4 Poop Potty-Training Tips
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From an early age, I have been trying to read Gavin’s elimination signs and have been somewhat successful. In the earlier days, I would be able to catch him peeing as well, but as he grew older and more mobile, he has been less cooperative when it came to peeing on the toilet. However, I have been able to get him to poop on the toilet from time to time. The pooping success tended to go through cycles of hits and misses and just when I thought he had it right, he would start pooping into his diaper again.
Since Gavin started to develop more words and when he demonstrated that he knew what I was saying, I started teaching him how to tell me when he needed to go to the toilet. Unfortunately, he still pees in his diaper, but recently, he started to tell me when he needed the toilet to poop.
The first time, I was nursing him to sleep when he suddenly got up, crawled off the bed and ran towards the toilet. The door was shut and he started banging on the bathroom door. A little slow on the uptake, I asked him what he wanted and then he said, “Ah Mi! Mmmm mmmm!” I popped him on the toilet but he seemed ready to get off again so I gave him Daddy’s car magazine to browse through. Shortly after, I heard the distinct pooping sounds.
After that first time, Gavin has since told me on two other occasions that he needed to poop and successfully pooped in the toilet without making a mess in his diaper (except for a bit of leakage one night when he was playing with his trains – quite a good effort since he was occupied with a favourite subject). He likes reading Daddy’s car magazines while he’s on the toilet – I also think it helps to relax him and get his bowels moving.
In the past, I would catch him in the process of pooping and quickly take him to the bathroom. Now he can alert me about his need to poop. Now if only he could tell me when he needs to pee…
Anyway, when toilet training a willing toddler, I find these 4 tips help:
- If your toddler hasn’t got the words to tell you yet, try to catch him in the act and put him on the toilet as soon as you realise what he’s up to. Usually, if he’s busy pushing his poop out, he won’t resist if you try to put him on the toilet.
- Tell him what he’s doing on the toilet – i.e. give him words to describe the action. Sounds are great because it is easy for him to make them and associate them with the action.
- Toddlers understand what you say, even if they cannot speak back. Remind him to tell you when he needs to go to the toilet. For instance, I’ll say to Gavin, “If you need to mmm mmm, tell Mummy. Say ‘Ah Mi, mmm mmm,’ okay?”
- If he’s on the toilet and nothing seems to be happening, a book is a great distraction while you wait for nature to do the rest. In the past, there were a few times when Gavin indicated that he needed to poop but when I got him on the toilet and nothing came out, he would want to get off. I would tend take him off and put his diaper back on only to have him poop into the diaper five minutes later.
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Other posts that might interest you:
- Potty Training Regression
- Natural Infant Hygiene Regression
- Elimination Communication – Another Accomplishment
- Toilet Training for a Boy
- Toddler Development: Night Time Potty Training
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[...] it in all aspects of Gavin’s toilet habits. On and off, we would have him “poop-trained” only to have him regress back to pooping in his diaper. These days, it is still a hit and [...]
[...] his potty). I found it easier to read Gavin’s poop signs and hence he was sort of “poop trained” quite early – although we continued to have a few accidents along the [...]
[...] To be honest, I never really attempted to practice natural infant hygiene fully or completely. I did try to practice it for a few hours a day while we were at home but not when we went out. Even with this partial practice of NIH, we had some successes peeing and poop-training Gavin, interspersed with phases of regression. There was even a phase when he would actively tell me he needed to use the bathroom. [...]