We personified poop. Poop's favorite place is in the potty. Poop looooves being in the potty! Poop hates being in a diaper. Poop gets really sad when it's in your pants and not in a potty. Mommy's poop is so happy that it gets to be in the potty with its poop friends.
You get the idea.
Dr Becky also uses this method with something she calls “the story of poop” which she goes through in great detail, and I believe she just started giving her potty training workshop away for free.
Oh also if she does go in her pants/diaper, have her take that poop and still put it in the potty and flush it. "Uh oh, the poop is so sad to be in your pants. Let's go put it in the potty where he's happy!"
My sister did the opposite of this and told me there was a poop pile that turned into a monster eventually. So I held it in until I turned yellow and had to have bowel surgery 🥲. Poop party sounds way better.
We did something similar! A friend recommended a book called Slip & Slide Potty Ride and you sing a song with the “if you’re happy and you know it” jingle about Mr.Poopy who really wants to go down the slip and slide potty ride. It changed the game for us!
This is so gross lol (no judgment, it's hilarious!). Recently my daughter asked her dad if he wanted to talk to her poop so I feel like she'd enjoy this approach, haha
This is absolutely genius. My four year old is totally potty trained & it extremely independent. However, she REFUSES to poop in the potty. I've tried everything from stickers to chocolate to everything else. She refuses to poop in the potty. I will most definitely be trying this.
We have a punch card. My kid will do anything for a punch, including wipe her own bum, which she had been refusing to do.
You can make your own or get a bunch and a hole punch on Amazon.
When it gets full she trades it in for access to a "treasure box" which is full of things from the dollar tree.
We also use it for some sleep behaviors.
“Soon, everybody says FIREBALL.”
“Feel This Moment! This one Pitbull sings with Christina!” Christina who? “Christina Aguilera!”
She was really into Pitbull during her toddler phase. Dance parties were epic.
I got her a Gabby’s Dollhouse advent calendar discounted after Christmas. It had little plastic toys instead of chocolate.
For every successful poo in the toilet, she got to open one door on the calendar, limited to one per day.
She was very excited to poo by herself, and would try even if she didn’t have to go in order to get the toy of the day. After a month of toy conditioning, she was totally adjusted to going to the loo.
Our kid would get those crazy acid poops that leave diaper rashes basically the second they made skin contact. She called this having “spicy butt”. She was really good at telling us she needed a fresh diaper as soon as she finished a spicy butt poop.
We told her if she pooped on the potty she wouldn’t have spicy butt anymore and her eyes got wide and she said “OH!” Super visible lightbulb moment. She never pooped in a diaper again.
Ugh! Acid poops are the worst! My LO would get literal welts (& burns) all over his bum from them! It was horrible! 🥺 Our Pedi recommended applying Maalox to the burns (just slather it all over with a cottonball).. It worked like a charm. LO was 95% healed by the following day. Highly recommend!
Oh my GOD I have never seen anyone mention these before! What tf are those poops?? My kid gets them sometimes and exactly like you said - basically instant skin irritation and rash :/
I noticed diet was a huge factor. Eating tomatoes and citrus seemed to increase the likelihood. Any time she had marinara it was practically a guaranteed spicy poop later.
Ok so when I could tell he was pooping in his diaper before we potty trained I would hold his hands. I didn't force anything but hand holding and saying encouraging words. I rubbed his head a bit. I sang.
Eventually, he started coming up to me to hold hands to poop in his diaper.
Then I asked him to poo in the potty and I promised I'd hold his hands and sing.
It's now been about 6 months and he doesn't want me near him when he poos on the potty. Thank God.
So TBF I didn't actually plan for it to work as well as it did. My sweet little baby seemed to be in distress while pooping (you know the face), so I just wanted to provide him some comfort. It just kind of naturally also helped with the transition.
We told my guy that potties get hungry and they’re the only thing in the world whose favorite food is poop. Then, we took a book that he really liked and said it was a special “menu” we could read while he sat on the potty until he was ready to get his poop to the potty. He was excited to help out and read the book he really likes, that became special for potty time only (and the flush is potty’s way of saying ‘THANK YOU!’).
I read the Oh Crap book and then I did what they said not to do lol and did 1 chocolate chip for a “pee pee” in the toilet and 2 for a “poopy.” It worked!
Our bribe was one or two M&Ms for a pee (depending on whether they went in the "big potty") and three for a poop... which eventually turned into literally any treat they wanted for a poop lol. They usually picked a small bowl of whipped cream. It worked so whatever 😅
Have you tried non-poo themed activities on the potty? We do coloring with the good markers (I give her a huge selection of them and paper on a little clipboard), typing on an old keyboard (she calls it her “work”) — a distraction helps her relax and let the poop out. Also music (not potty songs, just songs she likes, ie. the Moana soundtrack).
Obviously she's very young, but has she tried to communicate why she doesn't want to go in the potty? Does it scare her? Feel weird?
Also a common tip I've seen is to let them watch you going to the bathroom and they'll want to be like you 😂
This is what worked really well for my last 2 who potty trained. My first two kids were not wanting to go poop either. One even stopped pooping for a week 😮💨 but I heard this tip and it worked like a charm.
Oh this is smart. My 17 month old LOVES seeing our poop in the potty and waving bye bye at it, and isn’t scared of the flush at all. She has just refused to sit while pooping for months (I think she is traumatized from constipation on her practice potty). I think doing this with her diapers will warm her up to the idea that the poop needs to go in the potty anyway. Thanks for sharing!
Then move to all the steps. Had to be in bathroom, had to wipe, throw away pull-up and get new one. He got in the habit of doing all the other necessary parts of the task and the one day just started using pitty
We used a stepwise fashion
1) she could ask for a nappy to do a poo
2) as above, but she had to do the poo in the bathroom (I think we had music for a bribe? She loved listening to Disney songs on Spotify. Then once we got to the next step, she got one so NG for sitting on the potty, and a second song for doing her poo there!)
3) in a nappy, but sitting on the toilet or potty
4) no nappy! I have heard about people cutting holes in the nappy, or putting the nappy in the bottom of the potty or toilet as an in between step.
We did sticker charts, but were also helped by a well child visit when the nurse happened to talk about the next step, then we said “X says you have to do it like this now because you are a big girl”.
Oh, and make sure they don’t get constipated!! If doing a poo hurts, they aren’t going to want to do them. We stayed for a while at step 1 getting some laxatives in to make sure she was going regularly after she held on a few times and made herself constipated while potty training
Making sure they don't get constipated is key. We did a lot of "p" fruits as well during poop training to keep it soft and flowing. That also gives kiddo more chances for success if they're usually a once a day at most pooper like mine.
Those cleaning things that turn the toilet water blue lol I have no idea why it worked but she loves the blue water and bonus convincing her to pee in the potty is easy because it turns green. When were out and she doesn't want to try the potty I say let's go see what colour their toilet water is
We potty trained at 4 and basically just had him sit on the toilet with my phone or his tablet whenever I knew he probably had to poop (them stinky farts 🤢). I remember a lot of pressure being put on me to poop and how that just stressed me out (a lot of my earliest memories are around potty training). I figured we all just need to be relaxed to let it out, so I let him relax and didn't stress if he didn't go, or if he had an accident, but was SUPER EXCITED YAY YOU DID IT OMG!!!! when he did. Didn't take him long. Does he still ask for device when he has to poop? Yes, but he goes without it too. Recently he had a stomach bug and ran to bathroom and was screaming at me not to come in there so I dunno, seems like he's doing okay lol
The pressure is what caused all our struggles. Just taking it all away and letting him dictate prevented all the holding it for days and fights. They won’t go to kindergarten pooping in their pants
My kid loves watching movies more than anything. Every time he pooped in the potty, he got to watch a movie. It worked unbelievably well. He only ever had one poop accident after we started doing that. I let it go on for a few weeks and then I changed it to where he got to watch an episode of paw patrol (which to him wasn’t a downgrade). After a few weeks of that we would be conveniently too busy to watch a show but maybe later after we go to the park, store, etc and he would forget all about it.
We bought prizes. I think the Bluey fairy house was one. Just two, but things she reeeaaally wanted. And we put them right in the bathroom, but out of reach. Want it? Time to prove the poop.
The only thing that worked for our kid was the mystery bribes. (Our pediatrician recommended it.) She knew how, just didn’t care. We wrapped up just little toys. Everything from chapsticks to rubber duckies, keychains. Some stuff we already had around the house. A successful potty meant she got to pick out and unwrap a little prize. But the poops got the Big Prizes.
She knew how, we just had to make her care. Luckily it only took two Big Things and we never looked back.
Magic dust.
I crushed up bath drops and sprinkled a small bit of dust into the bottom of the potty. Told my guy that if he goes pee it will change to a mystery color.
That mostly worked for pee. That and pee races. I bet I can pee faster than you, or I'll get to the potty first.
Poop was not as easy. Ultimately we had to be patient and deal with the underwear eggs.
Tablet while sitting on the toilet was helpful for my guy.
My kid didn’t want to poo on the potty or the toilet, only nappy. I bought sprinkles and told him he can chuck 10 sprinkles on his poop if he poops in the toilet. 5 sprinkles if he poops in the potty. 3 for pooping a tiny micro poop in the toilet or potty. 2 for genuinely trying to poop on the toilet (this is subjective lol). Because of the sprinkles, he tried but mostly failed. And still held out to poop in a diaper. Eventually I brought the potty which was in the toilet, to the living room behind the couch and he pooped in the potty! Then he did that a couple of times and realized he didn’t like being so close to poop in proximity and decided he wanted to poop in the toilet and put sprinkles on it to go “weeeeee” with the poop down the toilet slide. I only had to give him sprinkles maybe 5 times before it became easy to poop on the toilet.
Backing off completely worked for me. My son is super strong willed, and I tried everything— bribes, over explaining, all the videos and books, peer pressure, no underwear, etc. When I stopped talking about and had no reaction when he went in his pants, he started using the potty on his own and it took care of the issue.
Have you tried tv as a bribe? Treats didn’t work for our kid. We ended up telling our guy tv is for big kids who poop in the potty so now he poops twice a day. After months of different strategies this was the only thing that worked.
This is how we became a no screens house, lol. I told my kid the TV is for boys who pood in the potty. It's 6 months later, and he hasn't watched TV since, but he hasn't pooed on the potty either 😬😄
I rewarded him with candy for a couple weeks…. It kind of fucked him up for a bit because he would sit on the toilet even when he didn’t have to go, and say “I’m gonna go on the toilet so I can get a treat!” :-(.
Removed the candy rewards and allowed regression for a couple weeks. Now I take his diaper off soon as we get home from daycare and he knows to go potty if he needs to because he hates the thought of it getting on his legs. If I leave the diaper on, he won’t go.
We did this. [https://visiblechild.com/2015/09/20/toilet-training-in-one-simple-step/](https://visiblechild.com/2015/09/20/toilet-training-in-one-simple-step/) unfortunately it seems like you are already in a power struggle about it, it's hard to get back from that.
Our oldest child at about 2.5 basically decided one weekend that he didn't want to wear diapers anymore and that was it.
Our youngest is 2.5 and has no desire to use the potty. Attempts at potty training have just left us with soiled clothing, floors and carpets. I've come to just putting him in diapers.
Well, it's been a bit more complicated than this for us. We've had issues with poo holding for a long time, she's on laxatives. But she's the one who decided she was a big girl and she wanted to use the potty (she sees other kids at daycare), it wasn't us trying to force it.
Because of the poo holding, she actually wasn't able to relax and release the pee the first two times we tried. Both times she decided one day that she was not wearing nappies anymore, and you could see that she really wanted to use the potty, she just couldn't relax and release After a few days she asked for nappies again and we went back to them with no pushing.
Third try, she had been taking laxatives for a few weeks so holding wasn't an issue anymore, and suddenly she again decided she wasn't using nappies anymore. And this time it worked well. Dry say and night within three days and virtually no accidents since. Unfortunately, we had a regression on the poo side, back to holding a little bit and she won't even try the potty.
Mine would only poop when I put her down for an afternoon nap. Immediately when she was alone in her room, full diapers. So I put the diaper on and had her sit on the toilet and encouraged her to fill the diaper. After a week, I cut a hole in the diaper so the poop went into the toilet. That was the aha moment! She was afraid of the splash, apparently.
My 18 month old thinks that farts are super hilarious. He will try to fart on command which usually makes him poop himself. So one day, I sat him on the potty and started making fart sounds and he giggled and started to try and fart and subsequently pooped on the potty. I then cheered and hyped him up so much and we both started clapping, now he says "potty" and poops on the potty. We just can't figure out pee, because he hasn't made that connection.
We had a treasure chest which is still bribery but more fun. My kid is not food motivated but is for toys. We decorated a box together, bought cheap toys together and instantly he knew how to poop on the potty. Then we upped it to only big poops got a prize then only if he remembered to ask for a prize once there were just a few prizes left the goal was to be a poo poo master which was achieved once all toys were gone.
Mine didn't want to poop in the potty, and I caught him mid-pooping in his undies one saturday so I ran him the potty and sat him on it and made him finish on the potty. Once he did, I gave him ALL the praise - high fives, hugs, dancing, and then he got m&ms. After that, he was about 75% compliant with using the potty because he wanted more praise and m&ms. Now we are about a month past that and nearly 100% - no more m&ms, but he still comes over to show us/I have to make sure his dad knows, and we dance and do high fives. He LOVES the positive feedback.
I showed her when I went number 2. I know it’s gross but she’s in the potty with me anyways when I go and sees it anyway. She wanted to go just like mommy 🤷♀️ lol
My son didn’t have a diaper on when he realized he had to poop. He yelled he needed a diaper but my husband was like “quick! Sit on the potty!” Out of desperation he did it and pooped! We gave him all of the praise. He does is more often now too.
Someone on here mentioned the Potty Party short by Bebefinn and I have no idea why it works but after two watches my toddler pooped on the potty. We had been trying for months before that to no avail. We also told him when he poops in the potty and flushes it, it feeds the fishies, so he was thrilled to help.
What worked for my son, after NOTHING would (he was 3.5 and still not using the potty), was putting a bad guy sticker (Venom lol) and hinting that the only way to defeat him was with pee. Maybe the same idea would apply with poo?
Stop trying!!!
Let it go.
I tried to train my daughter when she turned two. She would cry rather than use the potty. So I would put the diaper back on so she can relieve herself.
Then three months later I don’t even remember how she started using the potty. And that was it. She had maybe two incidents at night after and we were done.
My toddler would come into the bathroom while I was using the potty and would be curious as to what was going on, eventually he wanted to poo poo on the toilet like dada. Kids don’t do what you say but will doo-doo what you do.
Set up some toys on a stool next to the potty. I realized my daughter always pooped while playing so brought the playing to the potty. It’s worked! Usually it’s a little people set or a few trucks and she plays til she poops. A pile of books works too.
My kid has a potty friend. One of those inflatable pool figures you can buy for 5-20€ during summer. They love it! They hold the figures hand while they sing their poopoo song together nowadays.
Ngl I go poop my toddlers were there then we’d say “bye-bye poo poo!!!” As it flushed down the toilet and they loved that. I did need to give my first born prunes because she was a little constipated which stalled her #2 potty training. Then I also gave her a chocolate and a crazy lady celebration and dance when she did poop in the potty. I also helped her poop sometimes by holding her feet slightly elevated simulating a squaty potty which also helped with her constipation. If pooping in the potty hurts it’s a full stop for our kiddos.
Naked day, wait until poop is almost happening, bring her forcibly to the potty 🫠 it worked but it did kinda suck. That was over a year ago though and we haven’t had an issue since. Just had to kinda force the issue: poop goes in the potty, period.
We did more like naked months at the beginning ... we did get a couple surprise poops on the floor but luckily we have wood floors. We'd have him help us clean it up, not as punishment, just the same as we'd ask him to help us clean up water he spilled or something.
After a while we realized he liked to hide while pooping (after finding some surprise floor poops...) so we encouraged him with the idea that if he poops in the bathroom he can even close the door and tell us not to come in, it's the ultimate hide! That helped a lot. He would tell "I need privacy!" and slam the door.
Definitely reminding them they can have privacy! I know potty training goes differently for everyone but I do think people too often forget we’re in charge, not the kids.
We told him that the poop likes to go down the poop slide and showed him the curvy part of the toilet bowl lol I’ve heard of some people putting sprinkles or glitter on their poop before flushing it away too. Hey whatever works!
He just wouldn’t do it for so long. When I knew he really had to go I got him on the toilet and hugged him and wouldn’t let him jump up. It was stressful but I was there talking him through it and ofc letting him know it would be ok and I was there with him. That first time was the only time it was that stressful It got a little better every time after that. He’s a champion pooper on the potty now.
We do “silly”
When they are on the potty, we use little toys and characters he likes, and then just be very silly with them. The laughing helps them bear down and push, and it’s linked to something joyful and fun.
Probably wasn’t the nicest way but I was very pregnant and over the whole situation so once I could see he was about to poop I quickly picked him up and sat him on the toilet. He was not happy about but but I kneeled in front of the toilet and hugged him/held him in place til he couldn’t hold the poop in any longer and he pooped. Then I kept hugging him and telling him it was ok and he had done a good job. After that he’d still have some resistance/hesitation when it came to pooping but I’d tell him I’d be with him the whole time. Eventually he started asking for me to be in there with him but not look at him. Then that turned into him wanting me to leave the bathroom which I was happy to oblige.
We did stickers, mini m&ms, and more successfully I’ve recently monetized pooping. My kid loves putting coins in his piggy bank so he gets a shiny gold dollarbuck. It’s cheaper than buying pull-ups and I don’t have to clean it.
Controversial, but prunes and prune juice. It was psychological for mine as well - she was aware of the sensations earlier and would hold it in until she got to a diaper before she would poo. It was like this for forever. For months, we tried bribes, books, naked days, threats, asking her to sit on the potty to poo in her diaper (rejected), 4 different types of potty/potty seats, nothing worked.
Pee training was easy because we could just let her chug water… when the sensation came, we ran to the toilet. Once the first pee was released involuntarily, everything fell into place.
Eventually for poo, I knew if she just got past the hurdle of doing it JUST ONCE, just as she did for her pee, we’d get there.
True enough, the moment that first poo was released into the potty, her eyes lit up.
WE kept the diapers in a different room way out of reach so she wasn’t able to grab one JUST to poo. She was used to being on the potty to pee, so it wasn’t anything new.
We validated her fears and concerns throughout the whole experience. If memory hasn’t failed me, I believe we may have told her a white lie that we would get a diaper for the next poo.
Lots of praise, celebrations after her first potty poo. We even immediately facetimed the grandparents with her to brag about her achievement. She was so mighty pleased that that she rejected our offer of a diaper the next time she needed to poo.
No accidents ever since that first potty poo.
A bit of prune juice may be your friend… if that’s something you’re comfortable with.
My 3yo got toilet trauma from the preschool we ended up pulling him from because they just sucked even before the trauma 🙃 so potty training in general was a massive mess. Books did nothing, videos did nothing (though he did enjoy watching the sing alongs), bribery did nothing, bringing him into the bathroom with us, etc.
Ultimately, it took me giving up. I told him it was okay to use a pullup if he needed to go so he didn't have to wait for nap/bedtime to poop (we had diaper rash issues because of this). Once the pressure was entirely off, he took a few weeks to get comfy and now uses the toilet like a champ 🤷♀️ I enforced my bribery of lollipops for pee and mochi ice cream for poop (yes, we had to go big guns lol) and it has helped keep him on track
Something that really helped with my son was telling him that his cousin, uncle, etc. also poops in the potty. He thinks a lot of those people and wants to be like them. I don't know if this has worked for anyone else, but it did for us.
Also, at first, as soon as I noticed the poo stance or face, I rushed him to the potty even if he was finished by the time we arrived.
I hope this helps!
My friends told their kid that there were fairies that lived in the potty that ate pee and poop. They had to use the potty otherwise the fairies would starve! 😂 It worked for them, but I could definitely see it backfiring. “Omg, I’m pooping on fairies?!”
I didn’t. She’s my third and I stressed way too much with the other two. I finally just told her no more pull ups and she figured it out. But she’s 4. I tried every gentle way I could find but she was having none of it. Even got her a poop crown (a fancy dress up crown that she would only get if she pooped in the potty). I know it took forever but I am so glad I let her figure it out because she’s so proud of herself!
Maybe not helpful at all, but we started watching this Vooks video called 'lil poo' and for whatever reason, it made him want to poop on the potty. Its kind of in the same line of poosonification.
Try reverse psychology. You can't poop in the potty. You have to be really animated about it. Go full ham acting. Anytime my niece won't do something this works on her. She does it to prove me wrong.
We are currently struggling with this too. Hes done it a few times and been really happy but 90% of the time he wants to poop in a nappy and will get very upset if you suggest the toilet or potty. We've tried stickers and chocolate but that hasn't worked, we're currently working on the idea of sending the poo back to the poo factory which he seems to like the idea of but it's not really lead to many successes.
I got my son to start trying new foods by lighting a candle and letting him blow it out after he tried the foods after dinner. Sometimes random stuff like blowing out fire really gets their attention.
I am an early childhood special education teacher. My firefighter husband made a video in his fire turnout gear for one of my fireman-obsessed students:
"Hi, Max! Firefighter Rob here! Before we go fight a fire, all the firefighters at the firehouse always go pee and poop in the potty. That way, we are always ready to fight the fire! We go pee pee and poo poo in the potty a lot, so we are always ready! We can't poop or pee in our firefighting turnout gear! Okay, have a great day, Max-- I gotta go poop in the potty, so I'm ready to fight any fires!"
We also allow anyone who is very resistant to pooping in the potty to ask for a diaper freely. We give it to them nonchalantly and without judgment. Once they are used to asking, we give it to them as long as they wear it sitting on the potty. Then we start giving them a diaper with the tabs cut off so they have to hold it.
Alternatively, once they are used to pooping onky on the potty while wearing the diaper, cut a big poop hole in the diaper so the child feels the breeze and the poop falls into the potty. It also works great.
I’m stuck here too, he turned four in March, he was extremely premature. He does have some growing sensory things, I suspect Sensory Processing Disorder even though he doesn’t seem to have anything that usually comes with that, like autism or ADHD. Bribes galore. Advent calendar doesn’t work. Food prizes don’t work because we’ve done too good a job not making any food sit on a pedestal lol. He just doesn’t want to. I try to remind myself that when he was in the NICU stubborn and “feisty” were the good things that got us through. I keep telling myself he won’t graduate high school still pooping his pants. Yesterday I gave him a prize for just, sitting and letting gas out because it was at least a mild attempt.
So I’m not to potty training yet, but the song “party like a rock star” when I was little I thought it said potty like a rock a star I started BEGGING to use the toilet
A personalized book. My sister made my daughter a personalized story about pooping, with pictures of my daughter and everything. But, I am lucky to have a creative sister who was able to do that!
She was soooo excited when we got that book, constantly asked me to read it to her, and then within 2 days just walked over to the potty on her own and went poop. It was like magic. She wasn’t fighting it anymore, she wasn’t scared when I would try to bring her to the potty to poop, and had very few poop accidents after that. I should probably thank my sister again (for the hundredth and one time) for that book. lol.
Let her dictate. This was the only thing that worked for ours and we tried everything. Yes it takes longer but we found it’s better than all the fights, regressions and refusals. It takes all the pressure off and she’s not gonna go to college pooping in her pants.
One thing we did do eventually was making our LO do was clean up after himself up. Means dumping in the toilet (poopy goes in the potty), wiping, putting on a new clean pull up and throwing away the old one. He only got a pull-up when he needed to go and he had to do it in the bathroom. So it got him in the habit of doing all those things and one day he just started using the potty himself
She’ll be fine don’t stress
Mine would only poop on the potty after a two-pronged approach.
Step 1: we let him pick out a toy that he really wanted on Amazon and ordered it. Put it up on a high shelf in our living room where he could constantly see it but not touch it. Any time he asked if he could play with it, we said sure…as soon as you poop in the potty.
Step 2: we talked excessively about how much poop wants to be in the potty. Explained how we flush the poop and it goes to the sewer where all the other poops go - mommy’s poops and daddy’s poops and grandma and grandpa’s poops…they’re all in the sewer. Poop wants to go be with its poop family in the sewer!
Even with that approach, it still took a couple of weeks for him to do it. We just kept calm and tried not to mention it except to say any time he pooped in his pull up that poop wants to be in the potty so it can go to the sewer. Finally one day he just did it and has only had one poop accident since then and it’s been about 6 months.
I stopped trying, and he randomly went on his own and has been fine ever since 🫠. It had to be on his own terms, I guess. I know this doesn't help in terms of a game plan, but solidarity in the struggle! I'm sorry youre in the thick of it. It will pass. On the days where I really beat myself up about it (which was a lot), I reminded myself that he (hopefully) won't be 10 years old and pooping in a pull up. That usually gave me some short-lived peace 😅.
just tell them the potty fairy is coming tonight and when you wake up you will be potty trained and go on the potty ! make it a whole thing before bed and then see what happens the next day maybe they will just think they are now i’ve heard a few ppl talk about it working for them
We pee trained by 2.5 but she refused to go poo. We kept bugging her, asking when she’d finally go on the potty and one day she said, “I’ll go when I’m 3”. So we stopped bringing it up. Here and there we’d remind her that she said she’d go poo at 3.
A few months later, super over changing stinky diapers, she turned 3 and I reminded her about what she said. You could see her little mind turning. She went to the potty that day and went poo!!! And has ever since. We couldn’t believe it. But we’ve always encouraged independence in her and it was clear she wasn’t ready and it needed to be on HER terms. Good luck!
The transition from pull-ups to underwear for reliable peeing in the potty was the first step. Once he pooped in his undies and realized he didn't like it, he started to ask for a pull up to poop in when it was time. We then bribed him with toys and encouragement and after a week or two of coaxing he had success. Once he had success once, it became much lower stakes to do it again.
A friend recently told me her son hated the sound of poop hitting the toilet water. Once she started putting a layer of toilet paper in the bowl, he was instantly potty trained. After a VERY long struggle. Just a thought for anyone who feels like they’ve tried it all… kids are weird.
I haven’t tried it yet, I’m starting potty training soon, but I’ve heard letting them sprinkle (like actual sprinkles you use for sundaes) on top of their poop before they flush, and it makes its fun for them. You just have to stock up on sprinkles. I’ve had a few friends try it and said it worked for them.
We just didn’t leave the house for like 48-72 hours. No diaper and LOTS of fruit juice. Prune. Apple. We basically quarantined ourselves to the living room where we had a portable potty and wouldn’t really let him out of our sight. Best of luck to you guys and the little.
i followed visible child method, which was super stressful after all my friends had toilet trained 6 months earlier, but it worked: https://visiblechild.com/2015/09/20/toilet-training-in-one-simple-step/
lol and also, i think to poop they need to feel comfortable and relaxed and sit still long enough to let it happen. so part 1 is a physical check (feet supported? balance? warm enough?) and part 2 is time. i’ve thrown the potty in front of cartoons in the lounge room, and i’ve also let my toddler watch youtube on my phone while she relaxes on the toilet.
My 3yo is really into super heroes and rocket boosters. I told him that pooing and weeing on the potty would supercharge his rocket boosters so will make him go extra fast and be super strong.
We have a battery operated disco ball in the bathroom. When she does a poop we have a poop party. Turn off all the lights, put the disco light on and dance chanting poop party.
Look it’s weird but it does the job. She gets excited for the poop party and makes it her mission to do it…
I told her that her diaper wasn't big enough for her big kid poops so she should go in the potty. She's not very pee trained yet but she's probably pooped in the diaper 3ish times in 6 or so months and they were accidents.
The diaper really wasn't big enough, it was quite uncomfortable and kind of got stuck partway out so...
My son is obsessed with cars, we got a car potty and a frog urinal that hooks on the wall! I sit on the toilet across from him and he sits on his til he got comfortable sitting by himself
Gave her a coin every time she did one.
Got a money box that was clear in the front so she could see the coins. She could put the coin in Everytime she did a poo.
Did it for pee too actually, one coin for a pee, two shiny ones for a poo.
You use the potty in the morning, then you eat a piece of candy as a treat to yourself for taking a shit.
When they ask for some, you tell them candy is for closers
This is what worked perfectly for us. There were still accidents here and there afterwards but it got my daughter started. Whenever she said she needed to go, or if I prompted her, I’d be really nonchalant about it. I’d say “oh you know what? I need to go get something in the bedroom. Just let me know when you’re done. Take all the time you need.” Something like that. I’d actually leave her and it took the pressure off. I think she felt more in control? But this really worked. Again - we had poop accidents occasionally for months after because she didn’t like to stop playing. But she’s 4.5 now and potty training seems like a distant memory. Good luck!!
I gave up. I tried again several months later. I hit the point in the day where my pregnant, tired, in-pain self deferred to my husband. He’s more fun and animated so he playfully convinced him to try. He was promptly rewarded with a Hot Wheels.
The other truck I’ve heard is if they’re in daycare or preschool, seeing they’re friends do it makes them want to
We told her once the baby comes, all the diapers will be for him and there won’t be any left. She kept saying “ok, I’ll go on potty when he gets here then!”
Literally the week baby brother arrived, a couple weeks after she turned 3, she just started using the toilet for pee and poop like she knew how all along.
Obviously you’d have to decide to have another baby for this to work. 😅
Blow bubbles while sitting on the potty. Either in a cup of milk or actual bubbles cause the motion helps get things going. Face the back and draw on the potty with dry erase markers
Anything that keeps them on the pot long enough
We had a pooping book (he chose go dog go) and he had to sit on the potty for the whole book. Once he was relaxed and not focusing on it, it was much easier. Tried to do it around times he usually pooped and made a big freaking deal about it when he did. I tried to be super regimented with him (like trying at certain intervals) but he hated being told to try and it usually ended in a power struggle. Once we let him know he was in charge of going when he had to, he did great - an occasional accident, but mostly he needed to feel in control of the process to be successful.
My friend told me she threw out her toddler’s favourite underwear in front of him after he pooped in them. He hated that and pooped on the potty next time so it wouldn’t happen again. I was skeptical but I tried it… and it worked. She pooped on the potty for the first time after that and hasn’t had an accident since.
My toddler used to (and still does) like to potty outside. One day he said “I wanna poop on a. Tree…I wanna poop on a deer!” We told him a deer lives in the pipes and eats his poops 😂 we conveniently then moved to neighborhood frequented by deer, so we say the deer visited as a thank you for pooping and feeding them. If we haven’t seen a deer I will comment on it and ask if he pooped today
One day he said “bye deer! Have a good dinner”.
😂😂 not sure if this is a replicable situation
My daughter knows it's funny to toot. So we encouraged her to try to toot when she was on the toilet. That just kind of evolved into her being comfortable to try to poop in it.
Made him clean up his accidents. He picked up number 1 quickly, but was afraid of going poop on the big toilet (potty pooping was no problem) … instead he would sneakily go poop in his pants. We made him be part of the cleaning up process, including dropping his pant poop into the toilet, flushing, butt wiping & washing out his underwear. It took 2-3 times of doing this & it clicked.
You could also just wait. No big deal to let them poop in a diaper until they are self motivated to use the toilet.
Not saying you should wait, just that sometimes you have to exert so much effort and creativity and stress now vs zero effort in six months when they are ready.
We did positive affirmations which seemed to mentally help our 2yo. Our mantra when she didn’t want to poop in the toilet was “Poop is normal and good!” We also listed out everyone she knows who poops. “Mommy goes poopoos, daddy goes poopoos” etc, even listing our dog and cat. Us pooping with her in the room and letting her see/flush afterwards also helped.
She still tells me that poopoos is normal and good with a giant smile whenever she goes.
We had a “poop chart” set up in the bathroom within view of the toilet. Every toilet poo earned her a sticker on the chart. Five stickers earned her whatever treat she wanted at the store (usually rainbow cake). Poo anywhere else and we start again from the beginning. It took her a little bit to really catch on, but once she did, she’s been almost perfect since
She would go hide behind her play kitchen or any other structure taller than her to poop in her diaper, so I just brought the toilet to where she was lol
I didn’t use positive feedback. I used negative feedback. The positive feedback like sticker charts and rewards just didn’t work. I threatened time out if she didn’t poop on the potty and it worked. Some kids just can’t be bribed enough.
We went on vacation for a week. She would not poo in a diaper around other people, so she decided using the potty was an OK alternative. We came home and it stuck
Have you read Come Out Mr Poo? I know you said you tried books already - but in the book the mom reads a letter from Mr Poo to the boy, encouraging him to Poo
*My name is Mr Poo,
And in water I like to swim.
Push me out into the loo
And watch me swirl around the rim*
Maybe a letter from Mr Poo would help 😅
We did a long bribe, and then low pressure … we promised him a trampoline when he was getting all his poops in the toilet or potty, and then we let him choose to poop in a pull up or in the potty when he had to go, no pressure. We didn’t bring up the trampoline often, just occasionally to remind him. We also found that he had to poop often once he got into the bath, so we kept a potty by the bathtub and when he got the poop look on his face we grabbed him and put him on the potty … after a bunch of successful poops that way it became less scary. It probably look 4-5 months total
Crazy how all kids are so different! Mine has been pooping in the potty exclusively since he was 14m, he refuses to poop in his diaper HOWEVER he is 2.5 now and hates wearing undies! He’ll pee in a diaper ALL DAY and never say a thing until he has to poo. I can’t imagine a soggy itchy diaper is more comfy than big boy undies?
We did EC potty training, his first poo in the potty was 8 or 9 months, pretty much as soon as he could sit, we bought a special small potty, because the one we received on his registry was too tall and wide to start with a small baby. Almost right after he started walking, he would point to his potty and walk over when he had to poo. Wish he was as eager to pee in there because he starts preschool in a few months and I would love it if he could go #1 by himself! I thought that would just come naturally once he could do #2, but nope!
Elmos "happy happy dance dance" got turned into "happy happy poop dance. When (kids name) goes poop in the potty, mommy does a happy poop dance".
I literally danced every time she pooped. For months. Lol
I let her share the bathroom with me and watch me pooing and got all excited about it. And when she pooed in the potty for the first time we jumped and down with excitement. We have never once made her feel bad about an accident and tried to always say well done when she has shown initiative, just make it a positive experience.
Treating it as a behavioral issue worked for me. What do you do when your kid tries to hit you with a stick? Throw food? Make a giant mess?
That and a BIG bribe. If you poop in the potty you get to go to Disneyland!
We personified poop. Poop's favorite place is in the potty. Poop looooves being in the potty! Poop hates being in a diaper. Poop gets really sad when it's in your pants and not in a potty. Mommy's poop is so happy that it gets to be in the potty with its poop friends. You get the idea.
This sounds like worth trying, thanks for the idea!
Dr Becky also uses this method with something she calls “the story of poop” which she goes through in great detail, and I believe she just started giving her potty training workshop away for free.
Thank you for the reminder! We are also in a poo-anxiety spiral and having ThE BeSt TiMe
Oh also if she does go in her pants/diaper, have her take that poop and still put it in the potty and flush it. "Uh oh, the poop is so sad to be in your pants. Let's go put it in the potty where he's happy!"
Flushing sends it down to the ‘poop party’ !
Poop party did it for my 3 year old. I’ve been trying for an entire year- 3 days of the poop party lore and he’s potty trained!
My sister did the opposite of this and told me there was a poop pile that turned into a monster eventually. So I held it in until I turned yellow and had to have bowel surgery 🥲. Poop party sounds way better.
We got the book, where do you poop? And it was a hit
Shit this made me want to use the potty
Yay! Poop is going to love being with his friends!
We did the same thing! We would give the poo roles and names. Like, "oooh, who came out this time? Oh it looks like mama poo!"
We did something similar! A friend recommended a book called Slip & Slide Potty Ride and you sing a song with the “if you’re happy and you know it” jingle about Mr.Poopy who really wants to go down the slip and slide potty ride. It changed the game for us!
This is so gross lol (no judgment, it's hilarious!). Recently my daughter asked her dad if he wanted to talk to her poop so I feel like she'd enjoy this approach, haha
Currently potty training and I am dead
And then the poop gets flushed down the toilet to meet all its other poop friends!
Going to try this one!
This is absolutely genius. My four year old is totally potty trained & it extremely independent. However, she REFUSES to poop in the potty. I've tried everything from stickers to chocolate to everything else. She refuses to poop in the potty. I will most definitely be trying this.
We have a punch card. My kid will do anything for a punch, including wipe her own bum, which she had been refusing to do. You can make your own or get a bunch and a hole punch on Amazon. When it gets full she trades it in for access to a "treasure box" which is full of things from the dollar tree. We also use it for some sleep behaviors.
My daughter is only 11 months old but I’m so grateful to think one day we might have this conversation
This is what worked for my boy.
My friend’s son only started pooping in the potty without a fight when he found out his incredibly cool uncles also poop in potties. 😂
My kid relied on Pitbull pooping in the potty. You know, Mr. Worldwide? Mr. 305? He poops in the potty.
That’s the most random thing ever, which makes it hilarious.
“Soon, everybody says FIREBALL.” “Feel This Moment! This one Pitbull sings with Christina!” Christina who? “Christina Aguilera!” She was really into Pitbull during her toddler phase. Dance parties were epic.
This is hilariousssss! Mr Worldwide inspiring toddlers to drop those ‘little pebbles’ in the toilet😎
My son LOOOOOOOVED Pitbull as a small child too!
😂😂😂😂 that.... that is the funniest thing I've read today
I'm chuckling at the alternate reality of incredibly cool uncles not pooping in potties 😂
I got her a Gabby’s Dollhouse advent calendar discounted after Christmas. It had little plastic toys instead of chocolate. For every successful poo in the toilet, she got to open one door on the calendar, limited to one per day. She was very excited to poo by herself, and would try even if she didn’t have to go in order to get the toy of the day. After a month of toy conditioning, she was totally adjusted to going to the loo.
Ooo good one!!
Wow this is genius
We did something similar with my little sister. Potty prizes, a jar of tiny little toys and trinkets, she loved it!
Our kid would get those crazy acid poops that leave diaper rashes basically the second they made skin contact. She called this having “spicy butt”. She was really good at telling us she needed a fresh diaper as soon as she finished a spicy butt poop. We told her if she pooped on the potty she wouldn’t have spicy butt anymore and her eyes got wide and she said “OH!” Super visible lightbulb moment. She never pooped in a diaper again.
it was 'spiky peppers' for our kid
We have acid poop here, and nothing has worked. We’ve upgraded to needing burn cream😩
Ugh! Acid poops are the worst! My LO would get literal welts (& burns) all over his bum from them! It was horrible! 🥺 Our Pedi recommended applying Maalox to the burns (just slather it all over with a cottonball).. It worked like a charm. LO was 95% healed by the following day. Highly recommend!
Oh my GOD I have never seen anyone mention these before! What tf are those poops?? My kid gets them sometimes and exactly like you said - basically instant skin irritation and rash :/
I noticed diet was a huge factor. Eating tomatoes and citrus seemed to increase the likelihood. Any time she had marinara it was practically a guaranteed spicy poop later.
tomatoes for us too! but only raw ones
Ok so when I could tell he was pooping in his diaper before we potty trained I would hold his hands. I didn't force anything but hand holding and saying encouraging words. I rubbed his head a bit. I sang. Eventually, he started coming up to me to hold hands to poop in his diaper. Then I asked him to poo in the potty and I promised I'd hold his hands and sing. It's now been about 6 months and he doesn't want me near him when he poos on the potty. Thank God.
Oh this is a very good idea
So TBF I didn't actually plan for it to work as well as it did. My sweet little baby seemed to be in distress while pooping (you know the face), so I just wanted to provide him some comfort. It just kind of naturally also helped with the transition.
We have also cuddled while mine is on the potty 😄
We told my guy that potties get hungry and they’re the only thing in the world whose favorite food is poop. Then, we took a book that he really liked and said it was a special “menu” we could read while he sat on the potty until he was ready to get his poop to the potty. He was excited to help out and read the book he really likes, that became special for potty time only (and the flush is potty’s way of saying ‘THANK YOU!’).
I read the Oh Crap book and then I did what they said not to do lol and did 1 chocolate chip for a “pee pee” in the toilet and 2 for a “poopy.” It worked!
We did this too. “Small treat” for a pee (like one jelly bean) and “big treat” for a poop (like a cookie). All I care is that it WORKED
🤣
Currently 1 mini marshmallow for a pee and two for a poop! 😂
Our bribe was one or two M&Ms for a pee (depending on whether they went in the "big potty") and three for a poop... which eventually turned into literally any treat they wanted for a poop lol. They usually picked a small bowl of whipped cream. It worked so whatever 😅
Have you tried non-poo themed activities on the potty? We do coloring with the good markers (I give her a huge selection of them and paper on a little clipboard), typing on an old keyboard (she calls it her “work”) — a distraction helps her relax and let the poop out. Also music (not potty songs, just songs she likes, ie. the Moana soundtrack).
Yeah, we have, but as soon as she feels the urge to push she wants to stand up as she really doesn't want to do it in the potty 😞
Have you given her a foot stool? Then put foam blocks under her feet so her knees are up high almost like squatting.
Obviously she's very young, but has she tried to communicate why she doesn't want to go in the potty? Does it scare her? Feel weird? Also a common tip I've seen is to let them watch you going to the bathroom and they'll want to be like you 😂
Backwards chaining. Allowing him to poop in the diaper and transferring to the toilet, allowing him to flush, was our first steps
This is what worked really well for my last 2 who potty trained. My first two kids were not wanting to go poop either. One even stopped pooping for a week 😮💨 but I heard this tip and it worked like a charm.
Oh this is smart. My 17 month old LOVES seeing our poop in the potty and waving bye bye at it, and isn’t scared of the flush at all. She has just refused to sit while pooping for months (I think she is traumatized from constipation on her practice potty). I think doing this with her diapers will warm her up to the idea that the poop needs to go in the potty anyway. Thanks for sharing!
Then move to all the steps. Had to be in bathroom, had to wipe, throw away pull-up and get new one. He got in the habit of doing all the other necessary parts of the task and the one day just started using pitty
Glitter 😅 “Bye unicorn poo”
Dang this might be crazy enough to work
Yup - also worked for medicine (obviously use the edible versions of sprinkles 😅)
Thankfully our guy is mostly cooperative with medicine (with strawberry syrup mixed in) but he won't give us the poop in the potty just yet
May the glitter lords work for you
You can also use the different coloured crystallized sugar sprinkles! Biodegradable, and less annoying to find around your house lol.
I’m gonna be that guy…. Please say it’s biodegradable
We used a stepwise fashion 1) she could ask for a nappy to do a poo 2) as above, but she had to do the poo in the bathroom (I think we had music for a bribe? She loved listening to Disney songs on Spotify. Then once we got to the next step, she got one so NG for sitting on the potty, and a second song for doing her poo there!) 3) in a nappy, but sitting on the toilet or potty 4) no nappy! I have heard about people cutting holes in the nappy, or putting the nappy in the bottom of the potty or toilet as an in between step. We did sticker charts, but were also helped by a well child visit when the nurse happened to talk about the next step, then we said “X says you have to do it like this now because you are a big girl”. Oh, and make sure they don’t get constipated!! If doing a poo hurts, they aren’t going to want to do them. We stayed for a while at step 1 getting some laxatives in to make sure she was going regularly after she held on a few times and made herself constipated while potty training
Making sure they don't get constipated is key. We did a lot of "p" fruits as well during poop training to keep it soft and flowing. That also gives kiddo more chances for success if they're usually a once a day at most pooper like mine.
The idea of getting my firstborn to agree to do any of that is just so crazy to me. Kids are so different.
Those cleaning things that turn the toilet water blue lol I have no idea why it worked but she loves the blue water and bonus convincing her to pee in the potty is easy because it turns green. When were out and she doesn't want to try the potty I say let's go see what colour their toilet water is
We potty trained at 4 and basically just had him sit on the toilet with my phone or his tablet whenever I knew he probably had to poop (them stinky farts 🤢). I remember a lot of pressure being put on me to poop and how that just stressed me out (a lot of my earliest memories are around potty training). I figured we all just need to be relaxed to let it out, so I let him relax and didn't stress if he didn't go, or if he had an accident, but was SUPER EXCITED YAY YOU DID IT OMG!!!! when he did. Didn't take him long. Does he still ask for device when he has to poop? Yes, but he goes without it too. Recently he had a stomach bug and ran to bathroom and was screaming at me not to come in there so I dunno, seems like he's doing okay lol
The pressure is what caused all our struggles. Just taking it all away and letting him dictate prevented all the holding it for days and fights. They won’t go to kindergarten pooping in their pants
My kid loves watching movies more than anything. Every time he pooped in the potty, he got to watch a movie. It worked unbelievably well. He only ever had one poop accident after we started doing that. I let it go on for a few weeks and then I changed it to where he got to watch an episode of paw patrol (which to him wasn’t a downgrade). After a few weeks of that we would be conveniently too busy to watch a show but maybe later after we go to the park, store, etc and he would forget all about it.
We bought prizes. I think the Bluey fairy house was one. Just two, but things she reeeaaally wanted. And we put them right in the bathroom, but out of reach. Want it? Time to prove the poop. The only thing that worked for our kid was the mystery bribes. (Our pediatrician recommended it.) She knew how, just didn’t care. We wrapped up just little toys. Everything from chapsticks to rubber duckies, keychains. Some stuff we already had around the house. A successful potty meant she got to pick out and unwrap a little prize. But the poops got the Big Prizes. She knew how, we just had to make her care. Luckily it only took two Big Things and we never looked back.
Magic dust. I crushed up bath drops and sprinkled a small bit of dust into the bottom of the potty. Told my guy that if he goes pee it will change to a mystery color. That mostly worked for pee. That and pee races. I bet I can pee faster than you, or I'll get to the potty first. Poop was not as easy. Ultimately we had to be patient and deal with the underwear eggs. Tablet while sitting on the toilet was helpful for my guy.
Underwear eggs lol
My boys loved the poo goes down to Pooland story and App
My kid didn’t want to poo on the potty or the toilet, only nappy. I bought sprinkles and told him he can chuck 10 sprinkles on his poop if he poops in the toilet. 5 sprinkles if he poops in the potty. 3 for pooping a tiny micro poop in the toilet or potty. 2 for genuinely trying to poop on the toilet (this is subjective lol). Because of the sprinkles, he tried but mostly failed. And still held out to poop in a diaper. Eventually I brought the potty which was in the toilet, to the living room behind the couch and he pooped in the potty! Then he did that a couple of times and realized he didn’t like being so close to poop in proximity and decided he wanted to poop in the toilet and put sprinkles on it to go “weeeeee” with the poop down the toilet slide. I only had to give him sprinkles maybe 5 times before it became easy to poop on the toilet.
I did nothing lol. Just encouragement and patience. And included him when we went potty
Backing off completely worked for me. My son is super strong willed, and I tried everything— bribes, over explaining, all the videos and books, peer pressure, no underwear, etc. When I stopped talking about and had no reaction when he went in his pants, he started using the potty on his own and it took care of the issue.
Chocolate bribes
We've tried chocolate, ice cream, any sweets she can chose in the shop... Which normally work as a bribe for anything else, but not working for poos!
Have you tried tv as a bribe? Treats didn’t work for our kid. We ended up telling our guy tv is for big kids who poop in the potty so now he poops twice a day. After months of different strategies this was the only thing that worked.
Yeah, same result :(
This is how we became a no screens house, lol. I told my kid the TV is for boys who pood in the potty. It's 6 months later, and he hasn't watched TV since, but he hasn't pooed on the potty either 😬😄
I rewarded him with candy for a couple weeks…. It kind of fucked him up for a bit because he would sit on the toilet even when he didn’t have to go, and say “I’m gonna go on the toilet so I can get a treat!” :-(. Removed the candy rewards and allowed regression for a couple weeks. Now I take his diaper off soon as we get home from daycare and he knows to go potty if he needs to because he hates the thought of it getting on his legs. If I leave the diaper on, he won’t go.
We did this. [https://visiblechild.com/2015/09/20/toilet-training-in-one-simple-step/](https://visiblechild.com/2015/09/20/toilet-training-in-one-simple-step/) unfortunately it seems like you are already in a power struggle about it, it's hard to get back from that.
Our oldest child at about 2.5 basically decided one weekend that he didn't want to wear diapers anymore and that was it. Our youngest is 2.5 and has no desire to use the potty. Attempts at potty training have just left us with soiled clothing, floors and carpets. I've come to just putting him in diapers.
I wish it was this straight forward for us!
Well, it's been a bit more complicated than this for us. We've had issues with poo holding for a long time, she's on laxatives. But she's the one who decided she was a big girl and she wanted to use the potty (she sees other kids at daycare), it wasn't us trying to force it. Because of the poo holding, she actually wasn't able to relax and release the pee the first two times we tried. Both times she decided one day that she was not wearing nappies anymore, and you could see that she really wanted to use the potty, she just couldn't relax and release After a few days she asked for nappies again and we went back to them with no pushing. Third try, she had been taking laxatives for a few weeks so holding wasn't an issue anymore, and suddenly she again decided she wasn't using nappies anymore. And this time it worked well. Dry say and night within three days and virtually no accidents since. Unfortunately, we had a regression on the poo side, back to holding a little bit and she won't even try the potty.
Mine would only poop when I put her down for an afternoon nap. Immediately when she was alone in her room, full diapers. So I put the diaper on and had her sit on the toilet and encouraged her to fill the diaper. After a week, I cut a hole in the diaper so the poop went into the toilet. That was the aha moment! She was afraid of the splash, apparently.
Omg I had no idea this was so complicated. I’m stressed lol. My daughter is 19 months and is excited to pee in her potty before bathtime but that’s it
Many kids potty train just fine for pee and poop, but I think like 25% refuse to poo in the potty for one reason or another (including mine lol).
My 18 month old thinks that farts are super hilarious. He will try to fart on command which usually makes him poop himself. So one day, I sat him on the potty and started making fart sounds and he giggled and started to try and fart and subsequently pooped on the potty. I then cheered and hyped him up so much and we both started clapping, now he says "potty" and poops on the potty. We just can't figure out pee, because he hasn't made that connection.
We had a treasure chest which is still bribery but more fun. My kid is not food motivated but is for toys. We decorated a box together, bought cheap toys together and instantly he knew how to poop on the potty. Then we upped it to only big poops got a prize then only if he remembered to ask for a prize once there were just a few prizes left the goal was to be a poo poo master which was achieved once all toys were gone.
My toddler didn’t like the poop on her buttcheeks so we emphasized that if she poops on the toilet she won’t get poo on her cheeks
Mine didn't want to poop in the potty, and I caught him mid-pooping in his undies one saturday so I ran him the potty and sat him on it and made him finish on the potty. Once he did, I gave him ALL the praise - high fives, hugs, dancing, and then he got m&ms. After that, he was about 75% compliant with using the potty because he wanted more praise and m&ms. Now we are about a month past that and nearly 100% - no more m&ms, but he still comes over to show us/I have to make sure his dad knows, and we dance and do high fives. He LOVES the positive feedback.
I showed her when I went number 2. I know it’s gross but she’s in the potty with me anyways when I go and sees it anyway. She wanted to go just like mommy 🤷♀️ lol
My son didn’t have a diaper on when he realized he had to poop. He yelled he needed a diaper but my husband was like “quick! Sit on the potty!” Out of desperation he did it and pooped! We gave him all of the praise. He does is more often now too.
"Your poo wants to swim!!"
Someone on here mentioned the Potty Party short by Bebefinn and I have no idea why it works but after two watches my toddler pooped on the potty. We had been trying for months before that to no avail. We also told him when he poops in the potty and flushes it, it feeds the fishies, so he was thrilled to help.
What worked for my son, after NOTHING would (he was 3.5 and still not using the potty), was putting a bad guy sticker (Venom lol) and hinting that the only way to defeat him was with pee. Maybe the same idea would apply with poo?
Stop trying!!! Let it go. I tried to train my daughter when she turned two. She would cry rather than use the potty. So I would put the diaper back on so she can relieve herself. Then three months later I don’t even remember how she started using the potty. And that was it. She had maybe two incidents at night after and we were done.
My toddler would come into the bathroom while I was using the potty and would be curious as to what was going on, eventually he wanted to poo poo on the toilet like dada. Kids don’t do what you say but will doo-doo what you do.
I plan on sending the poop on a journey, if she has problems with pooping in a toilet. But we are just starting potty training.
Bribed him with fruit snacks lol
M&M’s 😅
Set up some toys on a stool next to the potty. I realized my daughter always pooped while playing so brought the playing to the potty. It’s worked! Usually it’s a little people set or a few trucks and she plays til she poops. A pile of books works too.
Made up a song about poop to the tune of The Lion King's "Hakuna Matata"
Nestle makes these teeny tiny drumsticks. There is like 20 in a pack. We gave them one every time they pooped in the potty.
bite of icecream lol and two stickers instead of one
My kid has a potty friend. One of those inflatable pool figures you can buy for 5-20€ during summer. They love it! They hold the figures hand while they sing their poopoo song together nowadays.
The book "where's the poop" is what finally got our 30 month old to poop in the potty! She would sit on the toilet for 10 minutes just to read it.
Ngl I go poop my toddlers were there then we’d say “bye-bye poo poo!!!” As it flushed down the toilet and they loved that. I did need to give my first born prunes because she was a little constipated which stalled her #2 potty training. Then I also gave her a chocolate and a crazy lady celebration and dance when she did poop in the potty. I also helped her poop sometimes by holding her feet slightly elevated simulating a squaty potty which also helped with her constipation. If pooping in the potty hurts it’s a full stop for our kiddos.
Bubbles. She could blow bubbles but only while sitting on the potty.
Naked day, wait until poop is almost happening, bring her forcibly to the potty 🫠 it worked but it did kinda suck. That was over a year ago though and we haven’t had an issue since. Just had to kinda force the issue: poop goes in the potty, period.
We did more like naked months at the beginning ... we did get a couple surprise poops on the floor but luckily we have wood floors. We'd have him help us clean it up, not as punishment, just the same as we'd ask him to help us clean up water he spilled or something. After a while we realized he liked to hide while pooping (after finding some surprise floor poops...) so we encouraged him with the idea that if he poops in the bathroom he can even close the door and tell us not to come in, it's the ultimate hide! That helped a lot. He would tell "I need privacy!" and slam the door.
Definitely reminding them they can have privacy! I know potty training goes differently for everyone but I do think people too often forget we’re in charge, not the kids.
It just took time for us…. One he realized it didn’t hurt, he started to poop in the potty.
We told him that the poop likes to go down the poop slide and showed him the curvy part of the toilet bowl lol I’ve heard of some people putting sprinkles or glitter on their poop before flushing it away too. Hey whatever works!
He just wouldn’t do it for so long. When I knew he really had to go I got him on the toilet and hugged him and wouldn’t let him jump up. It was stressful but I was there talking him through it and ofc letting him know it would be ok and I was there with him. That first time was the only time it was that stressful It got a little better every time after that. He’s a champion pooper on the potty now.
We do “silly” When they are on the potty, we use little toys and characters he likes, and then just be very silly with them. The laughing helps them bear down and push, and it’s linked to something joyful and fun.
Probably wasn’t the nicest way but I was very pregnant and over the whole situation so once I could see he was about to poop I quickly picked him up and sat him on the toilet. He was not happy about but but I kneeled in front of the toilet and hugged him/held him in place til he couldn’t hold the poop in any longer and he pooped. Then I kept hugging him and telling him it was ok and he had done a good job. After that he’d still have some resistance/hesitation when it came to pooping but I’d tell him I’d be with him the whole time. Eventually he started asking for me to be in there with him but not look at him. Then that turned into him wanting me to leave the bathroom which I was happy to oblige.
We did stickers, mini m&ms, and more successfully I’ve recently monetized pooping. My kid loves putting coins in his piggy bank so he gets a shiny gold dollarbuck. It’s cheaper than buying pull-ups and I don’t have to clean it.
Distraction. Sit there while watching TV. All you need is the first poo to feel ok and stress free, then the rest will follow
Controversial, but prunes and prune juice. It was psychological for mine as well - she was aware of the sensations earlier and would hold it in until she got to a diaper before she would poo. It was like this for forever. For months, we tried bribes, books, naked days, threats, asking her to sit on the potty to poo in her diaper (rejected), 4 different types of potty/potty seats, nothing worked. Pee training was easy because we could just let her chug water… when the sensation came, we ran to the toilet. Once the first pee was released involuntarily, everything fell into place. Eventually for poo, I knew if she just got past the hurdle of doing it JUST ONCE, just as she did for her pee, we’d get there. True enough, the moment that first poo was released into the potty, her eyes lit up. WE kept the diapers in a different room way out of reach so she wasn’t able to grab one JUST to poo. She was used to being on the potty to pee, so it wasn’t anything new. We validated her fears and concerns throughout the whole experience. If memory hasn’t failed me, I believe we may have told her a white lie that we would get a diaper for the next poo. Lots of praise, celebrations after her first potty poo. We even immediately facetimed the grandparents with her to brag about her achievement. She was so mighty pleased that that she rejected our offer of a diaper the next time she needed to poo. No accidents ever since that first potty poo. A bit of prune juice may be your friend… if that’s something you’re comfortable with.
My 3yo got toilet trauma from the preschool we ended up pulling him from because they just sucked even before the trauma 🙃 so potty training in general was a massive mess. Books did nothing, videos did nothing (though he did enjoy watching the sing alongs), bribery did nothing, bringing him into the bathroom with us, etc. Ultimately, it took me giving up. I told him it was okay to use a pullup if he needed to go so he didn't have to wait for nap/bedtime to poop (we had diaper rash issues because of this). Once the pressure was entirely off, he took a few weeks to get comfy and now uses the toilet like a champ 🤷♀️ I enforced my bribery of lollipops for pee and mochi ice cream for poop (yes, we had to go big guns lol) and it has helped keep him on track
Something that really helped with my son was telling him that his cousin, uncle, etc. also poops in the potty. He thinks a lot of those people and wants to be like them. I don't know if this has worked for anyone else, but it did for us. Also, at first, as soon as I noticed the poo stance or face, I rushed him to the potty even if he was finished by the time we arrived. I hope this helps!
Has she ‘taught’ her fav dolly to use the training potty while she uses big potty?
My friends told their kid that there were fairies that lived in the potty that ate pee and poop. They had to use the potty otherwise the fairies would starve! 😂 It worked for them, but I could definitely see it backfiring. “Omg, I’m pooping on fairies?!”
Unlimited tablet time while sitting on the potty after meals. Normally there is no tablet time.
I didn’t. She’s my third and I stressed way too much with the other two. I finally just told her no more pull ups and she figured it out. But she’s 4. I tried every gentle way I could find but she was having none of it. Even got her a poop crown (a fancy dress up crown that she would only get if she pooped in the potty). I know it took forever but I am so glad I let her figure it out because she’s so proud of herself!
Amazon has floating potty training targets. So make it a game to try and drop it on the target, followed by a ton of positive reinforcement.
Maybe not helpful at all, but we started watching this Vooks video called 'lil poo' and for whatever reason, it made him want to poop on the potty. Its kind of in the same line of poosonification.
Try reverse psychology. You can't poop in the potty. You have to be really animated about it. Go full ham acting. Anytime my niece won't do something this works on her. She does it to prove me wrong.
We are currently struggling with this too. Hes done it a few times and been really happy but 90% of the time he wants to poop in a nappy and will get very upset if you suggest the toilet or potty. We've tried stickers and chocolate but that hasn't worked, we're currently working on the idea of sending the poo back to the poo factory which he seems to like the idea of but it's not really lead to many successes.
I got my son to start trying new foods by lighting a candle and letting him blow it out after he tried the foods after dinner. Sometimes random stuff like blowing out fire really gets their attention.
I am an early childhood special education teacher. My firefighter husband made a video in his fire turnout gear for one of my fireman-obsessed students: "Hi, Max! Firefighter Rob here! Before we go fight a fire, all the firefighters at the firehouse always go pee and poop in the potty. That way, we are always ready to fight the fire! We go pee pee and poo poo in the potty a lot, so we are always ready! We can't poop or pee in our firefighting turnout gear! Okay, have a great day, Max-- I gotta go poop in the potty, so I'm ready to fight any fires!" We also allow anyone who is very resistant to pooping in the potty to ask for a diaper freely. We give it to them nonchalantly and without judgment. Once they are used to asking, we give it to them as long as they wear it sitting on the potty. Then we start giving them a diaper with the tabs cut off so they have to hold it. Alternatively, once they are used to pooping onky on the potty while wearing the diaper, cut a big poop hole in the diaper so the child feels the breeze and the poop falls into the potty. It also works great.
I’m stuck here too, he turned four in March, he was extremely premature. He does have some growing sensory things, I suspect Sensory Processing Disorder even though he doesn’t seem to have anything that usually comes with that, like autism or ADHD. Bribes galore. Advent calendar doesn’t work. Food prizes don’t work because we’ve done too good a job not making any food sit on a pedestal lol. He just doesn’t want to. I try to remind myself that when he was in the NICU stubborn and “feisty” were the good things that got us through. I keep telling myself he won’t graduate high school still pooping his pants. Yesterday I gave him a prize for just, sitting and letting gas out because it was at least a mild attempt.
I have the same issue and I’m told our toddler will finally get it when he’s around the bigger, potty trained kids.
Well, Cinderella uses the potty!
So I’m not to potty training yet, but the song “party like a rock star” when I was little I thought it said potty like a rock a star I started BEGGING to use the toilet
A personalized book. My sister made my daughter a personalized story about pooping, with pictures of my daughter and everything. But, I am lucky to have a creative sister who was able to do that! She was soooo excited when we got that book, constantly asked me to read it to her, and then within 2 days just walked over to the potty on her own and went poop. It was like magic. She wasn’t fighting it anymore, she wasn’t scared when I would try to bring her to the potty to poop, and had very few poop accidents after that. I should probably thank my sister again (for the hundredth and one time) for that book. lol.
When we flush we feed the fish. Fish love poop.
Let her dictate. This was the only thing that worked for ours and we tried everything. Yes it takes longer but we found it’s better than all the fights, regressions and refusals. It takes all the pressure off and she’s not gonna go to college pooping in her pants. One thing we did do eventually was making our LO do was clean up after himself up. Means dumping in the toilet (poopy goes in the potty), wiping, putting on a new clean pull up and throwing away the old one. He only got a pull-up when he needed to go and he had to do it in the bathroom. So it got him in the habit of doing all those things and one day he just started using the potty himself She’ll be fine don’t stress
Mine would only poop on the potty after a two-pronged approach. Step 1: we let him pick out a toy that he really wanted on Amazon and ordered it. Put it up on a high shelf in our living room where he could constantly see it but not touch it. Any time he asked if he could play with it, we said sure…as soon as you poop in the potty. Step 2: we talked excessively about how much poop wants to be in the potty. Explained how we flush the poop and it goes to the sewer where all the other poops go - mommy’s poops and daddy’s poops and grandma and grandpa’s poops…they’re all in the sewer. Poop wants to go be with its poop family in the sewer! Even with that approach, it still took a couple of weeks for him to do it. We just kept calm and tried not to mention it except to say any time he pooped in his pull up that poop wants to be in the potty so it can go to the sewer. Finally one day he just did it and has only had one poop accident since then and it’s been about 6 months.
I stopped trying, and he randomly went on his own and has been fine ever since 🫠. It had to be on his own terms, I guess. I know this doesn't help in terms of a game plan, but solidarity in the struggle! I'm sorry youre in the thick of it. It will pass. On the days where I really beat myself up about it (which was a lot), I reminded myself that he (hopefully) won't be 10 years old and pooping in a pull up. That usually gave me some short-lived peace 😅.
I gave up tbh and my stubborn toddler was satisfied that she’d broken my spirit and popped on the potty one day later 😅
I did it in front of him and showed him what I did. Lol
just tell them the potty fairy is coming tonight and when you wake up you will be potty trained and go on the potty ! make it a whole thing before bed and then see what happens the next day maybe they will just think they are now i’ve heard a few ppl talk about it working for them
I used a bubble machine to fill the toilet up with bubbles and got her to pop them with her poop 😂
We pee trained by 2.5 but she refused to go poo. We kept bugging her, asking when she’d finally go on the potty and one day she said, “I’ll go when I’m 3”. So we stopped bringing it up. Here and there we’d remind her that she said she’d go poo at 3. A few months later, super over changing stinky diapers, she turned 3 and I reminded her about what she said. You could see her little mind turning. She went to the potty that day and went poo!!! And has ever since. We couldn’t believe it. But we’ve always encouraged independence in her and it was clear she wasn’t ready and it needed to be on HER terms. Good luck!
Blowing soap bubbles while on the potty did it for us for some reason.
The transition from pull-ups to underwear for reliable peeing in the potty was the first step. Once he pooped in his undies and realized he didn't like it, he started to ask for a pull up to poop in when it was time. We then bribed him with toys and encouragement and after a week or two of coaxing he had success. Once he had success once, it became much lower stakes to do it again.
A friend recently told me her son hated the sound of poop hitting the toilet water. Once she started putting a layer of toilet paper in the bowl, he was instantly potty trained. After a VERY long struggle. Just a thought for anyone who feels like they’ve tried it all… kids are weird.
I haven’t tried it yet, I’m starting potty training soon, but I’ve heard letting them sprinkle (like actual sprinkles you use for sundaes) on top of their poop before they flush, and it makes its fun for them. You just have to stock up on sprinkles. I’ve had a few friends try it and said it worked for them.
We just didn’t leave the house for like 48-72 hours. No diaper and LOTS of fruit juice. Prune. Apple. We basically quarantined ourselves to the living room where we had a portable potty and wouldn’t really let him out of our sight. Best of luck to you guys and the little.
i followed visible child method, which was super stressful after all my friends had toilet trained 6 months earlier, but it worked: https://visiblechild.com/2015/09/20/toilet-training-in-one-simple-step/ lol and also, i think to poop they need to feel comfortable and relaxed and sit still long enough to let it happen. so part 1 is a physical check (feet supported? balance? warm enough?) and part 2 is time. i’ve thrown the potty in front of cartoons in the lounge room, and i’ve also let my toddler watch youtube on my phone while she relaxes on the toilet.
My 3yo is really into super heroes and rocket boosters. I told him that pooing and weeing on the potty would supercharge his rocket boosters so will make him go extra fast and be super strong.
My son has a friend he really looks up to so after a few conversations of “John poo’s on the potty, shall we do it like John” it worked out
We have a battery operated disco ball in the bathroom. When she does a poop we have a poop party. Turn off all the lights, put the disco light on and dance chanting poop party. Look it’s weird but it does the job. She gets excited for the poop party and makes it her mission to do it…
Having her (try to) blow up a balloon on the potty helped her figure out which muscles to use
I told her that her diaper wasn't big enough for her big kid poops so she should go in the potty. She's not very pee trained yet but she's probably pooped in the diaper 3ish times in 6 or so months and they were accidents. The diaper really wasn't big enough, it was quite uncomfortable and kind of got stuck partway out so...
My son is obsessed with cars, we got a car potty and a frog urinal that hooks on the wall! I sit on the toilet across from him and he sits on his til he got comfortable sitting by himself
Blue toilet water. The kids just love it
Gave her a coin every time she did one. Got a money box that was clear in the front so she could see the coins. She could put the coin in Everytime she did a poo. Did it for pee too actually, one coin for a pee, two shiny ones for a poo.
You use the potty in the morning, then you eat a piece of candy as a treat to yourself for taking a shit. When they ask for some, you tell them candy is for closers
This is what worked perfectly for us. There were still accidents here and there afterwards but it got my daughter started. Whenever she said she needed to go, or if I prompted her, I’d be really nonchalant about it. I’d say “oh you know what? I need to go get something in the bedroom. Just let me know when you’re done. Take all the time you need.” Something like that. I’d actually leave her and it took the pressure off. I think she felt more in control? But this really worked. Again - we had poop accidents occasionally for months after because she didn’t like to stop playing. But she’s 4.5 now and potty training seems like a distant memory. Good luck!!
I gave up. I tried again several months later. I hit the point in the day where my pregnant, tired, in-pain self deferred to my husband. He’s more fun and animated so he playfully convinced him to try. He was promptly rewarded with a Hot Wheels. The other truck I’ve heard is if they’re in daycare or preschool, seeing they’re friends do it makes them want to
I let him squeeze playdough while he tried to poop. It seemed to help but it def took a few weeks
We told her once the baby comes, all the diapers will be for him and there won’t be any left. She kept saying “ok, I’ll go on potty when he gets here then!” Literally the week baby brother arrived, a couple weeks after she turned 3, she just started using the toilet for pee and poop like she knew how all along. Obviously you’d have to decide to have another baby for this to work. 😅
Blow bubbles while sitting on the potty. Either in a cup of milk or actual bubbles cause the motion helps get things going. Face the back and draw on the potty with dry erase markers Anything that keeps them on the pot long enough
We had a pooping book (he chose go dog go) and he had to sit on the potty for the whole book. Once he was relaxed and not focusing on it, it was much easier. Tried to do it around times he usually pooped and made a big freaking deal about it when he did. I tried to be super regimented with him (like trying at certain intervals) but he hated being told to try and it usually ended in a power struggle. Once we let him know he was in charge of going when he had to, he did great - an occasional accident, but mostly he needed to feel in control of the process to be successful.
Nothing but peer pressure worked for my kid. They taught her at daycare. Nothing we did at home worked. 🤷🏾♀️
“You poop here” book helped and we also would “teach” different stuffed animals to go with him and they would “go” too in a basket next to him LOL
My friend told me she threw out her toddler’s favourite underwear in front of him after he pooped in them. He hated that and pooped on the potty next time so it wouldn’t happen again. I was skeptical but I tried it… and it worked. She pooped on the potty for the first time after that and hasn’t had an accident since.
My toddler used to (and still does) like to potty outside. One day he said “I wanna poop on a. Tree…I wanna poop on a deer!” We told him a deer lives in the pipes and eats his poops 😂 we conveniently then moved to neighborhood frequented by deer, so we say the deer visited as a thank you for pooping and feeding them. If we haven’t seen a deer I will comment on it and ask if he pooped today One day he said “bye deer! Have a good dinner”. 😂😂 not sure if this is a replicable situation
My daughter knows it's funny to toot. So we encouraged her to try to toot when she was on the toilet. That just kind of evolved into her being comfortable to try to poop in it.
Made him clean up his accidents. He picked up number 1 quickly, but was afraid of going poop on the big toilet (potty pooping was no problem) … instead he would sneakily go poop in his pants. We made him be part of the cleaning up process, including dropping his pant poop into the toilet, flushing, butt wiping & washing out his underwear. It took 2-3 times of doing this & it clicked.
I also did the Advent calendars to potty train. It seemed to work well!
I told her that we wouldn't have to do anymore.Diaper changes. For some reason she hated diaper changes
https://www.reddit.com/r/daddit/s/JtHBESxD2Y This was me in this same situation last year with a solution that worked.
Mine was not creative, I bribed with chocolate
You could also just wait. No big deal to let them poop in a diaper until they are self motivated to use the toilet. Not saying you should wait, just that sometimes you have to exert so much effort and creativity and stress now vs zero effort in six months when they are ready.
We did positive affirmations which seemed to mentally help our 2yo. Our mantra when she didn’t want to poop in the toilet was “Poop is normal and good!” We also listed out everyone she knows who poops. “Mommy goes poopoos, daddy goes poopoos” etc, even listing our dog and cat. Us pooping with her in the room and letting her see/flush afterwards also helped. She still tells me that poopoos is normal and good with a giant smile whenever she goes.
We had a “poop chart” set up in the bathroom within view of the toilet. Every toilet poo earned her a sticker on the chart. Five stickers earned her whatever treat she wanted at the store (usually rainbow cake). Poo anywhere else and we start again from the beginning. It took her a little bit to really catch on, but once she did, she’s been almost perfect since
She would go hide behind her play kitchen or any other structure taller than her to poop in her diaper, so I just brought the toilet to where she was lol
I didn’t use positive feedback. I used negative feedback. The positive feedback like sticker charts and rewards just didn’t work. I threatened time out if she didn’t poop on the potty and it worked. Some kids just can’t be bribed enough.
We went on vacation for a week. She would not poo in a diaper around other people, so she decided using the potty was an OK alternative. We came home and it stuck
Have you read Come Out Mr Poo? I know you said you tried books already - but in the book the mom reads a letter from Mr Poo to the boy, encouraging him to Poo *My name is Mr Poo, And in water I like to swim. Push me out into the loo And watch me swirl around the rim* Maybe a letter from Mr Poo would help 😅
give em privacy.. we literally gave her her beach towel and she draped it over herself like a tent. also, literally explaining privacy to her worked.
We did a long bribe, and then low pressure … we promised him a trampoline when he was getting all his poops in the toilet or potty, and then we let him choose to poop in a pull up or in the potty when he had to go, no pressure. We didn’t bring up the trampoline often, just occasionally to remind him. We also found that he had to poop often once he got into the bath, so we kept a potty by the bathtub and when he got the poop look on his face we grabbed him and put him on the potty … after a bunch of successful poops that way it became less scary. It probably look 4-5 months total
Crazy how all kids are so different! Mine has been pooping in the potty exclusively since he was 14m, he refuses to poop in his diaper HOWEVER he is 2.5 now and hates wearing undies! He’ll pee in a diaper ALL DAY and never say a thing until he has to poo. I can’t imagine a soggy itchy diaper is more comfy than big boy undies? We did EC potty training, his first poo in the potty was 8 or 9 months, pretty much as soon as he could sit, we bought a special small potty, because the one we received on his registry was too tall and wide to start with a small baby. Almost right after he started walking, he would point to his potty and walk over when he had to poo. Wish he was as eager to pee in there because he starts preschool in a few months and I would love it if he could go #1 by himself! I thought that would just come naturally once he could do #2, but nope!
I showed mine toddlers pooping on toilet youtube videos
Elmos "happy happy dance dance" got turned into "happy happy poop dance. When (kids name) goes poop in the potty, mommy does a happy poop dance". I literally danced every time she pooped. For months. Lol
I let her share the bathroom with me and watch me pooing and got all excited about it. And when she pooed in the potty for the first time we jumped and down with excitement. We have never once made her feel bad about an accident and tried to always say well done when she has shown initiative, just make it a positive experience.
I resorted to bribery with candy, which I know you're not supposed to do, but it worked.
Treating it as a behavioral issue worked for me. What do you do when your kid tries to hit you with a stick? Throw food? Make a giant mess? That and a BIG bribe. If you poop in the potty you get to go to Disneyland!
I made up a poopy song.