Potty training - holding in poo!

It took us 4 weeks to master the poos, it was awful watching her hold it but eventually one day she just did it 😅

@Tasha 4 weeks 😭😭 we're on week 2 and struggling to see the light at the end of the tunnel.. is there anything you feel helped the situation? We've tried singing songs, reading books, running the tap, sticker chart, warm baths, tummy massages. I have a feeling this is just one of those things I have to wait out, which is just horrible 😭

I’m going through this too right now! 3 weeks in and she will not stop withholding. Following to see any suggestions as I’m at a loss on what more I can do 🙃

@Hannah it's absolutely awful isn't it 😭 it's so hard seeing them distressed and clearly uncomfortable. And idk about you, but my girl is just on and off crying the whole time until she can't hold it anymore and finally goes. She's just miserable majority of the day, it's so sad 😔

I wasn’t around when my stepdaughter was first potty trained. But she would hold her poop and eventually accidents up until almost 6 years old…. Unfortunately some kids have fear because it hurt one time. And holding it often reinforces the fear because when they eventually go, it sometimes hurts again.

Yes! And we have the odd off day now and she's been potty trained for 6 months 🫠 she sometimes just says I can't do it. Think it is more of a fear sometimes. X

@Savannah this is what really scares me 😭 I'm hoping it's not a long term thing for her, it's been really difficult seeing her go through it

@Sophie-Jayne sorry to hear your little one has also been dealing with this 😔 is there anything you can suggest that might help from your experience?

Yep exactly the same, she gets so distressed but just won’t let it out so we have multiple accidents a day. Frustratingly she won’t even go in a nappy as a lot of people to suggest to offer a nappy for poos but she will absolutely refuse

Exactly like us 🙈 She would hold it to the point where she couldn’t and ended up having an accident in her pants. We would sit for ages on the potty with tears but the minute she come off and go downstairs she would push it out 😅 I started talking about a poo party, so when we poo our poo goes to a party down the toilet with its friends, i shown her our poos down there disgusting i know but we had to show her it’s nothing to be afraid of. I don’t know whether it was coincidence or not but she started doing it not long after this, one day she woke up and decided to poo on the potty, we danced and celebrated then flushed it together so it could go to the poo party, so this was a thing every time then. It was long but we got there eventually

@Hannah nappies are a no for us as well! If I put her in a nappy to poop, she asks me to take it off so she can use the toilet.. but then she doesn't go!

@Tasha the poo party is a great idea, thank you for sharing! I'm going to give this a try later! She's seen her poos in the toilet whenever she has done it and she's excited to flush it away, so I don't think she's scared of the actual poo. I think she's just anxious around actually pooping in the first place 😭

Looking for sugesstions.my baby do this to,for this reasson potty training its not successful

We would make her try a couple times a day and reward her when she went, like a sticker or small candy. Then we only would reward her if she went on her own without being told to go. It’s honestly exhausting and very frustrating at that age because they do know better. Buuut it can be very normal. I’d stock up on juice, prunes, and apple juice. Helps the tummy feel the need.

We have movicol prescribed by the doctor for when it's bad. One sachet a day and it really helps! She also has a pro biotic in the morning. I also get her to sit on the toilet after meals! We're on a streak of going once a day at the moment 🙏 reward/sticker chart also worked well and the odd bribe with a white button! Lots of praise when it's done and make a huge fuss! If we're out she loves to tell the world 😂 xx

Have you looked at the Eric website? They have loads of useful stuff about poo withholding

I got my little one to blow bubbles on the toilet when he needed a poo. Apparently the blowing motion naturally helps to push things out! Also sounds weird but I used to go in the bathroom and fake grunting/ pushing noises which made he laugh, so he would copy me and that helped too 😂