Our kiddo finally pooped in the potty!

I am so happy about this, and wanted to share my excitement. Also wanted to put this out there, if anyone is having similar struggles.We have a wonderful, but quite stubborn, 3.5 year old, and she has been refusing pooping in the potty. She has been staying (mostly) dry through the day, but would flat out refuse to poop in potty. We tried various things: rewards (M&Ms! Sticker charts! Little toys and big toys!), taking the diapers away (she would hold it for days, until she became visibly uncomfortable), Miralax, several children’s books about pooping, and I’m sure some other things I can’t remember. This has been going on a year at least, maybe 15 months.Initially, she would ask for a diaper and go to hide in the basement playroom. So first step, we got her to stay only in the bathroom with the diaper on, while playing with toys, for a reward (we got to watch a Disney movie for doing this the first few times). This went on for many months, without any forward progress. I was ready to post here asking for any suggestions, as it seemed we were at a dead end. Last week, I finally got her to sit on the toilet, while wearing the diaper, with the incentive of watching a video on my phone (which is otherwise not allowed). Three nights later, we cut a small hole in the diaper, then a big hole the night after that, after which she acknowledged she didn’t need a diaper anymore!I think something that also helped was speaking about poops really positively. There was a study that kids who were only spoken to positively about poops (ie, no one being grossed out, telling the child they are smelly, disgusting etc) were able to get out of diapers for pooping sooner. We talked repeatedly that poops are good, enlisting the help of close family and close friends (those with kids who know the various struggles!). Looking back, we had a babysitter, who couldn’t handle changing a dirty diaper without a whole lot of negative commentary, and looking back, I wish I had asked her to stop that.I read that 20% of kids struggle with refusing to poop on the potty, which helped to know. If you are struggling with this too, please know you are not alone, and maybe this will be one more technique to try. Good luck! via /r/Parenting http://bit.ly/2IX1JoE