how she&#8217;s behaving before &#8220;unloading&#8221;. Does she hide in a corner, run to her room or just goes straight for the bathroom and locks the door? Try to be a step ahead of her and offer help with sitting on the potty. Maybe she would like to sit on the toilet like grown ups. Have some books or games handy to occupy her time.
Next time she shows what she&#8217;d done, walk back and tell (kindly) her to clean up the mess. Show where the paper towels are and make sure they are there for her next accident.

Eventually she will do what&#8217;s asked of her and will want to do it on her own. That&#8217;s when our children begin to act like adults and ask for you to back off and go away. It&#8217;s pretty amusing to watch. It gets messy, but sure is funny.

If the above doesn&#8217;t work, just yell your head off and she may just get it. (j/k)

It&#8217;s something we are experiencing with our 3.5+ boy. He even forgets to go pee while watching cartoons, because he doesn&#8217;t want to miss any part of it. I finally showed him he can pause and take care of business and not miss a thing.

About number two, we started rewarding him with stickers and other things. We make a BIG deal when he does it right and even tries to wipe himself clean. I wish he wouldn&#8217;t because he only clogs up the toilet :-(

 

[FullDraw]

What a crappy thread. But I'm going through this with my boy. He's inconsistent with pooping, but it's getting better. He's a champ at peeing on command. We reward with M&M's. It's slowly working. It's round two for this family. My 5 year old is encouraging, but usually just a pain in the ass while "helping". Stick with it, I hear that eventually the kids turn into teenagers, then it gets real messy.

 

[the_bird]

We used M&M's as a reward for the_Bean, it worked good. She had her phases; after we thought she was all set, she reverted back to having accidents every night. I don't have any specific advice other than to tell you that it's normal, getting mad and yelling usually isn't going to help the kid any (just as likely to make going poop even more frightening; they'll end up crapping someplace they don't think you'll find it, like the laundry hamper).

Positive reinforcement! And yeah, the kids are smart, but they still go through these phases.

 

[spitfire]

3? normal. She'll grow out of it. Just need to keep positive with her about it and not make it a huge ordeal.

Getting the peeing right at <3 is very, very good.

+1
My daughter starting using the potty right around 3. After doing great for about 1 month she started to have accidents almost daily. After about a week maybe 2, she was back to normal and all was good.

Don't worry have a homebrew all will be good

 

[FishinDave07]

Cool guys, thanks for all the info. I'm definately going to be firm with her, maybe up the ante on the reward system and watch her like a hawk around that special hour.

T-minus 6 hours and counting...

 

[FireBrewer]

I have a 5 year old and a 3 year old (who's currently potty training) and if I learned anything from potty training my oldest, it's that they're ready when they're ready and not before. Sounds like she's showing the right signs.

Good luck!

 

[JPicasso]

I don't think being "firm" with her is the right way. You can't really force a 3-yo to poop on a toilet.

We used a sticker chart like a couple other responses here. Every time the poo made it to the toilet, he got a sticker. (He's almost 6 now, and still gets stickers as an "allowance")

Also, look into "pull-up" type diapers, or just put her in regular underwear.
Once or twice in her regular underwear, and she'll figure out that there has got to be a better way. Especially when you make her help clean up. (cause that's what big girls do, they help clean up after themselves...)

Sounds like you are very close. She goes into the bathroom, so she recognizes what's about to happen. (I would disable the lock)

Good luck! remember, RDWHAHB! Kids are awesome.