Regular poo accidents at nursery - I feel bad about it!

[Nightcrawly]

DD is 2.8 and potty training has not been a smooth ride for us at all. She has regular runny poos. I took her to the GP who said she has toddler diarrheoa and suggested some changes to her diet which I have made to the letter and this has alleviated her symptoms a fair bit, but not stopped it completely.

She goes to nursery 2 mornings a week and has been having runny poo accidents there more than she does at home. Both the nursery and I are concerned about this and we have spoken about changes to her diet etc. Most times I pick her up they say she has had an accident and I feel bad for them having to clean it up and bad for DD who is socially aware enough to be alittle upset about it, but I feel totally powerless as I just don't know what else I can do about it. I'm loathe to put her back into nappies because these accidents are down to the diahorroea not her toilet abilities and she would definately see it as punishment. I have arranged to see the HV too.

I guess I'm just looking for some reassurance that I'm doing the right thing and they don't all think I'm terrible mother that should do something about it. I have talked about my concerns to nursery and said that I am grateful that they are dealing with this, they said it was no problem. I told them that if her knickers are very dirty to feel free to just throw them away. I know I pay them to do it, but it just feels like it should be my job and I should do something!

This probably makes no sense at all, but will they be seeing it as a problem or is it just part and parcel of working in a nursery?

It goes with the job. Try to relax , no one will think for a moment that you are a terrible mother . It will all come good in the end , she is still young.
Good luck !

As a nursery nurse it's pass and parcel of working in a nursery, have you done a food diary to work out when it's happening and see if it's triggered by anything specific and then get your child to be put down as a preference at nursery on the dietary sheets ensuring she doesn't eat those things etc.

Thanks for the replies. Yes we did a food diary for a month to take to the GP, but we couldn't put it down to anything specific, unless its to something that she has most of the time. She doesn't drink fruit juice except very very waterered down if her friends are given it, she is eating as little fruit and veg as she can whilst still being healthy. I try to make sure she eats a good percentage of fat, about 40% of her diet as the GP advised (GP is ex-pediatrician). Although things have improved with all this, it is still happening. I might try a food diary again, but we really couldn't tell anything from the last one. I have spoken to nursery about it quite alot, but as I am at a total loss, I can't really help them either.

Hi

We've had the same problem and my daughter is just 4. It's been happening on and off for about the last 2 years. We also had to take her out of Swimming Lessons when she was 1 for the same reason.

the doctor told us toddler Diarrohea and it could last till she was at least 5yrs old if not longer.

It's better than it was and we now try to encourage her to sit on the toilet with a book after Breakfast each morning to set a regular time if possible for movements. We also have a Family Planner where we put stickers on for each day to see if we've had a good Poo day or not. Then after a week if we've had a good week she gets to choose a magazine. This has worked best for us.

I spend half my time worrying about it and the other half realising that she'll grow out of it.

I was worried about Nursery and they are very good about it as long as I send in a couple of spare pairs of clothes and some wet wipes and a spare nappy in case it becomes really bad.

Good Luck, it's difficult to sort out but we all get there in the end.

NIghty - I am surprised that your nursery are so concerned. DS is potty trained for wee but not at all for poo and is also 2.8 - many if not most of his friends are in the same boat.

I spoke to his nursery about it and they were positively dismissive (in a good way!) - just said it was completely fine, they would be changing him anyway if he were in nappies so what's the difference, and that he would get more control.

His bowel movements vary a lot from firm to really quite loose and I think this too is fairly normal...? Seems common among friends anyway.

IMO 2.8 is quite young to have full control of both bowels and bladder and accidents seem to be very much the accepted norm at my DS's nursery anyway.

Good luck...

Thank you for the further replies, I feel very reassured about it now, especially when you put it into the context of poo in a nappy is not much different to poo in a pair of pants and I do send in clothes etc with her. Roll on the growing out of it!