Toddler won’t poo

[Daisysimply]

My 2 nearly 3 year old has been potty training for nearly 3 weeks. Has been going well with wees with the occasional accident here and there. The main issue is poos. She refuses to do a poo on the toilet or potty, have offered her to do it in a nappy but she still refuses and says it hurts. She holds it in for up to 5 days. I go to make a doctors appointment but by coincidence she manages to do one of the day I go to make the appointment so think I don’t need to take her anymore but next day we’ve got same issue all over again. Any advice on what I can do to help her and who to be person to go to first - doctor, health visitor, pharmacist? Have no idea what I’m doing.

Make the appointment and ask about movicol.

It's a medicine she can take for a few weeks that makes poos very soft. It can help break the cycle of withholding due to fear of pain as there won't be any pain for a while. And once she is feeling better about going you can slowly taper it off.

I could have written this! honestly it’s really common apparently.
we had to take a big step back and just offered her or let her ask for a nappy to poo in.
once she’d stopped holding it and was comfortable again I started it step by step.
first it was using a nappy but standing in the bathroom,
then it was in the nappy but on the toilet, lid down.
then nappy with lid up, then eventually (with some bubbles and bribery) we got to no nappy.
if there was distress id go back a step, and we’re pretty established now.

the health visitor recommended ERIC website for resources too.
everyone’s different but hopefully a helpful suggestion.

Is going for a poo every 5 days her normal before you started potty training, or was she going a lot more being in nappies. My 2 year old DS had real problems doing a poo sitting down, he said it hurt but could see him getting anxious needing to go, so would put nappy back on and he would go and hide and come back happy that he’d been, but he also knew I was upset that he wouldn’t go on potty or toilet. We carried on this routine for a while, I would cream his bottom with Vaseline and watching him, he didn’t appear to have any problem going. One day, I said we were going to sit on the toilet for as long as it takes, no rush, took books, snacks and drinks and sat in bathroom talking, keeping his mind off, I stayed calm and said there was no hurry. We must have stayed there over 2 hours, until he did eventually go, I knew he needed to go, as he was getting anxious. We did the next day, but it was quicker. I obviously don’t know, but I think when he said it hurt him to go, I think it was probably a tummy ache due to him wanting to go.

No 5 days wasn’t the norm for her. She used to get at least once every day until we started potty training. We’ve now been prescribed some sachets which I’m hoping will help but it’s heartbreaking seeing her in so much pain. I put her in a nappy but she’s refusing to even do it in a nappy now because it hurts her. Just hoping the medication does the trick for now