Poop on the potty question
RunningGal900
member
We pee-trained my son about 3 weeks ago and he has done amazingly well with it. He always tells me when he needs to go, gets there in time and hasn't had an accident in a long time. Poop is a different story. The first few days, he had accidents in his underwear, but since then has hasn't had a single daytime accident. However, he does tell me he needs to go, we go to the bathroom and he either says he's done right away or he just sits and sits, but never really "tries". What generally ends up happening is that he goes in his pull-ups while he is sleeping. I'm fairly certain he's not even awake for it and eventually his body just had to let go and he releases it. I know that poop takes longer and I'm perfectly fine with that. My concern is that during the day he sometimes seems in pain because he needs to go and he seems unable to do so. I don't think he's constipated because his poop is never terribly firm, I just think he can't figure out how to go on the potty and he knows he's not supposed to go in his undies so he's stuck between a rock and a hard place. I've asked him if he wants to try to start standing up like he used to in his diaper, if he wants to start in his pull-up, given him a stool, tried reading until he relaxes, etc and it just isn't helping.
Again, if he just went in his pull-up happily, I'd think I just need to give him more time. But lately, we've had some crying that he needs to poop and we go to the potty over and over and over and he doesn't do anything. The other night was the worst. He told me 4 times he had to go, so we went every time and he was crying because he couldn't make himself go and I was trying to hold him to get him to relax enough just to let go and finally he had the hugest poop in his pull-up. I think he had been holding it for days (he's never been a daily popper, so it's hard to tell what is him holding and what's just normal).
I don't want to push him too hard and I really don't care if he just wanted to go in his pull-ups for a while, but I don't want him to be in pain from holding it too long. Any advice? I have been trying to keep him hydrated and offer high fiber foods so that his stools are soft and the need to go is a little more urgent so he doesn't have trouble, but I'm not sure that is helping.
Any advice or thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!
Re: Poop on the potty question