potty training and seems to be with holding poo

[PM84]

hey, I have just started potty training one and a half weeks ago - my son who will be 3 at the end of April.

he has took to the pees no problem but seems to be withholding his poos. He hasn’t poked at all in pot or toilet. My older son is on laxido for withholding he is 5. I want to intervene and help my younger son before we get to the stage my older son got to. Any advice

[ERIC-Charity Partner]

Hi PM84

It's great that you've made a start. Please be reassured that this is quite common, especially when potty training. Children are very used to the feeling of the poo in their nappy, and it can be scary letting it go. The feeling of the poo coming away from them can take some time to get used to.

The first thing we would suggest is to make sure that his bowels are in the best of health. Look at our fact sheet here: eric.org.uk/advice-for-chil... to check whether he might be constipated (you can poo every day and still be constipated). If he is, treat this following our guide.

There is lots of advice in our dedicated Potty Training section of the website: eric.org.uk/potty-training/

You could also have a look at eric.org.uk/children-who-wi...

best wishes

ERIC

[Le15]

we had great success cutting a hole in my second son’s nappy so that the poo fell on the floor and we, without making a big deal of it, would just put it in the potty and say something like ‘naughty poo, you belong in the potty!’ Then moved on quickly. We also gave him a little bit of movicol in his milk before bed for a week to make sure he didn’t experience a hard poo - which was the problem with my eldest who still had issues at 6 years old. Sounds messy but I’m really glad we did it. We also did a lot of staying at home and naked time to make sure he had time to poo in comfort for those first few weeks. I think we carried on with our schedule with our first and the rushing around compounded the problem. Slowing life down for a month or so really helped and my second son has never had any toileting issues so it’s worth it. We also just stayed really relaxed and never asked him if he needed a poo - even though we knew he did! We sort of gave him the power and let him decide what to do with his body. Best of luck x

[14crosstitch14]

Toilet routine, plenty fluids and exercise. Try flax seeds mixed in his meals. Prunes/juice. Apple juice. Lots if running around. He may be copying older boy as he might see he gets medicine.