Potty Problems

September 11, 2008

Before having children, I heard plenty of advice about the lack of sleep, the "terrible twos", colic, and other parenting woes...but no one ever warned me that I would suddenly become acutely aware of my children's bowel functions. First it was that yucky meconium (that's quite a shocking substance), then the smelly changes that occur with the introduction of solids, then the fun of potty training with Noah, and now we are in the midst of potty training with Camille. And for the past couple of years I have heard the word poop way too often(poopyhead, poopybutt,etc). But the biggest challenge these days is the lack of poop.

Camille has happily been using her potty at home for several months but with all of our recent moves and changes I haven't really been diligent or consistent about the whole thing until recently. The problem is that she is scared of pooping in the potty and as of this week also scared of using potties outside of the house. At school yesterday she refused to use the potty all day despite drinking and eating. Once she got home yesterday she ran right to the potty and used it many times before bed last night. She expressed a desire to poop but kept saying she was scared. And similar things today. Today I gave her a spoonful of Karo syrup and tried to entice her into eating some prunes in hopes that would speed things along. Noah and I even wrote a little book for her called "Poppy Goes Poopy" (I'll try to post photos of the book tomorrow), but even that didn't work the magic we had hoped for. I hate to see her so scared and I know it must be painful to "hold" it in for so long.

Sorry for the graphic and not so pleasant topic of this post, but we could use some help. Any advice?
Melissa said...

O loves to let her baby dolls take a turn on the potty. Maybe that will help... Potty time is also a time to read books, and O LOVES to just hang out on the potty reading book after book after book...
Good luck!

park it said...

If she had done it before (ie poo in potty) - then wipe out the mnm's - one only - worked like crack to a crack head with K- time to go potty - if youdo XYZ you get an mnm! viola ! Gold stars - charts etc - all that fun stuff..hey ever green acorns with magnets to track her success!
Good lich with the stuff fm IKE - at least not direct on you..!!!miss home yet??(we will make no mention where that is)

Unknown said...

I used to have problems getting my son to do the poo too. We used reward treats, like m&m's or instead of prunes - buy prune juice and mix it with her juice. She may be more willing that way. Now all I have to say if my son doesn't want to go (and mind you he's 6!) I just say 'ok, Mom's buying prune juice tomorrow then' and low and behold he goes straight to the bathroom :)
She may be afraid because it hurts??

anon said...

no advice I'm afraid, just hugs. My daughter is 2 and i've had the same problem being diligent with potty training and her being afraid to poop in the potty. It's a totally normal fear and problem with potty training. If I find something that helps my daughter, I'll post it for you and camille to try. good luck

Amanda said...

I have been in this exact spot with Mr. Kai...for us it was prune juice that saved the day. I gave him a glass first thing in the morning and he was pooping before lunch...I then (like Andrea said) mixed some into his juice every morning until he was over the fear of it hurting.
As for getting him to go at school... I just swung by the potty with him every morning right when we arrived at school to talk about how great it was and it just sort of worked it self out over the course of a week or so.

Kendra said...

My daughter who is 4 1/2 is still scared to poop in the potty. Every reward system I have tried has not worked. She will just hold it if I do a reward system with her. She just goes and gets a pull-up when she needs to poop.
She has had constipation issues since she was a baby so I know the "pain" of going contributes to it.
I have been assured by our pediatrician and other professionals that one day she will just decide to poop in the potty.
It is true that the longer they wait to go, the more it were hurt. Thus a vicious cycle begins.
Good Luck!

Dim Sum, Bagels, and Crawfish said...

Thank you for all of the great advice and support...happy to report we had success today! Who knew singing "You are My Sunshine" would act as an all natural laxative?! I did get some prune juice today at the store just in case we need it for future use. You guys are great, thanks again!

South of Rome said...

so funny! M was scared too. When I asked why he said because he didn't like the splash!!! Really, kids are so funny. With M we just didn't focus on it (b/c we are lazy) and a few weeks/months went by and now he just pees and poos without issue. C was always scared i would stress M out over the whole thing to the point that he would end up in the hospital- haha- apparently C sees a lot of 'those' scans!

Anonymous said...

my 5 1/2 yr old is still having issues with this. he insists on pooping in a diaper. i encourage him on occassion to do it in the toilet because clean up is difficult for everyone involved. he says he's afraid he'll fall in, get stuck and never see us again. poor guy, my gut tells me it's best to not try to force this or manipulate him to do what i want.
i'm just trying to be supportive.

craftymama said...

we had terrible constipation problems with our first-born. these things helped: eliminating dairy and wheat for a while, taking acidophilus supplements (open up a capsule and sprinkle in yogurt, other food, or straight into the mouth- tastes good), and also ground psyllium husk (i think this was what solved the problem) (a teaspoon in some juice- drunk quickly followed by extra water). good luck! Sarah

Latest Instagrams

© Dim Sum, Bagels, and Crawfish. Design by FCD.