Hi. My name is Jenn, and I have an almost 4 1/2 year old who won't poop on the potty.
We've tried everything with Ben: promises of gifts/toys, trips to his favorite places (i.e. Chuck E. Cheese), ice cream, Lucky Charms, etc. We've also tried taking things away: he hasn't played his beloved Wii in over a month, and we can't go to Chuck E. Cheese till he does the deed. He doesn't budge. If he was 2 1/2 or 3, I wouldn't put so much pressure on him. But he's 4 years old!!!!!!! It's a battle of the wills, and this is something I obviously have no control over. Grrrrrrr!
As it stands now, he requests a diaper, we put it on him, he does his business, and we clean up and return to just underwear. He usually stands to go. I thought if I could get him to go sitting down on the toilet with the diaper on, he might eventually work his way to no diaper. He did that once but hasn't done it since. The pre-school teacher suggested letting him go in the diaper but making him do all the clean up. What is in the diaper must go in the toilet, because that's where it belongs. If that means bare hands, so be it. We've done that only once because he hasn't gone since Saturday night. He definitely didn't like it. I needed a clothespin for my nose.
My next step is calling up the doctor to see what he recommends. I'm thinking I'd like to try a stool softener or laxative if I must. Enema?!! Thankfully, I know that he doesn't need to be cured of this issue to start pre-school in a few weeks, but it definitely puts the pressure on! Any advice is most welcome.
We've tried everything with Ben: promises of gifts/toys, trips to his favorite places (i.e. Chuck E. Cheese), ice cream, Lucky Charms, etc. We've also tried taking things away: he hasn't played his beloved Wii in over a month, and we can't go to Chuck E. Cheese till he does the deed. He doesn't budge. If he was 2 1/2 or 3, I wouldn't put so much pressure on him. But he's 4 years old!!!!!!! It's a battle of the wills, and this is something I obviously have no control over. Grrrrrrr!
As it stands now, he requests a diaper, we put it on him, he does his business, and we clean up and return to just underwear. He usually stands to go. I thought if I could get him to go sitting down on the toilet with the diaper on, he might eventually work his way to no diaper. He did that once but hasn't done it since. The pre-school teacher suggested letting him go in the diaper but making him do all the clean up. What is in the diaper must go in the toilet, because that's where it belongs. If that means bare hands, so be it. We've done that only once because he hasn't gone since Saturday night. He definitely didn't like it. I needed a clothespin for my nose.
My next step is calling up the doctor to see what he recommends. I'm thinking I'd like to try a stool softener or laxative if I must. Enema?!! Thankfully, I know that he doesn't need to be cured of this issue to start pre-school in a few weeks, but it definitely puts the pressure on! Any advice is most welcome.
I wish I had some advice for you. I know that's frustrating! Jacob used to poop in his underwear until he was almost 3 years old. I threw out A LOT of underwear, but he eventually got it. Once he was out of diapers, we didn't go back to them, so he had to deal with icky poop on his bottom until he decided to start using the toilet. I'm not saying that will work for you, I'm just saying I've been there and it's no fun. Praying he gets it sorted out soon!
ReplyDeleteKaelyn was like that and as you know she still has accidents in her panties. She has accidents because I refuse to offer her a diaper. It took a battle of will for her to even use the potty to pee. We make Kaelyn clean out her panties. The only times I haven't was when she caught an awful stomach bug and she had liquid poop. She couldn't help making it to the bathroom. If he can go in a diaper he's not having trouble going it's the place really. I know it sounds off the wall but my kids have a little book rack in the bathroom and they will read books while pooping. It's made it more of a game and something to look forward to. LOL. Maybe something like that to make it 'his space'
ReplyDelete