Sorry its long....my 4 year old son wont do number 2's on the toilet. Number 1's are fine. He has to have a nappy or pull up on to do a number 2, but wears undies in general. Ive tried just not buying nappies anymore, but he just about ended up in hospital as he just stopped doing number 2's all together and held it in, i went to every effort under the sun to encourage him to go but nothing worked, ended up taking him to the doctors as he just wouldnt go and after several days of medication and eating certain foods to help him go, it was back in nappys and he was at least doing number 2's again. As he is now 4, he really needs to be using the toilet for both 1's and 2's but absolutely nothing i try works, he just holds it in, when he askes for a nappy to go and i say ' no ur a big boy now and do the whole big boy speech' theres no tantrums, no crying, if i wont put a nappy on him when he needs to go then he just wont go and the cycle repeats. Ive tried sticker charts, bribery with toys/ice cream and pretty much anything i can think to bribe him with, ive tried being firm and not letting him get off the toilet until hes gone and we sat there for hours, confiscating toys, letting him run around nude at home, getting kids books about boys going to the toilet, getting him to help put his number 2's from the nappy into the toilet...but no luck, nothing is working and its driving me up the wall, help mummas
5 Replies
I've used this method with a number of children I've worked with who were extremely resistant to pooing on the toilet.
Step 1. He can have a nappy as long as he wears it in a set zone, preferably the toilet/bathroom, but you might want to say the hallway outside of the bathroom. He has to stay in that set zone until he has pooped and had his nappy changed.
Step 2. Shrink the zone until he is only allowed in the bathroom/toilet room.
Step 3. He has to be next to the toilet while wearing nappy.
Step 4. Has to be sitting on the toilet while wearing nappy.
Step 5. Has hole cut in nappy so when he poops poo falls through to toilet.
Step 6. Get rid of nappy.
Each child will take longer to master each step, but don't move on a step unless child has mastered a step (eg doing step without tears and pooing confortably) for at least a week.
It's not a short method but I've had success with multiple children who were extremely resistant to change in this area.
I will definitely give this a go, and hopefully we will have some success
I feel your pain.. We tried absolutely everything to get our son to use the toilet for poos and NOTHING worked.. My story is yours to a tee.. We just kept giving him the pullups and 1 day something just clicked and he went to the toilet and did a POO and has been pull up free now for 4 weeks... He will be 7 in April... My advice to you is keep giving him the pull ups and keep trying no pull ups and one day he will just get it.. it will save both you and him so much stress in the long run..
good luck mumma
My son was the same ! We've had so many issues with constipation it's crazy !!
But there is hope ! My son is now 5.5 and goes to the toilet no problems !!!
We did everything just as you described ! But as someone else said here I don't really know what it was in the end other then it just clicking for him and he was ready ! What we did in the lead up was -1 let him choose a new kids toilet seat - which at first he was happy to just try out and sit in for a bit (but I did not pressure him I just encouraged him to try and often for a while he would sit for 5mins and then want to get off for a nappy but I let him as I wanted him to be comfortable ) 2 we kept up with the big boy stuff (eg you know your a big boy now and big boys do poos on the toilet ! 3 his poo actually started hurting him in the nappy because there was no where for it to go so everytime I said to him "did you know if you did this on the toilet if wiukd just fall away and then it won't hurt/be uncomfortable !?"
4 every time he did a poo in a nappy it was his responsibility to empty it into the toilet and take the nappy to the bin ! Not in a shaming way of its gross but in a your big enough to be responsible with ur poo now so you do this part - and tie that in with "did u know if u did it in the toilet in the first place it would be gone and u wouldn't need to take ur nappy outside'"
After a while he just kept saying ok maybe I'll try again today mum ! So we'd sit for 5 mins and gradually that got a bit longer and one day he just did it !!! And we never looked back ! Hurray !!!!!!
Good luck ! It can be tedious and frustrating but sometimes they just need Time! Xo
I had this same problem. Told my very aggressive gp. She thought him holding it was a huuuge problem and told me to use laxatives. They didn't work he kept holding it. Went back to her she told me to buy suppositories. 5-10 minutes after you put it in they need to go urgently so he had no choice i carried him there and he did it on the toilet. Used them for a few days and no more problems.