DS is 3.5, he’s never really shown any signs of potty training readiness but a few weeks ago (end of march) with encouragement from nursery we decided to give it a go. We tried a few times previously but it just never clicked, he didn’t know he was weeing, would always tell us when he had poo’d but never before I.e. when he felt the urge to go. We persevered and in fairness within a week he had cracked wees on the potty and toilet seat, overcame wee withholding and we were so proud but 4 weeks in and poos are a huge, huge issue. He absolutely refuses to poo on the potty, but also won’t do them in a nappy either. His bum is red raw from where he poos every 15 minutes but then stops himself so there is just a small amount in his bum, we are exhausted and frazzled. We have tried stickers, bribes, toys, magazines, loads of praise, no negativity. We tried putting him back in a nappy but it’s exactly the same scenario with the poo withholding because he doesn’t want to do it in a nappy. We have began giving lactoluse to soften, calpol in case it’s causing pain. But still he is withholding his poos from the potty, toilet, pants and nappy. At this point I don’t care where he poos I just hate this god damn potty training limbo we are stuck in.
Today has been really really hard, DH has been out all day, and I am just so done with it but we can’t go back to nappies because he knows what he’s doing now so every 15 minutes from 8am I have taken him to the toilet at DS’s request only for him to tantrum because he doesn’t want a poo (he does and he needs to go but he’s holding it in), I have kept calm all day and now he’s in bed and I am sat sobbing to myself into a glass of wine because I am just so worn out and frazzled and the end doesn’t seem insight.