2.5yr old getting really upset when needs to poo...please help

[lu9months]

we started potty training last week, and its going well, she seems really proud of herself. however, she seems to be 'holding in' poos, she wont push (!)then is getting constipated, and it is really sore when she does have to push. i have given her a little lactulose which shes had before for painful constipation, but dont want her to be too loose cos it will also distress her if she leaks. she has a good diet and drinks lots of water. how can i help her overcome her fear of pooing?!

My son had that. I put him on pull-up napies and told him that was ok if he did the poo there or on the potty. It delayed the potty trainning a bit but I think that is better than him being scared of pooing and getting constipated. Because it becomes a cycle.

I had this problem with ds and it became a huge problem for months and months. After many trips to the doctors, consultants and trying everything possible a book my mum gave me sorted it. It was called 'everybody poo's' and it talks about the body and how the poo is made and why. Once ds understood the why and how and we made a game of where poo was along the bendy road (small intestine) and bumpy road (lg intestine) and when it came out was a fantastic event worked for ds, he was 2.5 at the time, we had it sorted by 3.5. hopefully won't take you so long.

thanks so much, thats really helpful

Gina Ford advises never to call a poo smelly or yucky! I was really worried when I read this as we did this all the time and have stopped immediately. We started potty training last week and my DD hadn't pooed since Tuesday - she did this morning thank goodness, we did a big cheer, said how brilliant it was and gave her a big treat chocolate afterwards - hopefully she won't hold it in that long again. Maybe if you offer a really good treat for a poo on the toilet and like the previous poster said - be really positive about the experience then that will work - good luck!

My DS has been training since Friday and he's doing pretty well but we're having a similar poo problem. He had a runny poo in his pants on Saturday afternoon and although we didn't make a fuss, he seems to have been really upset by it and hasn't been for a poo since. I'm getting a bit concerned as he's normally very regular. I don't want to give him laxatives in case there's another accident and this makes him even more scared. He uses pull ups at night but won't go when he's wearing them either. He has a good diet and drink lots but he just seems to be holding on! It's making him really grumpy too - any tips?