Help toddler withholding poop

[newmama2023]

Can anyone please give me some advise or ideas to help us,
my nearly 3 year old will be desperate for a poop. I mean holding her bum and screaming almost. But absolutely refuses to go, either in nappy, on potty, on toilet. I dont know what to do. She went on the toilet in nursery the day before yesterday and i thought that was it! But nope she is now back to serious withholding. I have tried rewards. I have tried telling her that we all poop, ive read the books with her. I leave the door open when im going so she knows im going and make her feel more comfortable. But nothing is working. My poor bubba, Any help at all would be massively appreciated. Thank you so much.

Unfortunately my son is pretty bad for withholding too. Check out the ERIC website, they have advice about all sorts of toilet troubles :)

Poo goes to pooland video was pretty helpful for my two year old when she potty trained. I also gave a low amount of movicol to make sure she passed her stools comfortably so not to cause further withholding but her poos started to become quite hard and uncomfortable before I gave the movicol- obviously don’t give it if not recommended.

The ERIC helpline is very good - you can either ring or email them and I’ve found them to be really helpful. Whenever I’ve phoned them I’ve spoken with a specialist nurse. The page stoolwitholdinghelp on Instagram is also good for advice.

Thanks so much guys, i will check all of this out! I really appreciate the help, its so tough. And i feel so helpless with it.

Could pooing be causing her pain? Anal fissures are very common in children. Are her poos a little hard? Is she getting enough fibre/fluids etc? If it continues I'd probably go to GP to discuss as it may be there is an issue like constipation or a fissure causing the withholding, especially since it didn't just start with the potty.

Thank you for messaging, her poos aren't that hard at all actually and luckily she loves her veg and has plenty of fiber daily. She is just absolutely terrified of poo. It is a real fear to go poop bless her! She also only goes every other to every 3rd day.