3 yr old- pooping issue at night

[Anonymous]

I have a 3 1/2 yr old who has been potty trained for about 8-9 months. However, he has only pooped on the toilet TWICE. He holds it in all day and then poops in his night time diaper when hes asleep at night or immediately after we leave his room at bedtime. I truly dont know what to do!!! Can anyone help me? He refuses to go before bed- we put him on the toilet every night before bed and he just refuses.

[Anonymous]

Rewards?

[Anonymous]

Wow. Interesting--I thought we were the only ones! We just went through a couple months of this with our 3.5 year old and thought it would never end! He would wake us up crying to change the night time diaper pretty much every night or in the early morning sometimes too. It was brutal. He had finally potty trained a few weeks before that, so I think it was related.

In terms of possible ways to deal with it--we moved dinner a bit earlier so we could sit him on the potty for a good 45 minutes before bath. He read books and chatted with Daddy while he went. Sometimes worked, sometimes didn't.Then we decided to just play it cool--no getting on his case about going in his diaper and basically just silently changing his diaper and putting him back to bed. Then one day, he stopped doing it. It's been 6 weeks and hasn't happened since--poops in the potty in the afternoon now.

I think it's a phase--clearly somewhat common. Fingers crossed that your little one moves through it quickly!!

[Anonymous]

Take the diaper away. Prepare for wet sheets. Give extra fruit or possibly mild laxative if he starts holding it so he has no choice but to go eventually. Reinforce repeatedly mommy and daddy and Daniel tiger and big boys (or whoever he idolizes) poop in the potty.

[Anonymous]

My youngest son did this for about a year. Ugh, I thought it would never end. We just let him use the pull up. He was already withholding all day (fruit be damned), and I wasn’t interested in adding another potential issue to the mix. We tried everything - he pooped in the toilet when he was good and ready. And before the potty training police come out, this was the kid that we started potty training at 2.

[Anonymous]

We had this issue for a year. Hopkins said it was a consequence of late potty training. We stopped mentioning it at all and gave DS a diaper to poop whenever he asked. It stopped the nightpooping. Also, if you still have a monitor, watch him - he will stand up to poop. Then you can go in and change him.

Nothing you can do at this point but deemphasize the situation. He is pooping at night because he is alone and relaxed and can poop standing up. Try to recreate the alone time in the bathroom and tell him the potty is there when he is ready and he can have adiaper to poop in anytime.

[Anonymous]

I’d say my relax or make it less scary and a good bribe. DD gets to watch Spider-Man when she poops. She will squeeze one out every day for spider man.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’d say my relax or make it less scary and a good bribe. DD gets to watch Spider-Man when she poops. She will squeeze one out every day for spider man.

Not relax, Miralax*

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Take the diaper away. Prepare for wet sheets. Give extra fruit or possibly mild laxative if he starts holding it so he has no choice but to go eventually. Reinforce repeatedly mommy and daddy and Daniel tiger and big boys (or whoever he idolizes) poop in the potty.

This exactly! It’s habit he’s holding on to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had this issue for a year. Hopkins said it was a consequence of late potty training. We stopped mentioning it at all and gave DS a diaper to poop whenever he asked. It stopped the nightpooping. Also, if you still have a monitor, watch him - he will stand up to poop. Then you can go in and change him.

Nothing you can do at this point but deemphasize the situation. He is pooping at night because he is alone and relaxed and can poop standing up. Try to recreate the alone time in the bathroom and tell him the potty is there when he is ready and he can have adiaper to poop in anytime.

I had a feeling its bc we potty trained him too late! My first DS was potty trained before age 3 and had no issues. My second is the one having issues and we potty trained after he turned 3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’d say my relax or make it less scary and a good bribe. DD gets to watch Spider-Man when she poops. She will squeeze one out every day for spider man.

Ill try this, thanks!