Toddler Holding On To Poop

Our 3-day potty training went remarkably well and, for the most part, our daughter is using the big girl potty like a champ. Peeing that is. When it comes to poop, she’s decided to hold on to it. We’re all frustrated and, I must confess, getting a little freaked out.

It started when the new wee one arrived. At the end of last year I gave birth to a beautiful little girl. Sophie (the older one) has welcomed her into our home with open arms and is more loving and caring that I thought a 2 year old could be. It’s truly adorable to see. But make no mistake, it’s very traumatic for her to have a new sibling.

Unfortunately Sophie’s emotional upheaval is causing her to hold on to her poop.

At first I thought she was constipated, so we started giving her prunes and more fiber. Not so easy getting a toddler to eat fiber. AND drink enough water.

Holding on to poop looks something like this:

Sophie: “I go potty”

Nothing happens. She jumps off the potty. (She’s all about the “big girl potty”, meaning the audlt toilet, not her small potty).

10 seconds later, Sophie says “I gotta go potty!” and back on the potty she goes. Nothing. We urge her to sit and relax but she tenses up and jumps off the potty.

This keeps happening for at least a half an hour if not much much longer. Lots of potty talk, lots of lifting on to the potty, no action.

Finally she shrieks, her little body goes rigid and she clenches her butt cheeks with all she’s got, forcing her body to keep it all inside. It’s so painful to watch, I can only imagine how painful it is to be her.

We got her the Everyone Poops book by Taro Gomi, we talk about poop (man do we talk about poop!), we even sing about poop. Nothing seems to ease her mind. There are lots of home remedies, like over the counter laxatives, flax seed oil, psyllium husks. Dr. Sears has an informative post on it as well as constipation.

For now we’re trying to relax and see if we can’t get things moving on our own. Diapers seem to help so we put her back in diapers when she has to poop. Kind of confusing if you ask me, but she prefers it.

Of course we, as parents, cannot control Sophie’s poop, only Sophie can do that. I’m hoping that we can nip this in the bud as I’ve read some very scary stories about this type of thing going on for years. Plus, it can cause serious physical problems with a body’s “plumbing” and I don’t want to see that happen!

I’m open to any suggestions if you’ve got ‘em…I’m at a loss on this one!

photo credit: abardwell