DD2 refuses to poop

[RainbowUnicorse]

Please can someone suggest some mumsnet wisdom as I’m losing my mind here. My DD is 2.5 and she’s been doing all her wees in the potty since she pretty much turned 2. By herself, we never trained her. Pooping however… she takes her nappy off and goes to the toilet for a week no problem but yet again she’s been holding it in for 3 days now. It really drives me crazy because we then have to revert to nappies and she won’t do poops in nappies either normally and will take ages to adjust. She’s obviously uncomfortable but just refuses to poop straight out. What shall we do to help her? We tried stickers, lots of praise, no praise, no pressure, let her have a nappy etc. it just feels like a constant battle 🙁

Do you think she's withholding? If so then she may not be able to go as witholding can lead to constipation which can reduce the urge to go. Does she have smeary accidents? She may not be able to feel or control this.

Doing poos can be an overwhelming feeling for some children and if they've had a large stool at some point it can create a fear of going. I would ask the Dr for some stool softener like Paediatric Movicol. It's not a full blown laxative rather just helps the stool maintain water and so it's easier to pass.

@Dwells thank you for your reply! Sorry for the initial message being so jumbled, I’m just so frustrated. Yes, she’s definitely withholding… thank you for your advice, I think I will take her to doctors tomorrow and ask for Movicol.

Sounds crazy….but have you tried bubbles? 👀👀

My eldest DD would withhold - she did one poo one time that was a bit hard and it hurt. So then she would withhold until she couldn’t anymore and obviously it hurt again….it was an awful cycle.
A friend of mine is a midwife with 4 of her own kids and she told me about the bubbles for poop withholders.
Apparently, it’s physically impossible for a young child to blow bubbles and clench their bowels at the same time! I sat my DD on the potty when she was showing the telltale signs of needing to go, handed her a pot of bubbles with a little bubble wand….and she did a poo!
It did mean that we needed to have a constant supply of bubbles in the house for about 6 months but that was a small price to pay 😂

My friend’s DD was like this, scared of ‘the drop zone’ just to warn you, the body will take over and when her body starts it won’t stop. My friend’s DD was having a nap at home when it happened and when she woke she had quite a shock but my friend was just glad she wasn’t out for the the day.

2.5 is still quite little in the scheme of things. We had this issue with our DD but it took a lot longer to sort out… primarily I suspect because we got very intense and worried about it when it didn’t fall into place. Being anxious really doesn’t help in the scheme of things so you might need to rewind a little in your plans. Have a look at the incontinence Charity ERIC because there is really useful information on there. We did go down the Movicol route with the GP but in our case constipation was never really the issue. Having tried absolutely everything recommended on here it was a combination of slow slow increments plus a lucky dip type reward ( We followed the process that Eric describes of cutting a hole in the nappy… it was a slow process starting with just getting her into the bathroom to do the poo in her nappy. ( she would wait til she had her overnight pull up pants and then get out of bed and kind of hide in the dark ). Hopefully you won’t be unpicking that kind of issue. It’s very common and kids pretty much all get it sooner or later so try not to worry.

Oh and we did star charts and blowing bubbles & balloons and the charming story Poo goes to Pooland ( which autocorrect just changed to Poland 😀). But none of that worked for us… might work for you though.

I agree 2.5 is quite little. Poo Goes to Pooland worked brilliantly for my son when he refused to poo on the loo but he was about 3 by then.

My DC was like this. Use a reward system, chocolates didn't cut it for me, I used hot wheel cars. It worked. Took a few goes. It's very common, for some reason they don't like it/are scared so once they realise there's nothing to worry about it should be ok. I didn't need to do it, but I've also read advice where you can try a nappy in a potty first then gradually remove the nappy. Try to just relax about it as the more stress you put on it the more anxious they'll get

Yes, this. Mine was 2.5. Poo goes to pooland, potty monkey and lil poo. From what I've heard once they gwt past 3 it's harder. Keep at it, you'll be fine.

I love that Poo Goes To Pooland is still a thing 😂😂🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻
My eldest DC is nearly 10 and I remember using that with her!

I actually think I got the tip off here! 😂 the graphics could do with a refresh, lil poo is much cuter 😆

@MsNevermore Thank you so much for your bubbles suggestion!!! I just made her to blow “pretend bubbles” as I didn’t have actual ones and she’s done a mega poop 😂😂😂 off to the shop to buy real bubbles now for the week 😅

poo goes to pooland and lil poo at the ready here!! 😅

YAY FOR POOP!!! 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻😂😂