Please help my 3yr old wont poo on the toilet :(

[worldcupbaby]

Hi All... my DD is 3 this weekend, she is dry in the day (not at night) and has been for a few weeks... she starts nursery in sept and they are insiting children are fully potty training (not easy considering DD is only just 3 and gonna be youngest in her yr, feel like we;ve been pushed into it)

Anyway enough waffling, she will NOT poo on the potty, she hasnt been poo for 4 days now, I even resorted to putting a nappy on her to poo and she has held it that long that she just couldnt go even in nappy saying it was hurting...

Am trying to get thru to my HV clinic to ask for advice but no answer... does anyone have any advice?

Ive tried bribes, sticker charts, leaving her without pants, potty, toilet, nappys with holes in, nappy on sat on toilet etc etc

She is actually afraid of pooing on the toilet :(

My DS is the same age and refused to do anything on the potty / toilet until we watched Flushed Away on DVD. Now we flush all the wees and poos down to Roddy. Not sure if you've seen it, but Roddy is the rat who gets flushed down the toilet to the sewers.

Get rid of the potty and buy a toilet seat and step - get dd involved in choosing them.

Have her sit on the toilet when you think she may be due a poo - or intermittently if irregular and read stories to her.

Give her plenty of fruit juice and maybe some prunes to help soften the poo up, if she hasn't been for a poo for four days it will be hard and uncomfortable for her.

Do you let her come in when you do a poo? It may help if she gets to see what happens.

A sticker chart could be useful too, kids are suckers for stickers, especially at 3 years old.

Try your very best not to get stressed about it, if she is already feeling anxious about going on the loo you being stressy or cross when she doesn't isn't going to help.

If she doesn't wear nappies in the day any more, only at night, keep it that way- nappies are for night time, until she is dry at night too, don't give in to the temptation to put one on so she will poo, you do NOT want to get into a situation where she will only poo in a nappy.

Plenty of fruity stuff and fibre in her diet and make the loo somewhere fun, books, toys, your attention and rewards for doing it on the loo.

I agree a toilet seat is the way to go - maakes the loo seem smaller and less fear of falling in.

My friend had this with her DS1 - after weeks of angst and faffing she said "I'll give you a tube of Smarties if you poo in the toilet" - and he did. Problem sorted :o.

Thanks Ladies... we have a toilet seat, she uses both the toilet seat and the potty and has no preference, just seems to be whichever she gets too first...

Ive tried a few of the suggestions... shes had loads of fruit today and a few glasses of apple juice (she hates oj), We have a sticker chart, shes gets stickers when shes good or does a wee and shes loses stickers for bad behaviour (have used this method for a while) we have even told her when shes poos on the toilet/potty she can have a happy meal (she adores happy meals, what 3yr old doesnt)

Hubby is currently looking for flushed away so we will get that and try that and as for watching us we never get a minute without her shes always come toilet with us etc

I was also told about a balloon, so I gave her some of the party balloons and sat her on the toilet said it was a special job to blow the balloons up, but 20 mins and red cheeks later, no poop :(

After 4 days and lots of fruit shes not got a bit of an upet tummy and we have had some runny poop (tmi) in her knickers but as soon as I know shes doing it, Ive been putting her on the toilet and she just runs off again and holds it in again :(

Thanks for the suggestions ladies keep them coming

Still have this problem with my ds. He turned 3 last week and has been dry since a week after his second birthday, yet he still has NEVER done a poo on the toilet a year later. He hates to admit he needs a poo too. He will just hold it in and hold it in and be litterally jiffling about to hold it in. We have to tell him he needs a nappy on because he just doesn't seem to want to ask for one ever.

It's so hard. He starts nursery school and also will be the youngest in his year but of the children who are in his class, there are at least 5 boys who are still in nappies full time for both wees and poos so they don't seem to make a big deal out of it thankfully.

It's difficult to see him struggling though and I do worry when it will end!

My DS was exactly the same..i tried EVERYTHING inc bribes, stickers but none of it worked..i'm afraid i gave in and let him poo in a pull up as he was holding it in for days on end and making himself ill from it..all of this was despite being dry from the age of 2.5

We survived because he became very regular..only going at night time just before bed so it was never an issue at nursery

Anyway eventually we had a breakthrough..first i managed to persuade him to poo sitting on the toilet but with the nappy on and then very quickly after he started doing it on the toilet

Apparently it's a very common problem!!