Poo problems

[Rachierach11]

3 year old DD has been potty training for 1 week. Fantastic progress with wees but poos are a different story. The first poo went in the potty - she was very unhappy about this but we praised her and rewarded her with smarties and I thought we had nailed it. Since then, every poo has been in her knickers. She disappears and when I go to find her she's done it. She says she's scared and doesn't want to do it in the potty. She's even more scared of the toilet so that's not an option. Any tips on how to help her to poo on the potty please?

My son at 3 was fine weeing on the potty but wouldn't pooh. He knew when he wanted to but would beg me to put a nappy on him. Then he would do it in the nappy. He did grown out of it eventually, with encouragement. When he finally did it in the potty we had a little celebration and he was fine after that

Have you tried getting her to ask for a nappy when she wants a poo? Some children don't like the sensation of the poo falling away from them.

Get her to ask for a nappy. You put the nappy on and she sits on the potty to poo, with a book or tv as a distraction.

Once she's got used to this, you start making the fit of the nappy more loose over weeks until you're eventually just laying the nappy onto the potty. By then it should be pretty easy to get her to go without the nappy

It's worth reading the sections on pooh holding on the ERIC website. It's a charity that advises on all toileting issues

Thank you so much everyone! All really helpful comments x