Mumsnet Talk

DD is 2.6 and dry during the day - with the odd accident, maybe two a week. She refuses to poo in the potty though and soils her knickers most days. Sometimes poos in her nap time nappy but doesn't nap often now.

Her poos are large usually, but soft. She doesn't seem in pain when she poos but doesn't like doing them. She did do one in the potty last week (asked to get out of the bath to do it) and was so pleased with herself (mostly because she got a mini egg as a reward).

Any thoughts - she says she won't go back into nappies...

My DD1 is 2.7 and for the last two weeks she has been pooing on the potty consistently. It has taken 3 monks of regular poos in pants to get there but she suddenly seems to recognise the signs and make the effort to go..... HTH

Thanks for the reassurance. She certainly knows the signs,it's the effort part she won't do. She is somewhat single minded in all things!

DS did this, and it went on for months. He was fine with wees but not poo unless I saw the signs. He did get there in the end tho, keep telling yourself that your DD will get there eventually and try not to get crossed.

I made my life easier by throwing away soiled pants - just buy cheap ones, life is too short to be cleaning poo. We bribed motivated DS in the end with a sticker chart and the promise of a huge toy when he got ten stickers. The toy was then put out of reach for a day if he soiled.

I can send you 'Mr Poo goes to Pooland' which someone on here sent me if you're interested. It's a story to read to your dc which might help. It was initially designed by a psychology student I think.

Thanks, I've heard of that - it might be useful although I suppose se is quite young still.

I've found a link here. I'm not sure about the safety of the website - I've not downloaded it myself, but I do have a pdf which I will happily email you, and if you'd prefer that pm me your email address and I'll email it you.

Thanks, it's downloaded okay. I'll have a read through it.

We've been suffering with this for months, and it's awful. I read a fab tip elsewhere on this forum which seems to be helping us although it's early days yet - when you know that they are due to do one, get them to sit on the potty and blow bubbles! After a couple of false starts, my toddler is now sitting happily on the potty to do a poo throughout the day. He used to produce a large poo once a day and now he seems to be producing 5 or 6 smaller ones, but at least they are all in the potty. Of course, we follow up with plenty of reward/bribery when he has done one.

It's very early days yet, and at the moment he seems to think that he can't produce one without the bubbles...but I'd prefer that to the yukky pants alternative!