Withholding- potty training

[MummyC29]

Hi, am posting in the hopes of some advice about my 3yo LG who has been withholding for some time now. She’s had a sluggish bowel since birth and has never had regular bowel movements. We started potty training a few weeks ago and she has mastered wees straight away on both the potty and the toilet. She’s withholding her poo and we’ve had to return to Movical to help- the problem is she’s then soiling herself and getting upset about being in a mess.

Any advice on how to combat any anxiety she may be having? We’ve tried treats, distraction with toys or watching cartoons on the tablet but it’s not doing the trick. She’s managed a couple of poos on the potty and toilet but nothing more and we can tell she needs to go because she’s in pain. Any advice is welcomed because this is starting to take over our lives as we are at a loss as to what to do apart from keep giving the movical. Thanks in advance!

[Gertru]

Hi. We had the very same problem with our 3 year old and to be honest it's still ongoing but its not taking over our lives as much as it did before. I completely understand where you're coming from it is so awful to see them in that state. So with my little boy we went on to the movicol sachets we gave him quite a few sachets at first and there was accidents with this but as time went on and he was going more frequently we then reduced. He's now on 1 sachet a day and sometimes we can manage it on 1 sachet every other day. We call it magic juice and he knows he has to drink every last drop. Like you no reward system would work because he was so frightened to go. No treats no ipads nothing would work. The only thing I can say is keep going with the movicol because it does eventually get better. We also did some poo books before bedtime and videos to ease his worries. We would show him sisters poo and ours (as gross as that is) to show him its OK and natural to poo. It was a long process and some days are still harder than others but I am hoping as he gets older he will grow out of it. But without the magic juice he would hold for 7-10 days... Now he goes at least every other day. Hope that helps. Good luck.