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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.

Pooing is traumatic!

2 replies

gimmethewine · 16/12/2021 19:34

Hoping for some advice please!

Have been potty training DD (nearly 2.5) for a couple of weeks now. Weeing seems to be going as well as can be expected - some accidents but she's pretty good at telling us she needs to go for a wee, and is happy to sit on the potty or toilet to do it.

The problem we're having is with poos! From talking to friends with older kids I understand this can be a bit more tricky but it's getting to a point now where I'm losing my patience with it and just don't know what to do! She has done a couple of poos on the potty/toilet at home and at the childminder but most of the time when she needs one she keeps saying "i need a poo" then we put her on the toilet (she doesn't seem to want to sit on the potty for poos) and she seems to freak out and want to get off almost immediately... And this can go on for hours! Tonight she has come back from the childminder and spent about an hour running back and forth to the loo, getting very worked up, asking to put a nappy on, and so we've put a nappy on her for bedtime and said goodnight but she's still not done a poo and we've had to go in again to calm her down and try her on the loo again... It's been a couple of days now without one so I'm worried she's going to make herself constipated if this carries on.

We've tried stickers, which seemed to work initially but now she doesn't seem fussed! Trying to be calm and chilled about it, lots of praise even for just trying, have even now resorted to letting her eat snacks and watch TV to try to get her to sit on the loo for longer! But don't really know what else to try! Help!

I feel awful cos I'm trying to stay calm for her and make it fun and positive but it's really stretching me to the end of my tether and I've definitely snapped at her which I feel so bad about.

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Dancingsmile · 16/12/2021 19:42

Try to imagine. Up till now she has only really pooed in a nappy. She has never had the feeling of something falling out her body. Its a pretty weird feeling when you think about it.
Also she is so used to the feeling of wearing a nappy not wearing one feels odd. You can't feel your pants but I bet you feel odd wearing trousers without them on. It's the same thing.
She's scared and feels weird.
Have you done lots of nappy off time or gone straight to potty training ?
Please don't snap at her that will just reinforce pooing is bad.
There's a Website called Eric which is very good for potty training.
What you can do is let her wear a nappy but have it done up a bit looser so she starts to feel the poo leaving her and its less comfortable.

Cemmm · 30/12/2021 20:34

Just wondering how you are going with this? We’re having exactly the same issue over here and it’s heartbreaking! Daughter (just turned 2) decided a couple of weeks ago that she no longer wanted to wear nappies after watching her older sister and has wee’d in the potty / toilet since. But we are having the same trouble as you are having with poos. She won’t wear a nappy, even to poo, and will hold it in for days even though she’s unhappy, anxious and clearly in pain. Trying all the usual things - lots of fluids, prunes, praise, lots of potty time (she’ll happily sit there), blowing bubbles. Nothing works and she just gets so worked up over days of holding it. Hope you’ve managed to overcome the issue

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