Possible fear of pooing (2 year old boy)

[Niclou]

I have a 2 year old boy who is struggling with doing a poo. At first we thought he was constipated and it was painful, as he has a had a couple of 'hard poos' in the past. We have been giving lactulose, and calpol to help with any pain, but it now appears he is holding it in, and extremely reluctant to poo.

It's causing him to scream and run about, wanting to lie down (assuming to deft gravity and stop the feeling of needing to go), but when it does come out, it's a 'normal poo', in terms of consistency, colour etc, but there can be a lot of it.

Any thoughts? I'm worried we will be starting potty training soon and don't want to stop any poo fears ASAP.

We have tried songs, books, encouragement, looking at poo when he's done it, but feel we are in a bad habit now, as he wants to go to the same spot when he's in a panic, wants to be lying down. He is now pooing every 2nd day, but with the trauma of it all, every time.

I look forward to ideas, suggestions etc.

Thanks

Nicola

[Robinia]

You need to use lactulose or movicol to keep the poo soft enough to make it very easy to get it out. Lots of us on here also use Senna as a stimulant. I would speak the the GP about it and read lots of posts on here- so much information!

[Niclou in reply to Robinia]

Thank so much, yes, have been using lactulose for a while now. Gp didn't seem keen on movicol due to the poo already being soft. Will get reading and defo speak with the GP again. Thanks for relying 👍👍

[Basicilly in reply to Niclou]

We had a similar case and tried talking, treats etc for 6 months before figuring out it wouldn't solve itself. We are one month into two doses of movicol per day after an impaction at the beginning and starting to see some slow progress. There is much less witholding and anxiety has really reduced around pooing. She has never managed to poo on the potty so far but we are doing potty time every day after meals which we are finding helpful.

I found the book 'Stool Withholding: What To Do When Your Child Won't Poo!' very useful. Some of it wasn't relevant to our case but the overall picture was great to get.

Good luck!

[Niclou in reply to Basicilly]

Thanks so much, and great to hear of a similar situation and timescales etc and how you are getting through it. Thanks so much for the book advice too 👍good luck with your potty training!