Potty Training Question (TMI Inside!)

[AC7179]

Oh, my child is about to give me gray hair already.

She is 17 months old. I started putting her on the potty about a month ago. I basically did it for the potty learning experience, with plans to try to train this summer. I read an article that said to let them go with you to the bathroom so they get what the potty is for. Well, she did great and would peepee every time I put her on. I would give her a sticker and brag on her. Then, she got sick and we just didn't mess with it for about a week. Now, I started again. I try to put her on once or twice a day, when I go. Remember, I'm not trying to truly train her, just let her get the idea of a potty. She's in daycare all day in an infant room without access to a potty, and we don't discuss it much---just if she follows me to the bathroom I put her on her potty. I tried to put her on Friday and she screamed, cried, fussed, and so I immediately let her get up and said, "It's okay, it's okay." I was still on the toilet and so she went to our rug and pooped on the floor.

Yesterday, she came up to me and said, "Poo Poo!" I asked her if she wanted to go the potty and she nodded and ran to the bathroom. I was SO proud. I took her to the potty and she sat and looked at her book. Suddenly she panicked, stood up, started to cry and was scrambling to get off the potty. I let her go and she ran to the rug and squatted and pooped again! So it's like she is afraid to go poop on the potty. She has a small one and she will teetee in it often, though not all the time.

It's to the point where she doesn't want to poo in her diaper and get dirty, but doesn't want to sit on the potty either. Yesterday after her bath she sat on her potty and looked at her bath and tee teed a little, then when I told her to go put a diaper on she ran to the living room, stood on one of the clean shirts I was folding, and tee teed on it.

Sorry that while I am glad she doesn'tw ant to go in her diaper, going on the floor isn't really working for me either. It's like I've opened this can of worms where she is not happy with her diaper, but not quite sure she wants the potty either! Help!

 

[icebrat001]

Maybe she is afraid of her potty. Maybe you can go on a little shopping trip together and let her pick her own potty.

Good luck!

 

[LoveWDW]

If the potty she is afraid of is your toilet, then she may be frightened about being flushed away like everything else is. So, if you can get her to go on her own little potty or like Icebrat001 said let her pick out a potty, maybe that would help.

 

[AC7179]

Nope.......we have a potty for her, a small one on the floor, that she will sit on and play on and occasionally tee tee on. It's only the poop that she is so opposed too. My mom joked that maybe she doesn't want to dirty her potty up, she she poops on the floor.

 

[Beth76]

I would put off potty "pre-training" for a while.

 

[AC7179]

Okay......so just put it on the back burner and not let her potty any more?

Like I said, I only did it because I read the article saying it would be easier to train her later if she had been exposed to the potty before.

Now though, she's telling me "I poo poo!" and running to the bathroom. I feel wrong telling her not to worry about it, to go in her diaper, esp. when she doesn't want to---but like I said once I put her on the potty she just gets off and goes on the floor anyway.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[sleepyone]

What worked for my dd was to bribe her with candy. I had tiny candies like Nerds and would give her a small amount if she pooped in her potty. She also liked to watch a wave machine/snow globe type thing while she sat on the potty. I had the candy high on the window sill and left it up to her.

A sticker chart worked well for my oldest dd.

I haven't even started with my ds, although; I think he's getting ready for it.

 

[kristen821]

Does she have a hard time pooping? Has it or can it possibly be hurting her? My daughter had a real hard time getting the pooping part of potty training down, because it hurt her at one point so she would hold it until it couldn't be held anymore. I knew someone else whos child had the same problem and she was told to give the child a laxative so she can see it doesn't hurt anymore. Your daughter is a bit younger then hers was so I don't know if that in necessary as of yet. My dd only had accidents when she had to poop. It was so annoying but I felt bad for her. It took almost 7 months before she would poop on the toilet consistantly.

 

[AC7179]

Yes....she has been constipated or something the past week or so.

She is still pooping twice a day, at least, so I wasn't worried. But I am getting that way because she cries when she poops and today, her teacher said she said "Owww poo poo!" while she was going. The doctor didn't seem concerned because she was still having bowel movements. I bought some raisens today hoping that would help. She also hasn't been eating as much as she had been before she got sick.

 

[mantysk8coach]

stood on one of the clean shirts I was folding, and tee teed on it.

Just the way you wrote that made me laugh!

I understand what you are going through...you are doing better than us, my 20 month old has no interest at all! I set her on the potty and she jumps right off. She couldn't CARE LESS if she has poo poo in her diaper. We are waiting until summer to start pushing it too. I was excited though to find a pink and purple Disney Princess potty though!

Your daughter is still pretty young. I wouldn't push it too much. That's tough though, if she doesn't like it in her diaper, but won't stay on her potty. Maybe when you change her diaper, have her go with you to the potty, and dump the contents of her diaper into the potty and flush it. That way she can see where it is supposed to go.

Good luck! She'll do it when she's ready!

 

[FutureAshleyDukes]

Yes....she has been constipated or something the past week or so.

She is still pooping twice a day, at least, so I wasn't worried. But I am getting that way because she cries when she poops and today, her teacher said she said "Owww poo poo!" while she was going. The doctor didn't seem concerned because she was still having bowel movements. I bought some raisens today hoping that would help. She also hasn't been eating as much as she had been before she got sick.

Have you thought about the little comfort seats that slip onto the toilet. I know when I was working in a daycare, I had a 3 year old who never wanted to sit on the toilet when she went BM for it hurt. We bought her a little seat that was padded and she did much better.

 

[kristen821]

Yes....she has been constipated or something the past week or so.

She is still pooping twice a day, at least, so I wasn't worried. But I am getting that way because she cries when she poops and today, her teacher said she said "Owww poo poo!" while she was going. The doctor didn't seem concerned because she was still having bowel movements. I bought some raisens today hoping that would help. She also hasn't been eating as much as she had been before she got sick.

My guess is that this is probably the problem since she has pooped on the potty before. Maybe you can try some prune juice too. you may be cleaning it off the floor a few more times, but once she realizes it doesn't hurt anymore she might be ok. have you checked to make sure she doesn't have a hemroid (spelling?)

 

[A4Disney]

Oh, my child is about to give me gray hair already.

She is 17 months old. I started putting her on the potty about a month ago. I basically did it for the potty learning experience, with plans to try to train this summer. I read an article that said to let them go with you to the bathroom so they get what the potty is for. Well, she did great and would peepee every time I put her on. I would give her a sticker and brag on her. Then, she got sick and we just didn't mess with it for about a week. Now, I started again. I try to put her on once or twice a day, when I go. Remember, I'm not trying to truly train her, just let her get the idea of a potty. She's in daycare all day in an infant room without access to a potty, and we don't discuss it much---just if she follows me to the bathroom I put her on her potty. I tried to put her on Friday and she screamed, cried, fussed, and so I immediately let her get up and said, "It's okay, it's okay." I was still on the toilet and so she went to our rug and pooped on the floor.

Yesterday, she came up to me and said, "Poo Poo!" I asked her if she wanted to go the potty and she nodded and ran to the bathroom. I was SO proud. I took her to the potty and she sat and looked at her book. Suddenly she panicked, stood up, started to cry and was scrambling to get off the potty. I let her go and she ran to the rug and squatted and pooped again! So it's like she is afraid to go poop on the potty. She has a small one and she will teetee in it often, though not all the time.

It's to the point where she doesn't want to poo in her diaper and get dirty, but doesn't want to sit on the potty either. Yesterday after her bath she sat on her potty and looked at her bath and tee teed a little, then when I told her to go put a diaper on she ran to the living room, stood on one of the clean shirts I was folding, and tee teed on it.

Sorry that while I am glad she doesn'tw ant to go in her diaper, going on the floor isn't really working for me either. It's like I've opened this can of worms where she is not happy with her diaper, but not quite sure she wants the potty either! Help!

17 months is way too young...I know many people in past generations will say "you were potty trained at12 months"but really the moms in those situations were trained!At 17 months she doesn't have sufficient control of her bowels yet...

 

[juliebaby76]

That's a tricky one !!! My niece was terrified to poop in the potty! She saw my sister flush it down the toilet and didn't want to go. She then got constipated because she was scared to poop. We had to put her potty away from the bathroom and let her go when she wasn't around we would flush it. This worked untill she got older and we could fully explain to her about the potty.

As for my children we never had the potty in the bathroom. we left them walk around without there diapers for a little each night, when we started and it made them realize when they had to go. Both my DS and DD were potty bond right at 2.

Good Luck!! one day you'll look back and laugh.

 

[barkley]

will she have access to a potty at the infant center at some point? it's realy hard when you start potty training for there not to be one available 24/7 (we ended up buying 2 "cushie tushies"-the cushioned toilet seats that fit on top of the regular seat sized down for toddlers, one for at home-one to carry in the car to use when visiting others). the infant/toddler center my 2 went to had potty chairs in the changing room and alot of the younger ones whose parents had'nt given a thought to training yet were surprised when the kids started asking at daycare to use the pottys on their own (they saw the bigger kids using them when they were being changed and it intreaged them).

both my kids (and the majority of kids i've known) were always more comfortable initialy urinating in the potty (bowel movements seemed to be the final stage in training). "the books" will tell you it's a control issue-i don't know about that, with mine they were scared the toilet water was going to splash them (so we lowered the water level in the bowl).

if she's at all interested (and starting to express that she's uncomfortable with a dirty diaper is a supposed to be a key indicator) you might want to get some "pull ups" for around the house. she can easily pull them down if she wants to use the potty, but you have the diaper like protection if she does'nt.

p.s.-we tried the "let them go naked" thing with my son...INVEST IN A STEAM CLEANER FOR THE CARPET (you think pet stains are bad? kid's urine and bm's often get colored by whatever they've eaten or drank that day-note "green kool-aid makes crayola green poop stains on the carpet ")

 

[AC7179]

Thanks everyone!
I know she is too young for the PT........I wasn't intending to train her this soon, I was just trying to introduce it to her. That's when she decided she didn't want the poop in her diaper anymore. Thanks for all the advice!

 

[Christine]

Thanks everyone!
I know she is too young for the PT........I wasn't intending to train her this soon, I was just trying to introduce it to her. That's when she decided she didn't want the poop in her diaper anymore. Thanks for all the advice!

Well, apparently the "introduction" method is a bust. Now the poor kid is confused.

Just relax. I never understood the rush for potty training. My kids were about 3 1/2 before they were trained. I know (shudder)--we are so behind.

 

[mickeyboat]

I know many children who mastered peeing on the potty, but had a devil of a time with BM's. Most of the time the trouble stemmed from having a painful BM, and then being afraid to do it again. I have a friend whose daughter was still pooping in pull-ups when she was 5! Make sure your daughter gets plenty of fiber and fluids.

I would back off if I were you. Try again in the summer. Good luck.

Denae

 

[Tiffann4k]

All three of my daughters were FULLY potty trained before they were 2 years old so dont let people discourage you and tell you she is too young. She will do it when she is ready wether it be at 17 months or 27 months etc. My son on the other hand was a different story he was close to 3 1/2

 

[Hannathy]

She is not too young for Potty Training ! She is well on her way. My DD was completely trained night too by 18 mos and my Son at 2 for days and slightly older for night and before you say it was in the fifties my son is in first gr.

She doesn't want diapers tell her ok and try pull ups but tell her "it" has to go in the potty or toilet or pull up if she goes on the floor take her with you when you clean it and put it where it goes. I also agree try a new potty or one of those toilet seats. I think it would be very confusing to go backward now, she obviously doesn't want to poop in her diaper why force her. She has the idea just be patient. If they won't help her at day care that could be a problem.

Apple juice is a bit more accepatable to most kids than prune juice and it works, warmed works wonders too. Also increase the fiber, cheerios to snack on,life cereal, popcorn if she eats it. I never used rewards or punishment just lots of praise.