I’m really at a loss and have no idea what to try next. (Warning, lots of pee-pee and poo-poo talk ahead.)
Daughter is 3 years, 4 months. She knows how, why, and when to go potty, she just doesn’t want to. I’ve tried really, really hard not to make it a power struggle, operating on the assumption that at some point she’ll decide she wants to do it, and that will be it.
I’m getting impatient.
I know that if I just took the Pull-Ups away, she would be fine as far as going pee-pee in the potty goes. Angry about it, but fine. She goes to pre-school two days a week and always wears panties there, and has never had an accident. The problem is going poo-poo in the potty. She absolutely refuses to even try. I’ve tried to force her to sit on the potty, but she just kicks and screams, so that’s counter-productive. I’ve tried rewards. I’ve tried bribes. I’ve tried books and videos. I’ve tried songs. She just. won’t. do. it.
We don’t really know why she won’t even try. All she’ll say is “I don’t want to.” She has both a potty-chair and a potty-seat, so I don’t think that’s the issue. I honestly don’t know.
I’ve also tried making her wear panties except when she needed to poo, but she caught on quick, and just told me she needed to poo when she really didn’t so I’d give her a pull-up. If she knows there are pull-ups in the house, she’ll never give up on her quest to get them. To add another dimension of complication to this, she really does need to still wear them at night, so it would be next to impossible to get rid of them completely, unless some of you have an idea about that.
Just to clarify–I don’t have a problem telling her “no” on the pull-ups, I can withstand the tantrums, if that’s what I decide to do. I’m just not sure yet that’s the route I want to go. Do you guys think I should just take them away, even when she says she needs to go poo? I don’t want to traumatize her, and I’ve heard that kids can get themselves badly constipated by just trying not to go. Do you think if she had no option rather than pooing her pants she’d at least try the potty? Should I push it that far?