2 1/2 Y/o Holding in Her Poop

N.,

Don't sweat it. Let her keep practicing, try to address any anxiety she is having, and know that this too shall pass. Sounds like she is doing great, since it has only been two weeks. She's still pretty young, and it can be a hard transition.

I don't think any form of laxative is appropriate in this situation. Your description makes it sound like she is just nervous, and that will pass. If you give her laxatives, she might lose bowel control, and that will be very scary and will complicate the issue. Sounds like she already has the urgency and need to go, so I think it will come along just fine. Keep encouraging her and try not to make a big deal out of it.

You're both doing great!

try some coffee, prune juice, aloe juice or oatmeal to help stimulate her bowels to move, and soften it a bit,

then read a story to her while she sits on the bowl to help her relax her bum muscles.

build a little tent around her, and as her to push, while you make the silly sounds,

bring it out to the living room and let her sit on the pot, while watching Tv to relax her.

Good luck Mom

M

Hi N.,

I went throught this with my son. He is now 5. He still avoids pooping sometimes but is much better about it now. When he was your daughter's age, I had to explain that it was healthy to poop! Maybe it sounds crazy, but I explained we all have to and his older sister was willing to sit on the toilet and talk to him and tell him it was ok, and what a big girl she was for doing it. Then I gave her a sticker and offered him a sticker if he wanted too. We did this a few times and it made it easier to see that other people sit on the toilet and do it too. You may end up having to demonstrate yourself!! LOL. The other thing that helped was we had a dog, and he saw the dog poop outside. I used this as another example and yes gave the dog a sticker too!! LOL. Another relaxation technique is to play relaxing music, water flowing etc. Then as she sits on the potty, let her drop pennies in a bucket or bowl one at a time on the floor and let her get used to the idea of the "letting go" feeling. Then explain she can let it drop into the potty just like the pennies she drops from her hands! Good Luck!!

D.

OMG! We went through a very hard time with this with our son when he was about the same age. He learned to pee on the potty quickly and even pooped about 5 times on the potty....then nothing. He just stopped wanting to poop on the potty. We did everything we had heard about (reading books while they sit, sticker charts, other non-food rewards). None of it worked. He would actually hold it for 4-5 days! Eventually we started giving him diapers to go in which would still take awhile. He would scream and cry because he was in so much pain and not want to go even in the diaper. I was pregnant with our second child at the time and I remember the process taking anywhere from 30-45 minutes and usually ended up with both of us crying. I felt so bad for him, this lasted for about eight months. We would always try to get him to go on the potty and eventually it got alot easier with the diaper and he would just ask for it and go. After my daughter was born I was home with them for about four months and because my son was heading to preschool that spring, I had to get him out of the diapers! we started all of those things again like sticker charts, special outings with family members and even a new bike after we went on the potty 10 times in a row! It worked this time. I am glad to say he has been pooping on the potty for more than one year! THe moral of this very long story is .......... don't take advise from me because we obviously did it all wrong! For real, I truly belive they do it when they are developmentally ready and it's different for every child. Certainly do all those things like sticker charts etc., but also be very patient and don't get frustrated, they pick up on that. Good luck!

I have the same problem with my 3 1/2 year old son. I called the doctor when he started holding it (running around moaning and holding his butt) and she suggested Miralax. Just add a 1/2 cupful to the juice. Then when he had to go I would sit next to him on the floor of the potty and read books and brought in some activity games (such as magnadoodle) and had him play while he went. When he had the urge to go, I just told him to "push out the poopie" and when he went in the potty, we had a HUGE party!! ... Of course, this is a work in progress. He usually pushes out the poopie in his pants. I hope this helps some!!!