Can you potty train when they still have very loose poos? Grim, I know!

[katepol]

My ds is 2.5 and has no inclination to train at the moment. Nursery mentioned to me that there would be no point trying yet as it is rare that he does a 'formed' poo - generally they are loose - not diarrhoea, just not solid. I must admit, it does make the prospect less appealing , but is there any truth/logic in it? Does it suggest that it would be harder for him to have control?

Both my dds were trained at this point, with me waiting to follow their lead. I am waiting for ds to show some sign of interest, but wondered whether even if he did, it wouldn't be a good idea with his wobbly poos?

Also, while I am of the 'wait till they are ready' school of thought, any ideas about speeding it along a bit lol! He seems totally comfy with the idea of sitting in his own poo and wee at the mo - too busy to care I think

Any ideas ladies ? - sorry if you are eating your dinner

another bump - has no one else got a toddler with a loose bottom????

So, combined wisdom of MN, can you potty train a child who doesn't do solid poos? Or am I to assume by the silence that you can't?

DS has always had very mixed poos, some are solid but most are loose. He has also always been a fast poo-er, probably because of the looseness. My friends DCs would stop and pull a face or strain and go a bit red, but DS wouldn't even break his stride.

We started potty training last Easter when he was about 2.9, and it didn't really click until October (when he was 3.4). That's a lot of pooey pants. If I had know it was going to take that long I would have waited.

If you're going to do it then buy lots and lots of cheap pants from somewhere like Asda, because with a gooey pooer you can't pull them down as the poo spreads everywhere. You have to cut them off. And, whatever you do, don't go for boxer short style pants as they don't hold the poo in at all.

I think it is probably more difficult for a loose pooer as they don't have much time between their body's signal of the need to poo and the poo actually arriving. Even now ds usually has to sprint to the loo.

Thank you Bran. You have strengthened my resolve to put it off till ds is ready - I don't fancy the cutting off the pants thing at all.

Do you think readiness is linked to poo solidity though? Is there anything I can do to help the solidity thing? I already limit fruit, which he would eat costantly otherwise.

I was told girls were easier to train. I tend to poo poo (sorry) gender stereotypes, but in this case I fear that might hold true. My dd2 trained herself, twas lovely. I can see the pant cutting being all too likely with DS!

Thank you so much for replying

Well, DS is still fairly loose and does have occasional accidents, usually because he has run to the loo but either doesn't make it in time, or can't get his pants down in time.

I've recently been trying to gum him up a bit by doing things like replacing brown bread with white and serving white rice instead of our usual mix of brown and white. Bananas are good for solidifying things too.

I do think that children that have to push their poo out are a bit easier to train as they have more time to recognise the signal before the poo actually makes an appearance, but also the carer has time to recognise the signs and get the child to the loo in time. There are loads of other factors though, including personality and just wanting to be out of nappies.

Just out of idle interest, what colour are your carpets? Mine are were pale beige. I used to pray for solids as you can just pick them up and they don't leave a mark.

Hi Bran - we have mainly wood floors, but a few pale carpets (gulp). As I said before, my girls were no bother to train, so no accidents to speak of. I suspect DS will be different, so will stock up on Vanish when the time comes!

I didn't want to face the picking up poo thing so got the girls trained with poo before wee, then took the nappies away. From what I have heard, boys do better with wee before poo...

Oh, good grief, I cannot believe I am even having these discussions! Thanks for your input though