I’ve learned a few things since becoming a mom.
a. Survival on no sleep is possible.
b. Do not feed blueberries to a feverish child.
c. You will one day talk baby talk
AND. Get a group of parents together for an adult evening of conversation about sex, politics and film….and you will end up talking about your kids bowel movements.
So. Here’s your chance. Let’s talk poop.
My kid is regular (very regular) on the poop front. He’s still not toilet trained for #2 but he asks for a pull up and for some private time. (next he’ll be asking for a Sports Illustrated and a box of matches!!) This was all until the last couple weeks. One Monday, he had a poop the size of Detroit and it freaked him out. He then held it for six days. SIX DAYS. I went away last Saturday and got a text from my friend Lindsay with the two words I’d been waiting for. ‘WAHOO. POO’. Then the holding started up again.
It’s now affecting his toilet training. The kid was 100% pee trained during the day. This week, I’ve been picking up bag after bag of soiled pants at daycare.
And the poop? Well he’s back to once a day. But it’s now at night. Like either while he’s sleeping or when he’s starting to go to sleep. This is effing up our calm, peaceful time at night – aka mommy’s time.
So I ask you parents. What can I do about the poop???? Do I have to wait these night time craps out or can I do anything to get him back to his morning routine. And the reversion on the pee…is this normal???
I’m dying laughing Cath….so funny….(but Will poops the same way…I’m sure he’ll come around to my poop anywhere lifestyle)…
i really don’t have much in the way of advice to give to maybe the most free pooping being i know. i am surprised you have not passed this down to your offspring. on the other hand, life is pretty much as i expected it would be on this end: hud will hold it till he is home. then, despite full toilet peeing and all day underwear, he will approach me and say ‘can i poop in my diaper?’. to which i reply yes, followed by him handing me the diaper and calling me when he is done. sigh.
Stop using the word ‘normal’ – when talking about kids and anything. There is no normal – they never read the how-to books so how are they supposed to know what you expect them to do. No normal .. get it? Got it? Good. Your loving sister.
Two of my extra kids had trouble with witholding as a result of very difficult bowel movements. Their parents and I used the diet and rewards approach for both of them. It took time, but it helped. We limited dairy and processed foods and raw apples, and put more fruit, vegetables and whole grains on their plates, and encouraged them to drink more water or fruit juice. All of those things make for softer poop. The rewards were stickers or M&M’s, or a special family outing or field trip for a whole week of clean underwear. One of my extra kids got a Lightning McQueen potty that just fixed everything for him 🙂 One of my girls refused to sit on the potty, but loved to be the big kid perched up on the toilet. Privacy was also a very big deal for both of them. Trial and error and patience fix most things. Good luck, you guys!
Whoa! A scooter…my smarties are chintz!
He’s for sure holding it because that other one hurt…he told me in the middle of hte week that his teddy needed to poop but that he wasn’t going to go…argh…
Ugh. I can feel your pain Sara. Why do toddlers have such a problem with poo? Mia is still not fully toilet trained, so at least be glad that Will will go on the potty, but Mia will have nothing to do with pooing on the potty. She even knows that she is getting a scooter the first time she goes. It’s sitting in the garage waiting for her. She’s seen it too. I don’t know what to say about Will’s current problem. I was being selfish and venting my own issue. Sorry about that. I would have made the suggestions that you are already doing. Can you talk to him and ask him why he is holding his poo? Sometimes Mia surprises us with good answers to the questions we ask. You never know what Will might say if you ask him.
Dudes…he won’t sit on it…I try and try – books (new books) stickers etc. He won’t do it. I”m okay with him doing it in a pull up for now…like I know it will come. It’s the holding thing! But yes on the pee thing with the full bowel…hadn’t thought of that!
Oh, ack.
I’d try making him sit on the potty for a little while in the afternoon (pre-dinner, maybe?) and have him wait it out for, say, 10 minutes with some books and things… maybe you can start moving the time back to earlier in the day until he’s back to mornings, or whatever. The pee thing is probably because his bowels have been so freaking full lately… good luck!!
It’s normal. Ride it out … main thing is to get him on the toilet so whenever that happens, let it happen. When we started Noah, he got freaked because one plop splashed up on him so he didn’t want to go on the toilet again … only on the training potty. We ended up going to Cuba through the training but were unable to take the training potty with us. He had no choice but to go on the toilet while in Cuba… and a week later, when we came home, the training potty had disappeared! He is regular, lets us know when he has to go but he is also doing the bed time poop thing. After he’s all tucked in and we’re settling in for our quiet time, we hear “DAAAAAAD” or “MOOOOOOOOOOM” “I need to poo”. He always says “no” when asked before he gets in the bed. But within 10 minutes, the call comes. So be it. Rather he do that then crap his pants.
Maybe add a little more fibre, bran to his diet so he doesn’t hold it for long periods of time.