ASD son won’t poop on toilet

[vikkemo]

My son is 4 and he has been potty trained for wees for nearly two years. He has never used the potty or toilet for a poo. He prefers to sit on the toilet anyway, but as soon as he feels like it’s coming he shoots up and fights me when I try to get him to sit back down. I’ve tried toys in the bathroom, sitting on the toilet with the iPad, blowing bubbles. Nothing works with him.

It has got to the point where he will only poo in a pull up while he sleeps. Generally he will only poo standing up, but he seems to be in great distress pooing lately, and so it ends up just happening while he is asleep and unaware. He isn’t constipated, drinks lots of water and is on movicol from when he did have a constipated phase.

My family constantly badger him about using the toilet, no matter how much we tell them not to. I feel like his anxiety of pooing has become so great that he will hold it for as long as he can (usually around 3 or 4 days at the moment).

I myself had issues like this growing up which lasted until I was 12, and I’m really hoping these issues don’t carry on that long with my son.

Has anyone been through anything similar?

[Jules19788]

Hi there,

We are in exactly the same situation. My son is almost 5 and again is fine doing wees in the loo but not dry at night yet. We have been following all the advice from ERIC but our so gets very distressed at the idea of having a poo on the toilet saying he is scared and doesn’t like the smell.

He will only do a poo in a nappy and will ask when he wants one. He will wait to go when he is at home. Never at school. He isn’t constipated either he is very regular.

I don’t have much advice I’m afraid as it sounds like we are in the same boat. I just keep trying to gently encourage him, but it’s difficult not to get frustrated. Like you I don’t want him to become more self aware and it affect his confidence.

If anyone else has been through this and has tips to try then please let me know! X

[Elmo20]

Hi, going through the same with my daughter. She is only 2.5 but very intelligent for her age and mastered potty training a year ago. All was going fine until she became constipated around Christmas time and ever since has refused to poo on the toilet, and has major meltdowns if we tried to get her to sit on the toilet. She is fine with wee. We recently did the disimpaction using Movicol which made her aware that her poos were “nice and soft and didn’t hurt” but she still refused to sit on the toilet. Just this last week we have made some headway and have successfully had 3 poos on the toilet. I found an App called poo goes home to pooland Which seems to have helped. And now I encourage her to help poo go home to see mummy poo and daddy poo. I’ve also got “bathroom toys” which consist of whistles and party blowers to try and distract her enough to sit on the toilet long enough and they also encourage the pushing motion needed to have a poo.