3.5 yo girl soiling pants

[Emmapez]

Hi everyone! I just wanted to get some tips for my daughter. She is 3.5 and we started potty training at the start of July as her and her twin brother seemed finally ready. She has had constipation for a while and she is on Laxido sachets daily to keep her soft. Recently she has started doing poos in her knickers. She will go a few times a day and won’t do any on the potty (even when I put her on there for a few mins after she has done her poo in her pants in case anything more comes out !). She has done poo on the potty before! She is fine doing a wee on the potty but will refuse to go at nursery (but will use a toilet if we go out somewhere!). I don’t know how to encourage her more in doing a poo on the potty - we are doing star charts and poo prizes, blowing bubbles etc. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[Yaleamanda]

Sounds like she is witholding, regular toilet sits after every meal and a add a stimulant to the regime so that she cant with hold.

[Emmapez in reply to Yaleamanda]

Thank you! What sort of thing is a stimulant? Is it something I need to get from the GP?

[Yaleamanda in reply to Emmapez]

Senna and it will need to be prescribed by your Dr.

[StellaA]

Was she having constipation issues before you started potty training?Is she aware that she needs a poo, but does it in her knickers, if she's totally refusing to use the loo at nursery then it would point to toilet fears and witholding.

A regular toilet sit schedule is important, but if her brother is doing well with wees and poos it might be an idea to shower him with praise and make it obvious to your daughter, and encourage some friendly rivalry between them, who can do all their poo in the loo.

Is it purely poo that's the issue for her? Is she ever wet when she's at nursery?

[Emmapez in reply to StellaA]

She did have constipation issues before potty training and has been on laxido for a while to keep her going. I’m not sure if she feels the need to poo. She says she doesn’t realise but I’m not sure if she is just saying that! She doesn’t wee at nursery at all (but only goes for mornings) but she will take herself off to the potty when she needs a wee at home and do wees. She’ll also wee on the toilet (her choice!!) when we have been out so seems to be something with nursery! Poos she was doing some on the potty but then recently she’s started not doing it on the potty. She did do one on the potty by accident as she was holding it in and I put her on and she let it out! She was really pleased with herself after too! They get ‘poo prizes’ for poos on the potty and they can get stars in the week to win a big prize on a Sunday!

[JamesParkin]

This may sound daft, but could it be that she wants to use the toilet instead of the potty? I notice how you say that she will use a toilet while out.

I did hear of a girl who deliberately pooed her knickers because she wanted to use the toilet and not her potty. And a friend of mine wouldn't poo in her potty when she was 3, but she would happily wee in it, because she thought it wasn't deep enough to hold her poo and that the poo would still touch her bottom after she had done it.

[Emmapez in reply to JamesParkin]

Not daft at all!! I’ve offered her to use a toilet tomorrow and we will see how it goes! Thank you!