Potty Training Traumas

UUrrrrrrggggghhhhhh.

Well after the successful start to our potty training, we've hit some form of brick wall at some point over August.

T stopped pooing in his potty/the toilet.

Something gave him 'the fear'

So when he did poo in his nappy or wherever, he would scream 'nonononononono'

So at the end of August I kept a day free to stay at home to see if I could get him back on the potty with them as he had done so easily when we started.

About 3pm he went for a wee on his potty, shook his head and said he didn't need a wee, stood up and then the distressed 'i'm about to poo' face appeared.

So I said 'quickly sit on your potty'......AND ALL HELL BROKE LOSE.

My happy, fun loving, smiling boy turned into a demon that they'd have instantly cast in any Exorcist film. He screamed, he bit, he kicked, he hit. I managed to calm him down, but only by taking him off the potty, he cried some more, then fell asleep on me, and cried in his sleep.

I was a bit concerned to say the least.

Hubby and I spent all weekend trying to get him to poo in his potty, he wasn't having it. He would hang on until he had his nappy on or just run as far away in the house or garden as possible and poo himself there, it was quite easy to tell when it had started as he would scream in terror.

We would pick him up when the screams started and run like the wind to the potty or toilet, and if we managed to get even the tiniest molecule of poo in there we would sing and dance like nutters.

So Monday - Friday the following week I essentially stayed at home in one room with him and his potty, determined that if I could just catch him at the right time it would all come back to him and we'd be fixed.

Monday he waited until I went for a wee, then he screamed the second I sat down, Tuesday, he waited till we went in the garden.

Thursday I snuck a pull up on him as we were going out for the afternoon and I knew he needed to poo. He pooed the second I put the damn thing on. So all the nappies went in the bin (barring 'bedtime' nappies) Friday he was pumping all day, I spent about 2 hours with him sat on the toilet and me distracting him, hoping that he would just relax and it would fall out, but nooooo, he held on tightly. At one point it must have started coming and he screamed and screamed, he stayed on the toilet though, I asked him why he didn't want to poo and he said 'it needs to stay in T's bum' I'd read about kids who didn't want to let their poo go.

So I explained to him that everyone poos, and how poo was made. He comes to the toilet every time with me and the Hubby, if we poo, he gives us stickers and cheers, so he knows how it works!

I even got his favourite teddy, sat him on the toilet and dropped raisins down the toilet, T was quite impressed with this.

I'd also emailed Fi at http://www.childcareisfun.co.uk/ on the morning as she'd kindly offered some tips.

I often suggest going to a toilet is better - have you tried a seat on the toilet?
Yep, he was happy to wee on either the potty or the toilet.

 Easier said than done but you get the idea ~ lots of praise for wees on the loo, even more for poo and reward reward reward.
We have a reward chart, he gets stickers for wees and poos, there is a picture next to it of the toy he will get when he fills the chart up

 Buy fantastic pants - talk about how the characters would be sad to have poo on them etc. this often works.
Fab idea, we bought Mickey Mouse pants, T knew that Mickey would be sad if he poo'd on him, however Mickey didn't co-operate and when the poo was done, T checked to see if Mickey was sad, and he was there with a big ol' smile on his face. *Invention, character pants where their faces turn sad when there's an accident*

 Invest in some fantastic poo books!
I bought an awesome app called 'Why Poo?' this explains what poo is, and why we poo.

 After trying all these, we achieved one thing, which was he lost the fear of pooing, but he still poo's himself.

So that's where we're at, at the minute. He doesn't scream and cry when he poos himself, he just does it. The only tell tale sign we have is that he'll say he needs a wee, then decides he doesn't which means he needs a poo, we then make him count to 10 before he gets off, but he'll still hang on to the poo until he's off the toilet.

We have blue toilet water which was another suggestion, this just makes him want to go to the loo all the time, but still no poo's.

So this week I am trying an alternative. I'm not going to mention the 'P' word. I think we've made too big a deal of it, so it shall not be mentioned for a week, when he has an accident I'm just going to change his pants and clean him up, not mentioning 'the' word.

The only tip I have so far is when they can go to the potty for all their wee's ditch the nappies. I think part of the problem is that I was putting him in nappies whenever we went out. I don't drive and couldn't think of how to deal with accidents on the bus. So if he knew we were going out, he would hang on to his poo till then knowing that he would have a nappy on.

Any other new tips would be appreciated! Or stories from anyone who went through this and how you fixed it!