Potty Trained and Has Stop Pooping

First of all, how would you feel if someone forced or threatened or begged you to go? That approach will get you no where quickly and you'll end up in the doctors office. If it were me, I'd give my child the choice of pull-ups or potty for pooping, with a reward for pooping in the potty & just go with it till she is ready to do it on her own & gets regular again. I just got done potty training my 3 y/o daughter who is very strong willed. I just treated her with respect & gave her credit for knowing when she had to go, once I did, she was completely trained. She gets one M & M for pooping which is added incentive, but absolutely NOTHING negative when it comes to the potty or it will take forever. Good luck!

And to add to what was already written, pooping in the diaper may go on for quite a while. My son was almost four when he finally started pooping in the toilet, but I didn't want to even go down the constipated road! Once he decided that he was going to poop in the potty, we never had a problem, and he never went back to diapers. When I tried to push the issue at three years old (he was totally trained otherwise) he held his poop for three days, and that was enough for me to stop and let him have control. I did NOT want to end up in the hospital over something so simple as one diaper a day.

I agree with everything Susan said. We went through this with our son. Try not to create a power struggle- it can become a vicious cycle and my ped addressed the consitipation quite aggressively so that it would not become something to deal with for years. I would add that sometimes the natural food choices like prunes do not do it and you really just want a nice easy pooping experience. My doctor suggested Miralax- is is very safe- you can talk to your ped if you like, but it really helped us. You can dissolve it in water or milk or juice it is odorless and tasteless.
Good Luck!

.

Kids.... often do this... and at this age. Even if they are/were potty trained.
It is still ongoing.
It is not finite.

BUT... the thing you want to watch out for... .is that she not get constipated.
IF a child, is on purpose 'withholding' their poop and not going... then they can get constipated.
My daughter did that. We then had to see a Pediatric Gastroenterologist, for it.
As constipation occurs, and they do not poop... it creates pain.... upon it coming out or from them withholding it.
Then, due to the pain, they do not want to go and poop.
Then, if the bowels becomes impacted internally.... it becomes harder and harder... in consistency, and then that makes it hard to come out... without pain.
Then the child, because of that, withholds pooping even more.
The Specialist we saw, says everyday he sees kids like this. He said, just let the child poop, don't force or threaten.... and even if in a diaper... let them poop. Otherwise, they get internal problems. And it can cause medical problems... one of them being "Encopresis"... which means an involuntary... leaking of poop, usually exacerbated by constipation.
Some kids bowels, if taken with an x-ray, is so blocked up and hardened... that it cannot come out... without pain. For example.
So it then becomes a (1) medical problem and (2) an emotion based problem... of the kid not wanting to poop at all, due to the pain and discomfort....
It took my daughter, THREE months, to remedy her constipation... even though we did not force her to poop. She simply got stress and anxiety about pooping.... and IN the toilet.

Try to give her things that are not binding. Pear juice helps to soften the stool.... as well as whole apple juice. Or a couple of prunes or prune juice.

The more you 'force' it.. the more the child will resist.
My son would even scream "IT'S MY BODY!!!!"
If she needs to poop... and will not in a toilet... just give her a diaper. This is per the Specialist as well. Then, as the issue lessens, then you just encourage the child again, to do toileting.

all the best,
Susan

Susan nailed it.

The ONLY thing I would add, is that if your daughter is not going often enough due to slight constipation, try Miralax. My son's ped recommended it for him, and we give him under the recommended dosage a day, and it's enough to keep him regular with no struggle. It is not a stimulant, like laxatives, it is simple a colorless, tasteless powder that can be mixed with anything, that pulls moisture from the body to keep the poop soft enough to pass easily.

I feel for you, L.. But I will say, the more you threaten and make push it, the more she will control it and hold it. My son really struggled with this too and only pooped in his diaper when he was sleeping at night.
My husband took him to the toy isle of the grocery store and told him when he pooped on the potty, he could have any toy he wanted (within reason). That worked to get him regular again. But it ended up getting expensive. We finally sealed the deal by letting him "stay up" a little longer like a big boy to read books. If he pooped he got another book. If not, he had to go on to the rest of his bedtime routine. I think we really needed both to finish the process. He has been pooping regularly now for 6 months.
Try not to freak out about it. She will sense that. These little ones want control so badly because so much is changing in them and around them. And if you are traveling a lot, that might make her feel like she is losing some control in her life. If you make potting her choice again as a big girl, then she will come around.
Blessings,
Julia

Miralax was prescribed for my daughter who had had a painful BM after dehydration and after that started with holding. A spoonful a day in any liquid does the trick - it softens the stool and helped her go. We used if for about 3 months until her memory of painful poops was gone AND her colon shrunk back to normal size. This happened when she was out of diapers for a long time (maybe age 6?). I am mentioning this because if you do not wish to go back to diapers, just adding the Miralax (now over the counter) to her drink once a day might help as well, but discuss this with your doctor since I do not know how young one can start taking Miralax. Good luck.