Poop withholding

lala5507

So dd's answer to not pooping in her pull-ups at bedtime anymore is just to NOT poop at all.  She has a history of constipation and the few times she's pooped on the potty were pretty tramatic.  She did this once before and it was awful.  The pedi has her on a daily dose of miralax to prevent holding, but even with that she's still on day 4 of holding it.  I'm especially stressed about it because she's going to be staying with my parents for a few days while we move and she NEVER poops at somebody else's house.  She's 3 but I'm almost at the point of just saying go ahead and poop in your pull up. 

Has anyone dealt with this before? 

MandyMilller

I let Lanna poop in her pullup at sleep times till she decided she was ready to do it on the pot. She was a couple of months shy of 3. I'd give her the chance to go, but if she refused then I'd just put her in a pullup. Wes struggled with constipation, and as much as I look forward to doign away with diapers I'd never want to deal with that again!

AmandaJLewis

I agree, let her feel comfortable with going however works for her.  I don't think pressure leading to constipation is a good thing.  If she doesn't already... let her go to the bathroom when you go to normalize it some mroe.  just little things like mommy is going to put her poop into the potty, may encourage her to do the same with time. Good luck

LittleD8081

I didn't read the others' responses, so sorry if this is a repeat.  Parker didn't have too much trouble, but he did have more trouble with poop than with pee.  If he pooped in his diaper, I took the diaper over to the toilet and we would, together, dump the poop and cheer and clap and pretend that he pooped on the potty and then he would flush.  We made a huge deal about the "big splash."  When he did go the first few times, I would sit with him and when he went I would say "whoa, look what you did!" and smile and hug him...because he looked like he was scared.  I would make smiley faces at him and tell him how proud I was of him, and he really liked the praise.  Now, he promptly tells me that he's going to "make a big splash" when he has to go poop.  He still holds it in for a day or two, but he's getting better.  Man, that kid looks like he has a colon cleansing every time he goes though, because he's holding it in...and he tells me his tummy hurts a time or two each week.  To that, I reply that it's because he's not pooping, and how once he poops his tummy will feel so much better.  I don't know if he gets it yet, but we keep saying it.  Good luck.  I mean, if she wants to go in her pull up, let her.  I'd rather try and deal with getting her to move from pull up to potty rather than having her hold it in and have worse bowel movements because of it.  I think that will only make it worse.  It's tough, but hang in there.  Just remember to keep making her comfortable, whether she goes in her diaper or on the potty. 

amyjoy18

DD always pooped at bedtime and nap time in diapers before she was comfortable going on the potty.  In the mean time we'd let her look at our poop after we went and cheer anytime someone pooped in the potty.  

We also dumped her poop in the potty as well, and DH told he was dropping the kids off at the pool (classy I know), which she thought was funny.   So then she wanted to drop kids off at the pool, too.  

It didn't take long for her to make the decision to go in the potty.  One thing that also helped was letting her put her potty in front of the TV so she could watch some toons while she did her deed. 

lala5507

Thanks for all the input.  I did end up telling her that she could put the poop in her pull ups if she needed to and we would worry about the potty on a different day. 

MrsAmers

Since you are about to move to a new house, I wpuldn't pressure her right now. 3 year olds don't do well with change, so I would avoid forcing two changes at once whenever you can.