Hi moms,
Ok, my little boy, 27 months, has begun potty training. Because he wanted to - he refuses to pee in his diaper, and so we started using the potty. Now he wears underwear in the day and is very happy. He still wears a diaper at night.
OK - the problem - is that he doesn't seem to want/can't poo in the potty. But he's not pooing in his nightime diaper either...
He used to poo once or twice a day, always easy, no problems.
Now - it's been 2 days since he poo'ed and his tummy is starting to bother him....
How can I help him?? What should I do??
Thanks so so much,
K.
You could try Miralax or one of the other OTC constipation meds, but don't use them regularly w/o consulting a dr. Miralax may take a few days to really get things going. Madarin oranges, pears, oatmeal with flax seed, lots of juice, and beans (kidney, black, whatever) have all helped my kids poop when they get backed up.
My son (who has been potty trained since August) also did the same thing. You just have to keep on him. My son loves cookies, so I bought oreo cookies and told him he could have 1 cookie for every time he would go poop on the potty. I also explained to him that if he didn't go poop on the potty that his tummy will hurt and get too full. For some reason boys are afraid to poop on the potty. My son would hide and poop in his underwear for a couple of weeks. But not he is pooping on the potty every day! Good luck!
My daughter did the exact same thing but her refusal to poop lasted 7 days. And she would rather not have anything to drink all day than to drink something other than milk. We tried feeding her lots of fruits, vegetables, and whole wheat food to soften the stool and make it easier to go. No luck. We eventually had to take those single packets of Benefiber and put some in her milk every time we refilled. That ways her system wasn't overloaded and crampy from too much fiber. Within a couple of days she had her first bowel movement in the potty and was excited because it didn't hurt. Didn't have a problem after that.
My daughter had this problem. When she told me her tummy hurt, I told her that it was probably because she hadn't gone poopy in a couple of days. I asked her if she wanted to go poopy in the potty. She said no, so I told her she could just go in her diaper if she wanted. When she needed to be changed from a poopy diaper, I would take her with me to the bathroom and have her help me plop the waste in the potty. I told her that when she was ready she could go poop on the potty and not have to wear a diaper to poop. We did that each time she needed to go no. 2 for about 3 days or so and then started doing it in the potty when I said 'maybe we can just try on the potty this time and see if anything happens.'
Good Luck!
Okay... when my daughter was that age and 'wanted' to toilet train, we started. But, pooping... is always the harder part of the process.
Ended up, just from pure stress and anxiety about pooping.. she got constipated and pain etc.
We then had to take her to a Pediatric Gastroenterologist. HE said... that everyday, he sees toddlers like this. He said, do NOT force a toddler to poop in a toilet... until they are ready. If constipation then occurs... it is hard to remedy. Because... this kind of constipation is 2-fold: it is a medical problem and then it is an emotion based problem. Because... the more constipated a child gets... it can cause complications/bulging bowels/Encopresis/blockage etc. AND then when a child is constipated... it causes pain. Because of the pain... a child will then "withhold" their poop.. .and may not go, at all. Which then exacerbates the constipation problem, making it worse...and making the pain worse, internally. So then, the child withholds their poop, more. Thus, a vicious cycle ensues.
For my daughter, it took 3 months to undo her constipation... and the psychological 'pain' it causes.... and we had to do, per the Doctor, prescription based remedies.
The main thing is: he said, do not make a child constipated... just because you want them so badly, to BE potty trained. A child's bowels and 'mastery' of it, does not work that way. In the meantime, let the child poop in a diaper. Until they have attained a sense of readiness, for pooping in a toilet..... without stress/pressure/anxiety.
The Specialist we went to, also said, do NOT use suppositories or enemas in a child.
In tandem with the oral things we had to give our daughter, he also suggested pear juice, or whole unfiltered apple juice etc. To soften the stool.
all the best,
Susan
This is EXACTLY what my son did. We ended up giving him a saline laxative pill (OTC) to finally get him going. He got hysterical, but finally went. Then he went back to pooping in a diaper, but reluctantly. Happily, he's now back to once/day. and he's going on the potty! He had to go once at daycare, and his teacher put him on and he went. Horrah! He still says (every, single, time) "I can't go! It's gonna hurt!" but then he goes and he's back to his chipper self.
Hopefully it won't be a big deal but the "trauma" of that one painful bowel movement stuck around, so be sure to keep a little laxative on hand so he doesn't get into a vicious cycle. Good luck!
feed him lots of prunes, beans (bean soup, hummus, quesadilla with beans and cheese, indian lentils... anything he might like. and avoid bready things. )
Try a little prune juice, or grape if he won't drink it. If it continues you may need to use a suppository to help move things along.
I would puts a tspn of Miralax in his bottle and then feed him some beans for lunch AND dinner...he maybe had a painful poo experience not to long ago and now is afraid to go...since he can control it its like a snowball affect. I would just try to soften it for him
