toddler and bathroom issue - Please help this first time mom.

ashmarie22

Hi I don't usually post, but here it goes. 

My 2 year old ( In April) was 100% potty trained for about a month when she came down with the flu followed by a bad cold.  During that time she barely ate or drank anything and became very constipated.  While recovering from her sickness she had 2 very large, hard bms and now she is terrified of going poop on the toilet in fear of it hurting I'm guessing.  Potty does not seem to be an issue.  

She is holding her bm so long that she has little squeakers that come out into her undies and then she is upset about it and tries to hide it from me.  If I catch her hiding and trying to hold it in, I immediately put her on the toilet but she screams at the top of her lungs the entire time and will NOT go.  I'm convinced she is just terrified it will hurt.   This has been going on for a few weeks now and she has not had a regular bm in that long.  I've tried putting a diaper back on her, but she still will not go in it.  Same little squeakers as she tries to hold it in.  I've been giving her tons of fiber, prunes, and daily miralax to soften it and make it easier for her, which it is, but she still won't go.  

I'm going crazy and don't know what else to do to convince her it's ok again. Please help me.

foreverapartofme

Poor thing!  I know my DD is afraid of pooping because it "hurts".  We bought that book called Everybody Poops.  Also, we give her a quarter cap of Miralax as directed by our pediatrician to help soften and try to push as many fruits/veggies to help too.  

It sounds like you have a lot of things in place for her.  I would call the pediatrician and see if they have any other suggestions just to help start the process.  It sounds like your DD is going through a phase which all you can do is keep encouraging and supporting her, which it sounds like you are doing!  Would she be motivated to earn a prize for going poops in the potty? That might also prove to be helpful.  Best of luck and hang in there!

LSU628

Oh man we went through this with DD. It was awful. She would literally run back and forth to the bathroom and back for hours, crying, sticking her butt up in the air and jumping, doing anything to avoid going. She got so constipated that she ended up having blood after one of her poops. I freaked, took her to the pedi- turns out she was so constipated she had become impacted. We had to totally clear her out using suppositories and Miralax. Talk about disgusting and traumatic. I would suggest going back to the pedi, asking about upping the dose of Miralax and pushing as much water as you can get her to drink. It's awful but we basically had to tell DD, look either you poop or we have to use the suppository again. Needless to say she realized her poop didn't hurt anymore and that she would rather poop than the alternative. Please don't let your daughter go days without pooping. I know my case is a worst case scenario, but the constipation thing can turn bad quickly.

SusieBW

DD went through this for a day or two, but it was never so bad that she was having accidents because she was holding it so much.  We talked to DD about it and explained to her that every once in a while pooping might hurt a little bit, but that's normal and okay, and it only hurts for a minute and then your tummy will feel so much better.  And it's just that one or two times, and then she'd be back to pooping normal and it not hurting.  I sat in the bathroom with her and had her squeeze my hands if it hurt - the problem was definitely more that she was scared of it hurting than that it was so very painful, kwim?  All that to say - how much have you talked to your DD about what's going on?  At least with my DD it really helped to just explain it to her and then be there for her to help her not be afraid.

Other than that, it sounds like you're doing all the right things to treat the problem, with softeners and fruits (try some applesauce, too - that helped DD), it's just a matter of helping her get through it mentally.

janinekrause

If she only has a little coming out for a while, and hasn't really gone, she could be majorly constipated. And the miralax could not be helping. It happened to me as a kid, and there was "leakage" but I was so backed up i had to be hospitalized. Not saying you are in that position, but I would call pediatrician or do an enema to get whatever is in there out. Then you can move on to getting her normal again.

beezybaby

We have tried and found success occasionally with letting DD watch a show on the iPad while she sits on the toilet, just to get her to relax for long enough for the process to start moving along.  

You can also get suppositories if it comes down to it.