Potty training woes...

[fairfarmhand]

anyone else have a kid who would rather constipate himself than poop on the pot? He is peeing really well for me, but he holds and holds his bowels, and is only pooping every 2-3 days. He will not poop in his underwear, but waits till I diaper him for naps or to go somewhere. Yesterday, it was in the library!

 

I'm afraid he will hold it till it is so hard he won't be able to poop at all.

 

He has never had a regular time of day that he would poop (so I can't just make him sit at that time and have it come out), but he usually would go at least once a day.

HELP!

[Caitilin]

I had two that did that. Our miracle cure was mineral oil. We used a t twice a day. It worked! Also, eating fruits that begin with p (pineapple, pears, plums, etc) helped make the stools softer. We found that it was, as you describe, a psychosomatic problem, so the giving of the medicine helped the dc feel we were doing something about it. I know that you can mix it in juice, etc. but we just gave it to them straight up--they took it, didn't complain, and, voila! results! ;)

[dirty ethel rackham]

Miralax! It is OTC, won't stain the clothing orange if there are accidents and won't rob the body of nutrients the way mineral oil can. You want to get the stool to the consistency of pudding so that they can't hold it in, but not so runny that they get a sore bottom. You can mix into anything they would normally drink (we did juice.)

[Dobela]

DD3 is potty training as well and we are in the same boat as you this week. Just 2 days ago I actually sat on the floor of a public bathroom so I could keep her on the toilet. :ack2: It took 15 minutes of calm singing and gently putting her back on the toilet before she was successful. And yes, she was screaming the whole time. I had to sit because as long as I was standing she thought I was leaving or could leave. The day before this experience she was in so much pain that I actually used half of a suppository to get her started.

 

When I was sharing this gross experience with dh he realized that he had not been eating a bedtime snack with her at night for a week or 2. :glare: For her bedtime snack he had been having her eat yogurt and had been putting strawberry flavored fish oil in the yogurt. Just a small amount like 1/4tsp. Apparently the oil and yogurt kept her soft and flowing. We started it again 2 nights ago and she has now had 2 movements without issue since.

 

 

I was told by our nurse that this is sommon for every child at some point. Not that it is fun.

 

Miralax is what we used with my son, but only after he became dangerously constipated. It is a very good and easy to use product. You just have to remember to use it regularly until the body is healed and the child is going regularly. Now we can manage his with lots of fruit and water in his diet.

[lisamarie]

Miralax!

 

:iagree: That's what I had to use with my DS. Except he was completely irregular and could go 4-5 days without going. So we used miralax and juice and it helped to get him to some semblance of regular. But with him, he WOULD go in his underwear. :ack2:

[MaMa2005]

DS potty trained easily at 30 months EXCEPT for the bowel movements. I didn't want to wage war and had learned over many years of potty training children that they will do things on their own timetable.

 

DS would actually go get a diaper for me so he could have a BM. This lasted for about 6 months. (Since he only has a BM about every 2 or 3 days, it wasn't a big deal.) On Mother's Day of 2008, in REI, he informed me that he needed to go to the bathroom. Little did I know he meant a BM. I was the crazy mother doing the Snoopy Happy Dance in the REI restroom. When we got home, he gathered all his diapers, put them in a bag, and said we could give them to children who needed them. He NEVER had an accident after that day. His time, his place, one happy MaMa.