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Potty training

Is your child ready for potty training at nursery? Here's the place for all your toilet training questions.

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Original poster

Ds holding poos

9 replies

Firsttimer1984 · 25/03/2015 14:50

Please help me...I am at my wits end and am now crying. My ds is 3.5 and just holds his poo. When asked about it he says he doesn't like going. The longest he has been able to hold it is 8days. We are now on laxatives daily but I don't know how to help him. The laxatives just means he is dripping poo. He has never been constipated as in had hard stools, they are always soft when he passes them. Please help me.

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SpinDoctorOfAethelred · 26/03/2015 11:29

Oh, you poor things. How long ago did this start? Is he in nappies, or are you trying to transition him to the potty?

Piratejones · 26/03/2015 18:26

You haven't mentioned if he's potty trained or not?

A lot of chidlren still need a pullup for pooing, not wanting to poo on the potty or toilet is common at first. Could this be the problem?

Original poster

Firsttimer1984 · 26/03/2015 20:12

He has been potty trained for about five months and we have had very few accidents on the wee front but the pooing is a nightmare, think I am making it worse as I am getting so stressed out about it. He is still in nappies at night.
Thanks for replying, it is good to know I am not alone pirate jones!

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Original poster

Firsttimer1984 · 26/03/2015 20:14

It started to get really bad about three months ago, spin doctor but the eight days is a recent record, I am hoping the regular laxatives will mean he can't hold it for that length of time/damage himself.

OP posts:

SpinDoctorOfAethelred · 26/03/2015 20:27

Don't be afraid to use positive behaviour reinforcement, or as other people call it, bribing toddlers with maltesers.

SpinDoctorOfAethelred · 26/03/2015 20:27

lauramch1981 · 28/03/2015 21:44

My daughter is exactly the same. She's been potty trained since last summer but can hold a poo in for up to 10 days. We have periods where she'll do it in her night nappy before bed but at the minute is refusing to do it at all. She's been on movicol for 12 months but I don't like it as it makes it not solid so I believe not as easy to actually push out. I have nothing useful to add I'm afraid other than to say you're not alone!

happyelf · 28/03/2015 22:03

What laxative is he on? My dd 4.4 had terrible problems pooing after we'd potty trained. Eventually we were referred to a bowel specialist at local paediatric unit. This took about a year of going back and forth to gp to get the referral. She was on 1 movicol a day as per gp instructions. It didn't do much except make her drip poo almost constantly. When we saw the specialist he said it was a classic sign of constipation as her bowel was impacted so only wee bits were leaking out.

Back in October he told us to keep her off nursery for 2weeks and up her movicol until she was on 10 a day and her poo was liquid consistency. We had expected a total drama but actually it was ok and I still managed to leave the house for school run etc. Once her bowel was cleared we had to work on re potty training her. This took a lot of work and she is still bribed. She gets 20p every time she gets a poo in the toilet without marking her pants. We're now weaning off the movicol and down to 1 sachet a day.

Just in the last month we've had a total breakthrough and she's not soiled her pants once and now she can tell when she needs to go without me asking her all the time.

I have to watch her diet and she doesn't get white bread at all and her milk intake is limited.

If you search movicol on here there are a lot of threads about constipation and withholding. In our case I think dd had had a sore poo and then started withholding and the situation just escalated from there.

notmuchofaclue · 28/03/2015 23:19

firsttimer you have my absolute sympathies, I too spent this evening sobbing due to my nearly 3 year old refusing to poo, but obviously being in pain with it. When's had on/off issues with holding it in for a while, but we tried potty training her recently and things had seemed to go ok - but suddenly we are right back to her rolling around on the floor wailing about it, but refusing to sit on the potty. I'm ashamed to say that I have gotten myself really stressed about it in front of her, and I know this won't help - but she can go for hours crying in pain whilst still not going. I have seen people recommend contacting the charity Eric as they have a helpline, and I'm going to try that, might be worth a go for you too.
In the meantime, if anyone has any tips for potty training a poo withholder, I would be eternally grateful. She got it really quick but now she just seems to want to hold everything in. It's not even like she's waiting for night time to let it out in her nappy as it's bone dry, so I'm not sure going back to nappies is the answer.
Oh, she is on Movicol which has usually done the job - but in the nappy days when she hadn't gone for a few days we'd just up the dose. Now I don't know how we can without her losing all control.
It really is super stressful isn't it, and amazing how much poo can dominate your life!

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