It's the Poop Thing Again!!

Well I'm in the midst of potty training right now too, so I don't have a lot of advice to give on the subject, but I seem to have gotten a lot of it lately myself! She may be a bit old for this technique, but a few people told me that they just took pants and panties completely off their child b/c when they had to poop it just went right onto the floor. The kid freaked out (as you would imagine) and it helped them go in the potty. If you have a lot of carpet this may not be the best option, but maybe on hard wood or linoleum? Good luck!

Well, if she is "wiggling" it out, then you need to tell her she is doing better and give her encouragement. After a few days, then work on "let's get there sooner"...........getting her to do it on the potty is good.....even if it is late....you know the saying, better late than never.....in this case, not so much, but still it's a start.....

Start keeping a journal of when she goes potty......see if there is a time schedule.....like between 10-10:30, she goes poop........that way, you can make sure you are around her at that time and help her make her way to where she needs to be.

Also, let her pick out something small at the store she would like to have......tell her if she poops in the potty for 2 days, you will buy it for her, or for a day if it's cheap...........then increase the prize along with the time.......be sure to give her praise whenever she gives it a try.......talk to her about being a big girl like her sister..........talk to her about going to school and having others have to take care of her........

She'll catch on.....just hang in there.......I'm not sure the miralax is a good idea.....what is the Dr's reasoning on this? If she is holding, it doesn't matter what she takes or not............

In any event, you hang in there, take care, be positive and everything will get better.

Lower the dosage on the miralax if you have to but don't stop giving it to her. Your daughter sounds like she has Encopresis. That was our life for 3 years - 2yo to 5yo and we are still on Miralax. My daughter will be 8 in nov. Your daughter can no longer push poop out. Her spinchter muscles are stretched. My daughter didn't get "cured" until we saw a specialist. After 5 days of doing what our dr. recommended she was having regular daily poops. I don't give it Miralax to her daily now just a few times a week and/or if she tells me she needs it. Because of what she went through, she could go back to where she was in a short time. So we have had to stay on top of it. If you check my history of responses you can find more detailed information - I've written about this so much here. Or feel free to message me directly if you have any specific questions. I know how you feel and I know how frustrating it can be. She'll get better but first off, she has to poop daily - soft poops so her colon can go back to it's normal size which can take 3-6mos.
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I just read the other responses so I wanted to add a little more. If she has encopresis, which it sounds like she does. She isn't actually holding it in. At least not on purpose. When you've withheld poop for a long while, maybe because of a painful constipation episode or similar, then the colon stretches out and you become impacted, the spinchter muscle stops working so you can't push it out or hold it in. Stool will leak by the impacted bowel and then when the huge amount of impacted bowel is ready to come out - it will just come out - ready or not! Sorry to be so graphic but so many people think the child is doing this on purpose and although it may have started out that way due to a fear or something, it doesn't end up that way. Hope that helps!

I understand your dilemma, I was just like that when I was little. I remember purposely hiding and holding. I wish I could explain WHY it starts and continues, but I cant. I remember it being quite the inconvenience having to find a corner to hide in until the bowel spasms would stop and I could get back to playing whatever it was before the interruption. It does become habitual I believe. Not to scare you to bits but I didnt really stop doing it until I was about 10. I do believe there was a fear of passing a large stool, which inevitably happened quit often since I was holding for days on end and just leaving smears in my undies. I used to line my panties with toilet paper trying to protect them. I finally quit in 6th grade, knowing that I would be in jr high the following year and be exposed in gym shower room. My mom sent me to my grandmothers for a summer, with enemas and eating right, and lots of patience from my grandmother, I finally got on track and was free from holding.