So Cayla has taken the initative and decided to potty train (TG!). She does great while at home.. no pee accidents in a few days. :woo: She tells me when she has to go and just goes by herself. :aok:

The problem? Well there are 2. First, she won't poop in the potty. 2 days ago she pooped in her panties. Yesterday she didn't go at all. So far nothing today but I'm just waiting for her to go in her panties. Any advice on how to get her to go on the potty?

And the second issue... she's terrified of public toilets. :( She freaks out and screams. She won't even go into the stalls without a fight. I thought it was just the fact that they are bigger & louder (and of course there isn't a potty ring on them) but when we went to my SIL's yesterday, she wouldn't go there either. I even brought the potty ring. She said she had to go, I put her on the toilet and she acted terrified. She ended up wetting herself a bit later. I had to put her in a pull-up while there. She can't keep on not going in public bathrooms. And I can't plan my schedule around her pottying, kwim? Any advice on how to let her know it's okay to use other people's toilets?

Re: pooping. My only advice is to try it naked for a week. aidan was the same way. terrified to poop on the toilet, so he'd poop in the undies (oh so gross to the point of me wanting to vomit). letting him go bare-assed, he WOULD NOT poop on the floor :lol: he'd hold it as long as he could, but he'd finally go on the toilet. yeah, there will still be accidents, but there isnt that 'safe haven' of the undies to catch the poop, so she's got no option but to hop up on the toilet.

Re: public seats...have you bought a portable ring?? One that folds up?
My only guess is that she's new to it. Just go easy and dont make a big deal :dunno:

Naked training worked for us too. It was once Maia was already well on her way with PT, but it did help her get even better. :nod: We didn't have poop issues though.

We did have (and sometimes still do have) public potty issues. They were worse when Maia was still using the little plastic potty at home. Once we started getting her to go on the regular toilets at home (with her potty rings), that helped her accept public potties more. I think the other part of Maia's problem was that we started trying in public when Maia was still learning and taking a little while on the potty. So she'd be sitting on the big public toilet with me holding her and trying not to fall in. It wasn't a very comfortable thing for her to just concentrate on pottying, kwim? One day she said she had to go while we were at BRU. On the way to the restrooms, we passed a display of fold-up potty seats, and I decided to give them a shot. (We were going to buy it either way since we used it.) We got a Dora one. I know that some people don't find these useful, but it has really helped Maia accept going in public. It folds up small enough to fit in my bag easily.

Here's what our Dora seat looks like...

http://www.pottytrainingstuff.com/images/dorafold_sm.gif

If I can remember any other things that helped us with public restrooms, I'll let you know. Believe me, we've had our share of screaming fights about this issue. It's hard. Cayla will get it though. :justahug:

On the poop thing, my niece is turning 4 next week, and she just started pooping in the potty, though she had pee down for months. I KNOW this is very very common. For my niece, there were no magic tricks that worked, only time. She would just ask for her diaper every day when she had to poop. I would agree with trying the potty ring too. It might make the public potty more comfortable or acceptable for her, and they are really cheap, so if you never use it, no big deal.

My cousin had the poop issue until he was 5. I've heard to let them ask you for a diaper and tell them where they are and let them put it on themselves. But, if she will poop in panties, not sure how that will work? good luck, Jayden is WAY behind her.:(

Mandi -- about what Bonnie said --this is what our pedi suggested to us when I said Aidan was haivng poop issues. She just said to tell him, "fine, if you dont want to poop on the potty, then that is ok. but you cant poop in your underpants. so if you have to poop, here is where the pullups are. you need to take your underpants off and put on a pullup and come get me when you are done."
some kids just dont like the sensation of sitting and pooping :dunno:

Oh yeah...one other thing I forgot to add. this may drive you insane, but it may do you a world of good to just sit at home for a week and not go anywhere. Its hard to learn to potty and go potty in all these different places. Its easier to get it down, then venture out and try out your new honed task, KWIM?

Hi!
YAY for the PT progress!!
Shoham also refused to poop in the toilet for months (she demanded a diaper). At one point she decided she wanted to and that was it. Once she did I made a big fuss about it (prize) and since then she poops on the toilet. Give her time.
About the public places- I have no advice but what the others said sounds good to me.
Hang in there!

We kind of have the opposite issue with Dylan. He MUST check out the bathroom no matter where we are. He won't necessarily go all the time though. I think he just wants to make sure there is one there. :dunno:

To my complete shock and amazement... Cayla has gone poop on the potty 3x today! :woo:

The first time was first thing this morning. She was sitting on the potty and passing gas. She said she was done but I asked her to sit for another minute. Anyway, she ended up pooping. We made a huge deal out of it. I think all the praise and actually going once and realizing it wouldn't hurt her is what did it for her. I'm so glad we don't have that issue anymore. :woo:

Now to just work on the public toilets...

WOOOOOO! Go Cayla!