Do I need to be worried about this - poo related - please help?

[curlyLJ]

DD is 2.4 and I am not sure whether or not she is constipated or whether we are having 'normal' potty training related poo issues...

We have been potty training for about 4 weeks or so - I haven't pushed this, it has been mostly led by DD who decided she wanted to wear knickers - and even though she led this, she seemed to start to hold in poo around this time. After about 4 days in she ended up in a lot of pain/discomfort, prancing about, crying, on and off the potty etc until she finally pooed on the loo after I'd stuck her in a warm bath to help with her belly ache.

Since then we have had varying levels of success and she will often sit on the potty in front of a Peppa Pig DVD with me rubbing her back. She is not afraid of pooing on the potty but she doesn't seem to like the sensation of 'going' which I think is causing the anxiety. Her poos are sometimes hardish sausage-like lumps, other times quite soft and squishy.

She's still having quite a few poo accidents, at nursery and at home, and doesn't appear to realise that she needs to go. The bags of soiled clothing and the numbers of pairs of knickers I have thrown away are starting to get me down. On Sunday her cousin was over and whether it was the distration or what I don't know, but she had about 6-7 poo accidents within about 2 hours. Obviously she wasn't 'finishing the job' as she was more interested in playing. She didn't seem particularly bothered by all this. They were fairly hard but weren't 'rabbit-droppings' or obviously constipated type poos (and it wasn't runny poo which I know can be associated with being impacted).

This evening however, she told me she needed a poo (progress?) and then sat on the potty quite obviously trying to poo for about an hour. After much foot stamping and moaning, she finally announced she'd done it but when I looked in the potty it was HUGE and to be entirely honest (sorry if TMI) it was so big and wide I don't see how on earth she passed it through her little bum.

So, my question is, is she constipated and do I need to take her to the GP? I don't like going to the GP, especially if I am going to get brushed off, so I welcome any advice you can give. I am just worried mainly about the size of this evening's poo. Her belly also seems very big and rounded but she says she doesn't have any belly ache.

Thanks in advance.

Sounds like she has got herself a little backed up. Children's bodies can go through all sorts Of funny phases and it only takes o r or two episodes of hard to pass poo to subconciously put them off going and thus creating even more of a pain/withholding/runny poo cycle. Maybe some lactulose from the dr would help release what is backed up and perhaps regulate when she needs to go as well as making it feel a bit easier and eliminating any fear :) have you checked her bottom to make sure that she didn't cut/graze/ bleed passing that big poo? :)

Blimey, poor thing.
A quick trip to the dr's is a good idea. Make sure she's drinking enough water too, orange juice is particularly helpful for my dd. We have a bottle of lactulose in the fridge that I mix a spoonful with a glass of oj for her to drink if she's finding it difficult.

Sounds perfectly normal to me in my experience with my 2. They get there in the end. One was a poo refuser and only chocolate buttons per 'plop' and much time reading sotries on the loo after bath cured that. The other is a secret behind-the-door poo-er and you just have to catch when they go quiet and suggest a trip to the loo. And yes, the adult-sized efforts can be alarming. And the days where they come in installments infurating. But, throwing out pants?

Thanks for the replies. wheresmycaffeine I didn't think to check her bottom, but to be honest she seemed absolutely delighted with herself having cleared it and so I don't even think it hurt her it was big even for an adult!

She is terrible for not drinking enough, but i have found some cartons of pressed apple and pear juice (for kids) that she seems to love (she won't touch OJ), so I try to get her to have at least half one of these per day as well as all the normal water. This seems to keep her 'soft' most of the time. That was why I didn't know if it was worth going to the GP - I wanted to avoid medication unless absoutely necessary really...

Yes Blooblies throwing out cheap knickers is, IMO much less soul destroying than scraping poo out of them and soaking if they are that bad. Especially if they have been in a bag from the nursery all day and it has dried hard! The Primark or Asda knickers are so cheap, it's just not worth it.

Her little belly just looks so big when she is undressed - toddler bellies often look huge anyway due to their proportions, don't they? How do you know if it's swollen?

My 3 year old does humungous turds. They are a source of great pride