2.5 year old scared of poo

[Nelly040]

We have been potty training our DD for a 3 nearly 4 weeks, wees have gone really well but she is scared of having a poo! She was withholding it so much so we have started her in movicol which has kept it soft, but when she needs one she starts running around saying she’s scared of the poo and doesn’t want it to come out and it ends up on the floor. We try and show her there’s nothing to be scared of ans have used the app Poo goes home to Pooland but nothing is working! Worried the longer this goes on the more deep seated it’s going to become.

Any tips or any reassurance of anyone who’s been there before would really help!

She might not like the feeling of it dropping out. My younger brother thought bits of him were falling off! Could you try putting a nappy over the potty so that she doesn't get that dropping feeling?

There is an excellent book called Polly Poo, you get a sticker chart with it too. It’s such a cute story about how poo goes into the toilet. It’s helped my DD a lot.

Our granddaughter had the same at the that age.
She had once been constipated and became frightened of pooing.
Pear juice worked better than Movicol and she had a jar of “Poo treats” so when she performed she got a treat!
Good luck.

My ds was exactly the same! We tried everything but he ended up on movicol too. He is now 16 and doing his A levels but I remember those days really well. In the end, we had to just try to be really chill about him having accidents. We focussed on praising the weeing and ignoring how he pooed. As he was a boy, our only solution was to place the potty on the floor behind him while he weed standing up at the toilet, then any poo would drop into the potty to be cleared up. When he started nursery at 3, he would hold in all poos and not go until he was home. Eventually he managed to start going to the toilet properly, with us giving him plenty of warning that by a certain day it would not be acceptable any longer to poo anywhere other than the toilet. He got it.

So, my advice would be to not stress about poo accidents, praise the good and find out what might take away the stress for your dd (put pants back on to poo into/hold potty to bottom to catch it). With my ds it was totally a mental thing, he'd worked himself up into almost a phobia about it so by taking the pressure away it definitely helped.

Good luck.

Thank you so much for all your responses! It’s really helpful to know people have been there before and defo got some new tips to try.

i forgot to mention that since this started we’ve seen a massive increase in tantrums - I think it might be the pressure she feels and I feel so bad for her. Did anyone else experience an increase in tantrums when your LO was scared of going for a poo?

DD is always a little demon when she needs a poo. We sit her on the potty and read books til she's done.

The problem is I think that children have been used to the feeling of the poo being next to their skin when it exits. The feeling of it dropping away is something some children find hard - it is almost as if they feel part of themselves is dropping off. Maybe poo on the potty as not such a drop as it comes out.

My youngest learned very quickly as her much older sisters devised a system of one jelly tot for a wee and two for a poo. She soon worked out that she could poo in instalments and acquire more jelly tots!

Very common for just TT to go through this & cos theyre stressed/uncomfortable then yes tantrums can be worse!
Difficult sometimes but try not to put any pressure on, it's fairly 'normal' to tAKe lot l9nger to be TT for poos.
Good idea to try nappy in potty or some even just need a nappy on to perform for a while (obv easier if they are regular)
ERIC website has some good advice. Def speak to HV as well if it continues especially if any sign that child is 'withholding ' poo as this can lead to chronic constipation & longer term issues with bowels.
Sitting on toilet & getting them to blow bubbles is a good trick. Pooland app is worth persevering with as well

For the time being can you offer to put a nappy on when they need to do a poo? My dd was happy to wee in the potty or toilet but it took a good few months for her to transition to the potty and then to the toilet for a poo.

Kiwi and flaxseed (mixed with yogurt etc) are your friends, they literally worked wonders for us. We had 12 months of poo issues after a particularly awful sickness bug, potty training actually solved it for us, but we had to really commit, we just had to feed him stuff that meant he couldn’t not poo and then make as little fuss as possible when he sat on the potty to go (or we plonked him on there when we thought he might be doing one). Put a film on, or even give him the iPad for 5 minutes, we just tried to get him to associate the potty with something he liked - tv, iPad, chocolate button - just anything!

My little one took to doing wees in the potty really well, but didn't like doing poos. I kept his nappy on him for a good few months (pull ups) which he would pull down or I would help him with so he could wee on the potty. But he would always choose to poo in his nappy. I asked him if he needed a poo whilst sitting on the potty to do a wee but he always said no. Occasionally a poo would slip out whilst he was relaxed but it was rare.

In the end, something just clicked with him and he started pooing on the potty. We used to read books about wee and poo but I never tried to pressure him to do it. When he started pooing on his potty, we replaced the nappy with pants. Now he confidently tells us he needs a poo before going and usually takes himself off to the bathroom. He likes his privacy!

It can feel like they'll never get it, but they will. Be as patient as you can, ask them once and if they say no, just say okay and do something else. They will get there.