Potty Training

[aceandmee]

Sorry in advance for any "potty" talk. I am just using the words I would use with my own kids.

My cousin's son is pee potty trained, but will still not poop in the toilet. He is a sweet, wonderful 8 year old who very easily pee trained, but despite his mom trying many different things has only a few times pooped in the potty. Any suggestions from btdt moms or dads would be great.

Some background on him. He is so smart, but has issues with speaking/communicating and no known cause/reason(despite LOTS of testing and evaluations). He communicates with sign language, body language and several words(usually one at a time with prompting) and sounds. If you ask him where poop should go, he will show you the potty, but just goes in his pants typically(when he is on the computer, etc.).

His mom struggles with her own issues and he is getting too big for her to change him on her own.

Thanks in advance for any help ya'll might have.

 

[BeckyScott]

The ideas I have are pretty typical ones, but worth a try.

One thing I noticed was that you said he sometimes poops when he's on the computer. Oooh this sounds familiar! My son will get so involved in something, that he won't want to stop. Or he'll be so involved he'll put it off and put it off, then need to go running to make it in time. If that is the case, an idea would be to use a timer, set at 1/2 hour or so, and when it goes off he has to take a potty break. Whether he thinks he has to go or not.

When Justin was in preschool, that's how they potty-trained him. They had a potty lady (the "Potty Whisperer") and her job was taking the kids to the toilet every half hour. BUT. That's a full-time job. When I tried it at home, inevitably I'd be in the middle of doing dishes or trying to cook and the timer would go off. It's hard to do.

We did the Skittles bribe with him, and that did work. If he pooped in the toilet, he got Skittles. Not the whole pack, just 5 or 6 of them. If you do it that way, you have to make sure the treat is something he really really likes, and he isn't getting it anywhere else. I'm amazed at what this child will do for Skittles.

Is he potty-trained at school? The reason I'm asking is because Justin was potty-trained at school long before at home. Part of it was the half-hour thing, and part of it was just the expectation, after they did the half-hour for a while he just started going by himself.

Because finally what happened was this- and it's just what worked for us- I ended up going cold-turkey on him. Bought him big-boy undies and told him, I knew he was potty-trained at school, and I was tired of changing baby diapers. And he was just going to have to start using the potty. Now, I knew at this point he was capable of doing it, and that's a big factor! But I guess he thought at home, no biggie, mommy will wipe my butt for me, I'll just keep playing on the computer. We did have a few accidents the first week, but still less hassle than changing diapers. After a week, tops, we were good to go.

We kept him in GoodNights overnight for about a month. But then we made sure he didn't have anything to drink right before bed, sent him to the bathroom right before bed and as soon as he woke up. The first time he went overnight without a GoodNight was actually an accident, we forgot to change him. But he was dry the next morning. And we had a plastic cover on the mattress anyway, so we just left well enough alone.

We also have a plethora of reading materials in there. He likes to camp out. Maybe putting a GameBoy in the bathroom, where he can only play it when he's sitting on the toilet?

If you don't think there's a physical problem, the key is to find their "currency" and take advantage of it.

 

[lovemickeya]

DS, 7, with autism has almost the same problem. He is pee potty trained but he will not poop in the potty, no brides have worked. But instead of him going at a certain time, he holds it. For days sometimes, until his little belly is hard as a rock and I have to give him medicine to make him go then he goes for a day or two and as soon as he is back in "big boy underwear" he goes back to holding it.

So any advice out there would be great, I have the teacher and school working on it too.

TIA

 

[Ms_Butterfly]

Is he capable of feeling when he has to poop?

 

[lovemickeya]

yes, but he does everything in his power to hold it.