8 month old won't poo in her nappy

[mumdebump]

DD won't poo in her nappy and holds on until her nappy is off for changing. It started when she was 7 and a half months and has been going on for over a month now. It's completely puzzled the health visitor and me as babies aren't supposed to have bowel control that early apparently. It does make disposing of the poo and wiping her bum much easier but I'm worried she'll do herself some damage by holding on as she can't tell me she needs to go. Has anyone else ever heard of this happening at this age or do I have the youngest anally retentive child? Any ideas or advice, anyone.(Help!!!)

Babies have bladder control from the start, apparantly. I saw my DD had limited control from 10 weeks old when we started using a potty.

She will not damage herself by holding poo for a short time. i.e. To next nappy change time. If she stopped pooing for a day or so, of course you need to seek medical advice.

My suggestion is to hold her over a potty/toilet, if she can sit up with your support. My DD seemed to push poo out more efficiently in a seated position.

My HV also told me babies can't hold their wee/poo, as I noticed DD's cues and held her over a travel potty. THe HV was a amazed as DD wee'd as I 'pss' in her ear.

I have no idea why it works but it just does and Tigerfeet has seen my DD using a potty from a very young age in RL and will confirm it works.

Pottying a baby at a young age, has a name Elimination Communication and loads of people give their children the option of using a potty/toilet.

Here are a few links, leads to other EC websites/forums and a bit of stuff of how we got on.
EC Links

Thanks so much BE. I've had a look at your weblink and I think we'll give it a go. Unfortunately it means I'll have to eat humble pie in front of my mum who has been telling me to potty DD because that's what they all did in her day. We tried it once but the M&P potty was too big for DD and she wanted to get off it straight away. Might invest in a BB potty.

It's interesting what you say about picking up on the baby's body language and clues as I thought it might be a symbiotic situation, with part DD holding on and part me thinking that she needed a poo and so taking her nappy off ang praising her when she did a poo.

I'm so glad I'm not alone. Feeling much happier. (Gawd bless mumsnet).

my ds started doing poo on the mat when about 15 months i think and was clean quite quickly. wees took till about 22 months. He was always very predictable with poo so easier. dd is now 6 months and we have just started putting her on potty at nappy changes and she often poos and sometimes wees. I can't see how they will harm themselves by holding on - don't think they could really hold on for a significant length of time at this age. Just go with it and see what happens. Sitting on potty is quite a comfortable position i think so that helps! Ignore what people say. You are not potty training per se, just letting them do what they want.

What potty have you got for your 6 month old, horseymum? Most are designed for bigger bots of 2 year olds so would be interested to know what works for a 6 month old.

We used a baby bjorn little potty from Ebay and a small cheap white potty from Tesco. I have also heard you can get small potties from boots and mothercare.

You can get folding travel potties which are fab for the changing bag and perfect to potty a baby out and about, called Pottette, I think

Sorry, you have to eat humble pie with your mum, but in this case she is right.

That said my own mother insisted that ECing wouldn't work and now she think it works for DD but not for any other babies. She is trying to tell me not to potty our new baby (due August) I haven't decided yet, I'll just see how things go.