3 year old won't poo

[Alaska77]

Hiya. Reaching breaking point.

DS has been potty trained since April, no problems at all. He turned 3 at the end of August. Since the end of June he's been holding his poo in and it's getting worse and worse. I have wracked my brains and can't think of any trigger point that started it off. He wasn't ill, no diahorrea, no family or lifestyle changes etc. His diet is really good and he eats plenty of veg etc. He's at nursery full time and they tell me he's one of the best eaters there.

He's very strong willed and I think the problem is psychological rather than physical. He shows all the signs of needing a poo on a daiily basis and he'll even say "my poo is coming" but if we take him to the toilet or potty he screams blue murder and cries his eyes out which upsets all of us. He'll hold it for up to 5 days and it's getting to the point where we can't leave the house after a couple of days because he cries and hops around shouting "I want it to stop" etc.

His language is good and we've explained over and over that it doesn't hurt, everyone has to go blah blah. We've made up stories about all his favourite characters and how they all have a poo. We've tried offering rewards each time he does a poo and after each time he goes we talk about how it doesn't hurt and there's nothing to be afraid of. We've even taken a short film of him saying it's good to do a poo and we play it back to him, but it just seems to wind him up!

When he does eventually go the poo looks normal so I don't think he's physically constipated.

We went to the chemist who suggested we use syrup of figs which we're now giving him daily. We have an appointment at the doctor this Friday.

Has anyone else had a similar issue? I'm really conscious that I don't want to create a big issue for him but it's really ruling all our lives and affecting his behaviour. The longer he goes without having a poo, the grumpier he gets, he yells at all his friends and is difficult to manage.

Thanks in advance everyone x

My DS had a similar problem. One thing that helped was letting him take a photo of the actual poo once it was done and admiring it and praising him for having done a great poo. I know this sounds mental but it did get him somewhat over his fear. We've had to delete a hell of a lot of poo portraits though and he will still sometimes insist we appreciate some of his more recent efforts.

He's 4 now btw.... We're not looking at the poo of an 18 year old.

Hi

Im currently having this problem with my 14 month old dd. She wont poo for days and screams to go and then holds it for days and then all of a sudden it flies out, literally a foot long poo! I have to hold her down and bend her legs in order to get it out. She is so scared.

The doctor prescribed me lactulose but it gave her the opposite effect and too runny.

I think maybe it is all in her head now so I am going back to speak to the doctor tomorrow. She had one really hard poo a few months ago and I think now she just doesnt like the feeling of going, no matter what the consistency.

Im going to try and get a potty to sit her on when she strains and hopefully she will go easily if she maybe feels free of nappies?

Good luck!

Try movicol - you can get it from the GP on prescription. It helps them as it makes them poo and you can then try to get to grips with encouraging them to poo. Take that from someone whose DS had lots of problems pooing properly. We have got over the worst of it now with sticker chart and poo jokes but still not fully resolved.

My DD was just like this until she was about three and a half. She would hold for days, then hop around doing "the poo dance" for a while, before eventually producing a rope of poo that would lay on the bowl and disappear round the u-bend!! I was so worried at the time but our tactic was to be as chilled as possible and let her grow out of it. She still won't poo at school (she's four now) but otherwise fine. Don't make an issue unless it's making him poorly.

Oh and she would also get increasingly tearful and cross as the days went on.

We used movicol as well (or move-it-all as we called it!!) laculose was useless, he needed a bowel stimulant. He's 4.5 now and we still have idhoooos. I'd go to the doc and address it now.