Potty trained 3 yr old pooping on the floor!!!!!!! PLEASE help.

[gabbyraja]

Can you tell I've reached the end of my rope on this?!

My third child (expecting #5 in Oct) potty trained himself when he was 26 months old. He insisted despite my protestation. He's been trained for over a year. He's ALWAYS made it from the day he trained. Pretty much never had an accident, and if so it was only pee.

Just in the last month he has been pooping on the floor. At least once a day. He always tries to blame it on the dogs or someone else. If asked why, he claims he "couldn't make it" to the potty, even if he's only feet, or even inches, away. It's very clear that he just didn't bother. He's just squatting whever he is and taking a crap and then staying right there to continue playing or watching his favorite show, or whatever he was doing. It's a little better when he's wearing clothes, but I think we all know how difficult it is to keep clothes on a 2-3 yr old. Besides, clothes doesn't stop it. NOTHING stops it!

I've tried talking to him, making it more convenient for him, rewards for "good" days, grounding off all tv for the day, and on and on and on.

Now, I realize he could be having a hard time with the new baby coming, even though I don't believe he has that much cognition on the subject, and literally nothing has changed yet (I haven't even brought out any baby stuff), and he's been through it once before, and so on and so on. And we did move in February. Sure, it could be that, even though he did just fine the first 4 months after we moved and only now is having trouble. NOTHING else has changed, and even if it could be explained by one of these, or other, changes in his life that does NOTHING to change the behavior! So PLEASE someone tell me what I can do to make it stop. I'm literally too big to bend over easily now and cleaning CRAP off of my floor, and beds, and pillows, and clothes, and whatever else he happens to be near, is getting so bad that I'm literally having a mini breakdown every day!

Now, it is very soft every time, even if he does make it to the bathroom. I realize he could be having some digestive issue, as he does have food allergies. However, he makes it to the bathroom just as often when it's soft as he doesn't, so that's not it either. There's just no excuse and I've had it with his little butt. The lying I can get over. He's 3 and they don't really get it. It's more "wishful thinking" at this age. But the literal cleaning up of poop every day is just too much for me. I mean, I've taught my 18 month old to stop sticking his hand in his diaper and to just tell me he's poopy in less time than I've been dealing with this!

HELP!

[just_lily]

Can you have him participate in helping you clean up? Right now it appears that it is easier for him to poop on the floor than to stop what he is doing and go to the potty. You need to change that dynamic so that pooping on the floor becomes more work for him than getting up and going potty would be.

Hugs, mama. This has to suck a whole lot, especially since you are pregnant.

[gabbyraja]

I used to always do that. But, since his poop is so messy it's been MORE of a mess for me to clean up when he tries to help. So I just had him stop helping. He's done great today! He hated being without his favorite television show yesterday, and he's had clothes on all day. I think maybe I need to keep him out of the house more often, lol.

I tried to brainstorm with him yesterday, and my daughter was right there, too. She said he's afraid of the dark, and it's hard for him to turn on the light and still make it to the toilet on time. So we should leave the light on all the time. What a great idea! I don't know if that's the whole story, but it sure couldn't hurt. For now we've put a fluorescent bulb in there and we'll try to put in a motion-activated switch so it doesn't have to stay on. She also said maybe we need to get the stool back in there. He's been good at getting up all by himself for so long that I hadn't worried about the stool having been moved, but it probably couldn't hurt...

So, please keep your fingers crossed for me? Every now and then he'll have a good run for a few days, then he's back at it, so...

[gabbyraja]

Just wanted to update again. After a good day or so he totally reverted back. There was an entire day where not once did he pee OR poop on the toilet. I was furious. So, I reflected quite a bit and thought, Clearly, we're totally potty training all over again. I've never really had to "train", since all of my kids just let me know when THEY were ready. But my first thought was how often I'd read about "potty rewards" and Miah is very reward motivated. So, I hit the dollar store for stickers and tiny toys. He has not had a SINGLE problem since, and it's been almost a week!

However, now I'm not sure the best way or time to phase them out. So, anybody have any ideas on that I'd appreciate it. He DOES seem to forget to even ask about a reward sometimes, so maybe he's phasing it out himself, but I just thought it would be good to have a plan.