Help please…
Our 2.5 year old daughter is terrified of pooing. This seemed to start just before her 2nd birthday when she did a massive one in the bath and it freaked her out. We perhaps should’ve tried potty training her at the time but we didn’t and now here we are. She will hold it in until it is clearly hurting her. We can tell when she needs to go and if we try and put her on the toilet or the potty she becomes hysterical and screams “I don’t need one” until she does do one. We basically have to hold her on the toilet. Problem is that she won’t just go in her nappy either if left to her own devices so we have no choice but to put her on the toilet and make her sit there. She goes fairly quickly when she is on the toilet - it’s not constipation - but it’s so distressing for her and for us. We had a small break through around Easter when she was voluntarily using the potty and toilet and was really pleased with herself but then she went back to nursery and since then it’s been as bad as ever. We have tried ignoring it and letting her just go in her own time but her record is holding it for ten days to the point that it was leaving skid marks in her nappy and she still didn’t go of her own choice. We have tried treats and rewards for doing it but it doesn’t make it any less distressing. She won’t tell us what it is that is upsetting her whether she thinks the poo will hurt or if she’s scared of the toilet but when asked will say yes to both. The HV suggested potty training but not sure how to potty train a toddler who literally won’t poo at all even in a nappy. I can’t remember the last time she used her nappy for it.
Any advice? It’s getting all us down and frustrated.