Pooping at the playground

[Anonymous]

My 2.5 yo has been potty trained for pee for several months, with very few accidents. We can't get him to poop in the potty or the toilet. He doesn't generally poop in his underwear, unless we are at a playground. He will poop every single time we go to the playground, sometimes multiple times. If we haven't been to the playground in a while for some reason, he will hold it until we go to one. We've been putting him in pullups at the playground because we just can't deal with all the poopy underwear. It doesn't matter if he's in underwear, pullup or commando, he will poop. We bring a potty with us to the playground and SET IT UP RIGHT THERE and he'll poop in his pants anyway. We've tried bribing him with high-quality things. Do we just keep waiting? It's been months. Is there something else we can do?

[Anonymous]

What do you do when he poops in underwear on playground?

[Anonymous]

Where does he go to poop otherwise?

Also please tell me I misread and you aren’t taking your kid to the park commando and letting him poop, or setting up a potty at the playground for him to use.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What do you do when he poops in underwear on playground?

We either stop him to change him, or take him home, depending on the circumstances.

[Anonymous]

I would stay away from the playground until he is able to poop on the toilet at home regularly. When you do go back to the playground leave the potty at home and find a playground with a bathroom and stay close to it so you can mimic having him clean himself up like I assume you do at home. Ditch the pull ups too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where does he go to poop otherwise?

Also please tell me I misread and you aren’t taking your kid to the park commando and letting him poop, or setting up a potty at the playground for him to use.

We definitely bring a travel potty on the playground in case he needs to go. There is no public bathroom at the playground, where else would he go? It has a plastic bag for easy cleanup. We set it off to the side wherever there is some privacy, not like in the middle of the slide.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where does he go to poop otherwise?

He doesn't - he literally will not poop if he's not at a playground. When we were on vacation with family for a week, he didn't poop until the last day, when we went to the playground. He was clearly very uncomfortable. We had him sit many times, for many lengths. We fed him an incredible amount of prunes, etc. He just doesn't go.

[Anonymous]

I also think stay away from the playground until you get this figured out.

But also, if he poops in his underwear at the playground, it’s time to go home. You don’t get to clean up and keep playing.

My guess is he’s holding it in for whatever reason and when he starts running around and really having fun at the playground he relaxes, and is distracted, so he probably doesn’t even notice his body signals and it just comes out.

[Anonymous]

Weird little kid habit. In some way, it makes sense to him to poop in the park. Just avoid the park for awhile.

[Anonymous]

...how often do you go to the playground? I have no idea what advice to give you! And I'm sorry, I can't stop laughing at the idea of a kid that won't use the bathroom ever except when he's near the slide.

Have you tried going to a different playground with a bathroom? What conversations do you have with him about using the potty while you're there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where does he go to poop otherwise?

Also please tell me I misread and you aren’t taking your kid to the park commando and letting him poop, or setting up a potty at the playground for him to use.

We definitely bring a travel potty on the playground in case he needs to go. There is no public bathroom at the playground, where else would he go? It has a plastic bag for easy cleanup. We set it off to the side wherever there is some privacy, not like in the middle of the slide.

You go home or to a nearby business.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I also think stay away from the playground until you get this figured out.

But also, if he poops in his underwear at the playground, it’s time to go home. You don’t get to clean up and keep playing.

My guess is he’s holding it in for whatever reason and when he starts running around and really having fun at the playground he relaxes, and is distracted, so he probably doesn’t even notice his body signals and it just comes out.

I think the first thing you need to work on is pooping when he’s not being that active. It sounds like he’s holding it in which is a bad habit. I would put him back in pull-ups 24/7 until you get this sorted out, because you might be accidentally giving the message that pooping in underwear is less of an option than holding it in, which can be dangerous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also think stay away from the playground until you get this figured out.

But also, if he poops in his underwear at the playground, it’s time to go home. You don’t get to clean up and keep playing.

My guess is he’s holding it in for whatever reason and when he starts running around and really having fun at the playground he relaxes, and is distracted, so he probably doesn’t even notice his body signals and it just comes out.

I think the first thing you need to work on is pooping when he’s not being that active. It sounds like he’s holding it in which is a bad habit. I would put him back in pull-ups 24/7 until you get this sorted out, because you might be accidentally giving the message that pooping in underwear is less of an option than holding it in, which can be dangerous.

We’ve tried him in pull-ups at home - when we haven’t gone to the playground in a while he’ll get serious skid marks because he holds it in. He won’t go in a pull-up at home. He’s also in a diaper every night to sleep and he doesn’t go in that either.

[Anonymous]

No suggestions, but I have a friend whose kid used to do that. He did grow out of it eventually (sometime when he was 4), but it was a pretty gross phase. Hang in there!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:...how often do you go to the playground? I have no idea what advice to give you! And I'm sorry, I can't stop laughing at the idea of a kid that won't use the bathroom ever except when he's near the slide.

Have you tried going to a different playground with a bathroom? What conversations do you have with him about using the potty while you're there?

We tell him there are potty’s in lots of places! We take him them and show him where they are. He’ll pee in them! We’ve gotten the potty books about poop - i can’t I won’t no way, where’s the poop, etc.

It’s nuts. Our first kid didn’t do this! Am also accepting reccomendations for potty training consultants if that is a thing.

We can’t stop going to the playground - his daycare goes (they have the same problem) and we have an older kid who needs sunlight, and we live in downtown Dc with no backyard. Not going to the playground basically means not going outside.