2 year old scared to poo!

[Newmama29]

My 2 year old has recently toilet trained & has done really really well, but we are having a nightmare with poos! He won’t use the potty or the big toilet & even when I put a nappy on him now he refuses to go. It’s become a massive ordeal where he runs around the house crying shouting “poo” & gets himself into a tizzy without actually going! Does anyone have any tips or tricks to help with this?

We are currently having this with 4yo! We had big issues when toilet training getting her to poo in potty or toilet and she was still going in a nappy until 3.5yo.
Recently she had a hard poo which hurt and she is now doing what your little one is doing- holding it and running around and crying etc. We have resorted to blackcurrant squash in a calpol syringe as 'magic medicine' which helps the poo come out and not hurt. Word of warning though- we thought this would be short lived measure but 2.5 weeks later shes still refusing to poo without it. But if it stops her getting constipated again I think we just have to roll with it.
Make sure your little is eating enough fruit and drinking enough water to keep stools nice and soft.
Hope magic medicine technique works!

One thing that can help is putting a nappy open inside the potty, so that they poo into the nappy despite it not being on them, if you see what I mean. A sort of halfway house.

Also have a look at the Poo goes to pooland app.

I had this when my now 15 year old was potty training. One thing that helps is blowing bubbles (real or imaginary) when they are sat on the potty. It makes all the right muscles do their thing. We did a thing where dd blew up an enormous imaginary bubble and caught me in it so I was "trapped " and no one could hear me.
You can dose yourself with whatever you need to get through this stage once they have gone to bed.

@Downandout01 it’s so sad for them! Unfortunately my little one is too little to understand the “magic medicine” but that’s a great idea! My LO seems to be genuinely disgusted by poo, when he is going into not particularly hard or anything. He runs around going “ewwww” & making “yuck” noises so I think he really is disgusted by it 🤦🏼‍♀️ we’ve tried making it like it’s normal & letting him come to the toilet with us but he’s still getting in such a tizzy.

@Bananamaman @bellinisurge I love these ideas & will defo be trying them! My LO loves bubbles so that might be a shout, however it’s getting him to even go near the potty or toilet when he needs a poo that’s a challenge as well 🤦🏼‍♀️

In my house we have a "pooping book" after my eldest was a nightmare with this. Basically is it a book they only look at on the toilet. We use searching books a bit like Where's Wally? but something easier. A bit like this...www.amazon.co.uk/Big-Book-Things-Spot-1001/dp/0746053010/ref=asc_df_0746053010/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=310551242326&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=13434015487570702135&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9046883&hvtargid=pla-525390482801&psc=1&th=1&psc=1

I know you've already got one but could you engage him by choosing a new potty. Or by customising one with stickers on the outside (yes, I know the potential for grossness).

Don't let them see it... I really think my daughter thought she'd lost a body part...

@bellinisurge he actually isn’t even interested in his potty anymore & would rather use the toilet. We have a paw patrol toilet seat & a stool so he enjoys actually using the toilet & is always so chuffed after doing a pee. I think he’s grossed out by poo 🤦🏼‍♀️😂

It's reaching that moment when he gets over being upset or freaked out. It's very tricky and I'm guessing you're nearly there. I really feel for you. When it was us I thought it would never end.
Hope you are ignoring anyone in real life who tells you it was a breeze.
See also: white wine, if that's your thing.

I won’t pretend to remember much of this clearly but we went through a bit of that too. I think it’s par for the course - they’re learning to be aware of themselves and control their urges.

I know everyone says to never go backwards but when mine wanted nappies I let them. We often sat on the toilet to wait and see for a minute (and watching a quick cartoon on the phone can be enough distraction to slip a pop out).

Poos have splash back so do think about whether the bathroom is warm enough, leave the potty out as a silent option if needed.

Don’t make it a big issue though.

I remember this well. A tip I got from here was Poo goes to Pooland, it seemed to work. Although constipation was the root cause and we were prescribed movicol.

'Poo goes home to Pooland' honestly works like magic! You can download the book as a PDF and I think there's an app now as well. My DS was terrified of pooing without a nappy but we read it once at bedtime and he got up and pooed in the potty without a second thought the next morning.

www.cntw.nhs.uk/content/uploads/2016/08/Poo-Goes-To-Pooland.pdf

Thanks all for your suggestions! He’s done so well except this wee blunder 😂 I’m defo going to try that poo goes to pooland! At this rate I’ll try anything 😂

Blowing bubbles is a good one.

The other thing is make sure they really understand everyone does it. Take him into the loo with you, get him to wait for the splash and clap you, and then take a look in the bowl afterwards.

I am sorry for this advice 😳 but it is helpful . I think when little kids are scared or disgusted it’s because they think it’s only them.

We are experiencing this with my 2.5 year old! Potty trained a few weeks ago, wees absolutely fine but she is just holding pops in and only doing tiny bits of poo at a time. We’ve tried loads, poo goes to Pooland, special toilet books, bubbles and she still just runs around saying she needs a poo and won’t let it out. We tried movicol and it worked wonders when she was really backed up a week ago but we seem to be back to square one :( does anyone have any ideas? Should I keep her on movicol for longer, as when she holds it in she seems to get constipated fast :(

Poo goes to Poo land. And don’t judge me but I used to let mine eat chocolate buttons on the toilet when she needed one, she was a bloody nightmare.

Poo goes to pooland worked for my DS. He was a nightmare at going but a few weeks of watching that and it worked!