2yo withholding poo

[Threesmycrowd]

We've been potty training DS (2 years and 2 months old) for 1 week. He got the hang of wees straight away and is dry for naps. Poos are becoming more if an issue - at first he'd hold it until he couldnt wait any more, then he'd rush over to the potty and manage to get on just in time. We did the same with these successes as with wees - lots of praise and gave him a sweet. With wees he is clearly pleased with himself but seeing the poo in the potty upset him, he's not glad to have done it.

Today has been awful, he's needed a poo all day and has been running around holding his bottom, crying, asking for a nappy and asking to be changed (even before he's done a poo). He's had three poos but all small - basically whatever he can't hold in any more. I tried putting a nappy in the potty and putting a nappy on him. Neither helped. Also tried reading books/watching favourite tv on potty. And using toilet instead of potty. I'm at a loss. Pooing id becoming an issue but as putting a nappy back on didnt help i dont know how to reduce the pressure on him. He's never been constipated and never struggled to go before now.

Any ideas? He's seen us poo on the toilet (although maybe hasn't looked in the bowl much to see actual poo) and he goes to nursery where he's seen other children using potties. I'm considering pooing on the potty myself to help him!

My dd got really bad with this, started training about 2 1/4 to 2 1/2.

She would not go on the potty and would insist on a nappy, then would hide away until she done it. Then we tried to encourage on the potty but she refused to go. We gave up but she held on for days, a week once, so it developed from "don't want to do it on the potty" to I am not going, to "my God it hurts so I am not going at all". I will never forget the screaming, in the GP surgery, when she went once.

We were advised to give her lots of fibre and prune juice so she couldn't hang on and it was soft to pass.

Once she got over her fear of going it took another few months to encourage it on the potty, with sticker charts. She was nearly 3 by the time she cracked it. I thought she was going to nursery school with this issue, but she didn't.

My takeaway from this is go back, make them comfortable so they don't hold on to it as it can make a frustrating situation into a nightmare. For eg going out, or just being able to chill, became impossible if she was holding - the crying and screaming was so upsetting.

Good luck.