Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Potty training

Is your child ready for potty training at nursery? Here's the place for all your toilet training questions.

Possible withholding poos.

1 reply

Strangesally20 · 27/01/2026 10:22

My DS will be 3 in April, at the weekend he said his nappy was itching him, he wanted it off and wanted “big boy pants” I really wasn’t in any rush to potty train but since he asked we put them on. He’s done amazing with pees, only had 2 accidents in almost 4 days, we’ve gone out for hours, gone to clubs, he’s went to nursery and been completely dry. He’s dry overnight (although I still put a pull-up on at the moment as I’m really don’t wanting to be changing wet sheets overnight) and does a pee first thing in the morning. He’s so proud of himself.

However it’s been 4 days and he’s not done a poo. He sits on the toilet does a pretend push and says he doesn’t need it. This morning he said his tummy hurts and I have no doubt it’s because he needs a poo. He just doesn’t seem to know how to do it on the toilet and of course won’t do it in his pants.

I really want to avoid this being a long term issue and needing laxatives but don’t know how best to handle it. I hoped once I put his bedtime nappy on he would just do a poo but he hasn’t and now I don’t know what to do. I feel awful and guilty if hes having a sore tummy but equally he’s done so well with pees that it would be a shame to put him back in nappies. Anyone had similar and what would you do?

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
BarnacleBeasley · 27/01/2026 10:26

Get him to drink lots of water, and have him sit on a potty for longer and do something relaxing, like watching TV. Potty is better than a toilet for this as you can get more of a squatting position which will help the poo come out. You can also prop his feet up on some books or something to get the position right. Don't encourage him to push, just relax and wait. After a decent long sit and relax, if there's no poo, just say never mind, we'll try again later.

You could also, if willing, get him to sit on a potty next to you while you are having a poo on the toilet.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread