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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.

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Original poster

Can’t get son to poo on the potty

13 replies

sunshinecitrus1 · 26/05/2024 11:43

We have started potty training our son on Thursday which overall has been going well.

We did the bare bottom approach for the first couple of days and now he is in shorts (no underpants). We are only on Day 4 and seems to have really mastered wees. He is letting us know when he needs to go / taking himself to the potty and so far no accident today.

However, poos are a problem. When he was bare bottom he was withholding and when I put him in his nappy before bed he went for a poo then. When we started putting his shorts on with no underpants, there was less withholding as he felt safer to go I guess. But he will not go anywhere near the potty when he wants to go which has resulted to poos on the floor. Each time this has happened I have picked it up, put it in the potty and shown him this is where it’s supposed to go. He gets quite freaked out when he sees the poo and has even gagged!

I can feel that he gets stressed when he needs to go as he starts running around, hiding, the usual signs. But when I try and casually prompt him to go on the potty, it makes it worse and has resulted with him withholding again until a little later. Constantly in too minds to leave him be or to prompt / encourage but feels there is a very fine line as I don’t want to make him more stressed about it.

Anyone been / in similar situations? Any advice / tips appreciated!

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Coconutdreamer · 26/05/2024 11:46

Have a try of the NHS story Poo Goes To Pooland.

IncognitoUsername · 26/05/2024 11:50

My son never pooed on the potty - but wanted to go in the toilet. We had to hold him over it at first as we hadn’t thought to buy a seat/step!

Original poster

sunshinecitrus1 · 26/05/2024 12:00

@Coconutdreamer Thank you, I will have a look for this and give it a try 😊

@IncognitoUsername Good tip, I may try this with my son next time and gauge his reaction. Sometimes it all happens so fast though so not sure how I will get him up the stairs quick enough! 😂

OP posts:

Hoppinggreen · 26/05/2024 12:02

My son never used a potty and refused to have anything to do with it, if we brought it into the room he would take it out again. He went straight onto the toilet with a special seat.

JustLikeJasper · 26/05/2024 12:10

Definitely download poo goes to poo land. We had such issues with DS withholding but within days of him watching it he was using the toilet

Slimeblimeclimb · 26/05/2024 12:10

We recently went through this and what we did was not mention anything about poos, sat him on the toilet and read a few stories as he likes us reading to him and then he felt the urge and pooed. Not sure if we were lucky but try to just make it seem as a special time he gets your attention.

Original poster

sunshinecitrus1 · 26/05/2024 12:24

@Hoppinggreen Thanks, I have one of the small seats to put on the toilet so I am going to introduce that to him this afternoon so fingers crossed.

@JustLikeJasper I’ve downloaded this following @Coconutdreamer recommendation. Hopefully my DS will be the same as yours after watching!

@Slimeblimeclimb Thanks for the tip. Sounds as though you took a really casual approach which worked. I think sometimes it’s easy for us to make things a big deal which makes things even more difficult!

OP posts:

Ljordan13 · 21/08/2024 16:27

In the same situation @sunshinecitrus1 how you getting on?

Original poster

sunshinecitrus1 · 21/08/2024 22:57

@Ljordan13 My son has mastered weeing on the potty but 3 months later, still struggling with the poos. He still withholds to a certain extent and when he does go, he will just go in his pants. No attempt what so ever to go on the potty or anywhere so it’s really difficult. I am just hoping that eventually something will connect the dots. I know he knows what he has to do and we have had a very fair successes but he just won’t do it. Have tried everything I can think of so I am just going to continue to encourage and hope for the best. When did you start potty training your LO?

OP posts:

Ljordan13 · 22/08/2024 03:16

@sunshinecitrus1 we started potty training my son on 6 July so not that far behind you! My son is the same… he doesn’t wear a nappy at all now as he’s dry at night but a part of me is thinking to get him back to wearing a nappy at night as I’ve read some will hold on and poo then and that’s surely better than him holding on for 2-3 days (even with movicol!)

I have read stories that it can take up to a year for some so I am in solidarity with you x

CanelliniBeans · 22/08/2024 03:21

I had the same with one of my dc. In the end I remember offering him a special toy if he pooed in the potty. It took about a week, where he waited for his nappy to go on at night to poo, he did it once and then was absolutely fine and carried on.

Original poster

sunshinecitrus1 · 22/08/2024 07:41

@Ljordan13 Thanks for the advice @CanelliniBeans something else we can try! Actually my son is dry during the nights but still been in a nappy so maybe I should remove that. He doesn’t actually poo in his nappy when I put it on for naps on purpose. He has been on Laxido for some time, as advised by his doctor but I really don’t want him to be on it forever. I think the withholding would be terrible if I did right now… Bad enough as it is! Our situations seem really similar x

OP posts:

Ljordan13 · 22/08/2024 08:12

@sunshinecitrus1 I joined a Facebook group called Movicol Mummies and there is a lot of advice on there how long term use doesn’t have any long lasting effects so I think we just got to remember that!

The recommendation on there too is that alongside movicol you need a stimulant like senna for withholders. My GP prescribed it for us so I’ll give that a go next week and report back!

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