Our DS5 potty trained at around 31/2. We thought it was a bit late, but after making a potty available (an on the floor potty as opposed to a toilet with a seat) we just followed his lead. Once he decided to start trying the whole process was relatively quick and painless. However, with respect to bowel movements, he did okay when he transitioned from the on-the-floor potty to the toilet with a kid's toilet seat but then had a really hard time transitioning from a child toilet seat to just a plain old toilet seat. This was never a problem at home but it was a problem when we were out. We talked to him a lot about it and never punished him. It turns out that he was afraid of doing his business on an unadorned toilet seat because of stability problems and fear of falling in. To start with, we put a stool under his feet so that he could feel some stability from it and have something to push his feet against. And, although we never punished him for failing to do his business without a child's seat on the toilet, we did give him a choice of a "prize" for doing it without for a week. He selected a "talking telescope" as his prize, from which he has learned many wonderful facts about planets and animals. He had just started junior kindergarten at the time and we wanted to give him a little extra incentive to be comfortable on the toilet because we were afraid he would start holding in it while he was at school. He also eats a lot of fruit and fibre, so he has thankfully never had a problem with constipation from a food-intake point of view. He now 5 1/2 and has never had any problems since that first little confidence issue. In fact, some people may recall an earlier post of mine in which I confess to his particular affinity for the ugly blue toilet in our house on which he conquered his fears! LOL!!!

I obviously don't know your grandson, but I wonder if there isn't some kind of fear or other concern that is contributing to his control issues. If it is not a fear issue, could it be a food issue? I echo the suggestion of other posters to consult with a medical professional even if it is just to firmly count out any physiological concerns or maybe even to make a change in diet that might help.

Best of luck.

Last edited by HJA; 07/15/16 10:36 AM.