Would you put her back in pull ups??

[lyssie29]

I'm going crazy. My DD is 3 years and 2 months old. Just before she turned 3 she was fully potty trained except for bed. After about a month of being dry she started doing a few accidents at playgroup but that's expected when they're playing. Then about the start of December out of the blue she came to me at soft play and said she had pooed in her nappy. The problem was she didn't wear nappies anymore! She had done it in her underwear so I changed her no big deal and didn't make anything of it. Since then she barely goes to the toilet now. She will stand next to it even and just poo in her underwear. I got her potty bk out and she seems to have started going on there for wees. Her problem though is she doesn't just do one poo a day. She will do many small ones. Today we went through 3 pairs of underwear before I put a pull up on which straight away she pooed in even though she had just done one. Changed her again. Half and hour later she's done another one and so on. So in the past 2 or 3 hours we have used 3 nappies and shes just done it again. If I ask her if she's pooed she says no and she always has. Would you just put her back in pull ups for a few weeks and then try again??? I just lost myself for a moment today and started to tell her off for it because I'm just close to tears with frustration from the constant changing all the time. Every time we go out even if it's just for a few hours I tend to change her nappy 2 or 3 times. It's just constant. Help!

If I'm reading this right she's done 7 poos in a day? Has she got an upset tummy? If she's ill it could be coming without warning, so she's not able to get to the loo on time.

No they're just tiny pooes as if she's trying not to do it. She will then tell me she's finished the poo when I ask her but really she hasn't. I've tried leaving her in the nappy for a bit with the poo in she'll either cry until it's changed or wait until I do change it and then poo again. She will go and stand next to the bathroom door and I can tell she's doing one but when I ask her she says no. I pick her up and sit on her on the toilet and she says shes finished and won't do anymore. I don't know why she does it so much but she did it for months before potty training and it was one of the reasons I went ahead with potty training because she was going through so many nappies.

Sounds like she is constipated.

@jackshouse I suppose it could be that especially as she has no problem with having a wee in the toilet. She eat loads of veggies and fruit is there anything I could get to help her do you know? It's worth a try to see if it is that.

I wouldn't be inclined to put her back in nappies/pull ups. She's clearly ready for this if she's already been potty trained, she's just got a bee in her bonnet about poos in the toilet again for some reason (maybe she had a painful one or there was a big splash that bothered her?).

Our little girl had a similar lapse after a few months. We reintroduced the star chart for poos on the toilet and 'clean' sleep nappies (I.e. no poos) and while we weren't cross with her when she had a poo in her sleep nappy (clearly after she'd woken up), we did tell her that she was a big girl who shouldn't use the nappy for poos.

Have you tried the Mr Poo goes to Pooland app? Our little girl loved that story and I think it took some of the fear out.

Maybe make a bigger deal out of it? If she thinks it's OK because you don't mind then she won't see the need to change.

This us a hard one! I think I'd be inclined to be quite firm about it. It's not an accident by the sound of it, she's doing it on purpose? How about staying at home with no bottoms or pants on? Potty in reach, and a reward system. And "poo's go in the toilet" mantra.

Try reading this with her ...www.ntw.nhs.uk/content/uploads/2016/08/Poo-Goes-To-Pooland.pdf

She's probably gotten used to holding it in when playing, and it's caused a backlog which is now finally showing up as constant accidents. It really sounds like constipation to me, and I'd suggest you get a prescription for movicol before the problem escalates. Increase her liquids and fibre intake, and try to get her into a routine of sitting on the toilet at a regular time each day, even if nothing happens at first. You need to go back to the beginning a bit, and help her relearn this, especially if you think she's gotten into the habit of holding her poos. It's very, very common.

Please go see your doctor. My daughter did this and long story short I didnt consider constipation. She was going to toilet much only managing small formed bits, but would end up with several pairs of dirty pants through the day.
Our problem was something silly... someone had mentioned only ladies could help the girls at the toilet in nursery (her teacher was a man) so she started holding it in.
We ended up in A&e as it went on so long ended up with movicol and it was sorted.
Im a nurse btw but never considered constipation as she was still going to the toilet

If it is this bad I think you need to see the GP.

Generally avoid banana, egg and wheatabix and push ‘p’ foods, prunes, tinned peaches and pears.

Thanks everyone I have ordered a sticker chart for her and basically just going to ride it out with plenty of rewards and plenty of underwear at the ready. She still has 2 weeks before she starts nursery so I can concentrate properly on it. Also going to ring gp tomoro and take her to see about constipation. Thanks :)