reluctance to pooh!

[sazman]

My 2.3 year old ds is doing well with his potty training...will happily tell me or whoever he is with that he needs to do a wee and rarely has accidents. He will only do it in the potty though, refuses to use the toilet or drain, bush etc...so we have to take the potty absolutely everywhere!! My main concern however is his reluctance to pooh..he WILL NOT pooh in his potty, always waits until he has a nappy on at night. Before potty training his bowel movements were very regular and healthy...sometimes 3 or 4 times a day! Now however, it isn't even always once a day.Any advice on how to get him poohing regularly again and not to be afraid of poohing on the potty??

Saz,

This is extremely common. The usual way of working with it a) wait and make sure he has plenty of nappies "offered" so he doesn't get constipated (he will grow out of it) or b) try to work towards him using the potty step by step, thus:

1. encourage him to sit on the potty while pooing, even when wearing a nappy
2. work towards having the nappy draped over the potty but not on him
3. eventually work towards not having the nappy there.

It may take a while and he's only little yet.

On the wee side, I personally used blatent bribery. For the first time it was some fabby Noddy stickers - now he "just" gets his choice of a butterfly or "twinkle star". Provided he's not scared of the toilet this should help. Many kids are - toddler toilet seats may help.

My son is the other way round - he prefers the toilet to the potty which is a pain sometimes as it's not so portable and you can't have it down in the sitting room! I'm going to buy him one of the throne potties, which may also be an idea for you as it may get him used to a bigger seat, but still be like a potty.

Emma

saz, you could have been writing about my DD a few months ago!

Exact same situation, and heres what ended up happening:

DD was holding on all day and (although I didn't realise it at the time) was getting a bit constipated from doing this, even though she went every night in her nappy. Finally she bacame really constipated one day and when she pooed in her nappy it hurt her, so she then refused to poo anywhere for about 3 days. She was in extreme pain. I got a laxative from the pharmacy (called Lactulose - esp for children and she loves the taste) and after a day on this she had no choice but to go, although I had to physically hold her on the potty the first 3 times, but after that she has never looked back.

Anyway, my point is, try to stay relaxed about it and he will come 'round eventually, BUT if you suspect he is holding on all day and might be getting constipated, get thee to a pharmacy and start giving him lactulose every day - its very gentle and you can give a tiny dose. Even though the constipation eventually led to DD being potty trained, it was very, very stressful and upsetting for her (and me!) and she could have done herself damage being so constipated.

HTH!

Hi! Thank you both for your valuable advice which I'll take on board. The sticker rewards sound like a great idea for using the toilet and I'll keep a close eye on the pooh situation so he doesn't become constipated!

good luck sazman, let us know how you get on (although it could take months I should say)