Poop withholding

Dd is 2.5 and was very easily potty trained last month. She had everything down perfectly. Then, a few days ago she had a really painful poop and now she’s afraid to poop. She’s withholding and in doing so, little pieces escape and she’s constantly soiling her underwear. She’s been going through like 6 pairs a day. We can convince her to do some in the potty but she’s not pushing hard enough to eliminate everything and so the cycle continues. She’s so stubborn and just says it made her cry. We’ve been upping the fiber, water, miralax to make it a little softer but I don’t want to make it too soft and give her diarrhea. I don’t know how to emotionally encourage her to push. And I don’t want to go back to diapers - at this point ot would humiliate her. But I can’t send her to her 2 hr play school with this weird leakage. Thoughts?

Poop withholding

Patience momma, that’s the best advice I can give u from a mom who had a poop holder to another one. When kids become holders, it can become a real problem. The more days they hold it, the wider the poop gets, so it’ll get more difficult to pass through the anus, causing more pain, bleeding, and sometimes depending on how wide it gets, ur child might not even be able to actually poop. Also the more days they withhold the poop, the more water the body absorbs from it making it drier and drier, which will make her more constipated. Just calmly keep reassuring her that it’s totally ok to poop when she feels the need, WATCH ur facial expressions and worries cause they will feed from it and they will get even more scared. See if u can implement a reward system with small things (things she likes) depending on how often she poops and depending on how regular she was before becoming a holder. Patience is indeed a virtue when dealing with a holder. Best of luck momma!

Message edited 9/11/2018 2:45:37 PM.

Poop withholding

I’d also suggest to not use miralax anymore, and if u’re increasing fiber even if it’s through food, make sure u up her water intake as well, this is super important otherwise fiber will add to the problem.

Re: Poop withholding

Thanks - it’s so frustrating because she had it! We are seeing some improvements but still not where we were. Thank you for the ideas.

Re: Poop withholding