Almost 4 Y/O Still Poops In Pull Ups....Advice?

[Sprouts]

So I have a dcg who will be 4 in January and she refuses to poop in the toilet:confused: She will only go in her pull ups with mom after she gets home. I can tell she is holding it in, and when I ask her and reassure her she says no.

I know in the past she has had very hard stools so she may be tramautized from that, i dont know....

but any advice?

[mommiesherie]

I am anxious to hear replies to this post also. The 3 year old that I have posted many questions about so far does not want to poop at all. He will do it in a pull up at home. He is all about contol and use to just pee in his pants here just because he wanted to. I put a stop to that and now don't even put a pull up on him at nap time. He pees in his pull up at home all the time. Funny how he never has accident here. Lol. Wears underwear all the time. Anyways he hates to poop. Screams like he is dying!! When he has skid marks in his undies and he is so uncomfortable he can't take it I make him go sit on potty. His stool is always soft and no reason for the screaming other than he does not want to go. Mom has taken him to doctor over and over and dr says nothing wrong with him he just being dramatic and don'tt wanna go. I refuse to put a pull up on him so he can go in it. I am tellin ya he just wants to call every shot. I know the neighbors think he is being beat when he has to go poop . I have never seen a child like this before ever. Some days I wonder if he and his brothers spot is really worth all the drama he creates. Anyways guess what I am saying is I just said no you are not pooping in a pull up. You are going to the potty and you are gonna go potty. Sorry but that's the way it is. Here is a book now get to it. Lol. Sounds terrible but at some point I just had to lay the law down.

[Sprouts]

Wow what drama!

yeah my dkg urinates with no problem in the toilet, i have never seen skid marks though, or she has never come to me with any...

[mommiesherie]

Oh the drama . I promise he does not cry he screams at the top of his lungs. Like he is being beaten. I have never seen a child with so much drama. He will go two weeks holding it. This child is a challenge to say the least. Some kids really have an issue with going poop in the potty. No idea why. I'm very interested in the responses you get on this one. I'm so glad I found this site.

[Former Teacher]

So I have a dcg who will be 4 in January and she refuses to poop in the toilet:confused: She will only go in her pull ups with mom after she gets home. I can tell she is holding it in, and when I ask her and reassure her she says no.

I know in the past she has had very hard stools so she may be tramautized from that, i dont know....

but any advice?

I can TOTALLY relate!

The little boy I currently nanny for was like that. We will also be 4 in January. So last January we started to potty train ( I wanted to do it sooner but thats another thread :. He was pee pee trained but he would NOT have a BM in the potty. He too suffers from hard stools. We have to give him some medicine

We tried EVERYTHING! In all my years in childcare (20!) I had never seen something like this. We tried the sticker chart, getting special toys, taking away special toys, nothing worked.

Finally at Easter, Grandma gave him a special Easter bath toy. Well he wanted that toy since his baby sister had one. Parents told him he had to go poopie in the potty. Boy was SO upset that he couldnt play with it.

A few days later at bath time again he asked for it. Once again he was told he had to go in the potty. He said ok. And he did! ::

The next day when Daddy was leaving for work, he asked if for bath time he can have the toy again. Daddy said sure if he went in the potty again. He said ok I will go now. I was there and I was like umm yeah sure....well he did it again! ::

He has been trained since

[Ariana]

It's very normal for kids to have a much harder time poop training then pee training. Many kids will continue to poop in a pull-up for a while. I personally have never seen a 4 year old that still did it however. It basically happens when they hold and then get constipated. Then when they can't hold it any longer it hurts like crazy and it can be VERY traumatic for them. It also depends on the reaction of the people around them. Have the parents tried a laxative or stool softener to help? Sometimes if they have a few non-painful BM's they have more confidence to go without a pull-up.

[Sprouts]

yes shes given miralax every day with her juice so I don't think its painful anymore...maybe she just likes mom to clean her up, or a regression type thing??

[DaycareMomma]

My almost 4 year old son is the same way! Only difference, is for a while, he would go poop on the potty. Now he won't and he keeps saying it is scary and he freaks out every time we put him on. We've tried a smaller potty and that didn't work. We tried treats, toys, special fun activities, everything... So I am interested in hearing what I can do to push this along.

[SimpleMom]

Well, I can relate! One of my own was like that. A lot of anxieties over a hard bm. Eventually, with a LOT of patience and such it worked out.

Try giving lots of fresh veggies? maybe a non-medicated lax (mom can do that--not you ) That really helped here. mine would just say they could't go and if it was more then one day between going, i knew they needed the help of more water, special juice (prune or something), baby food prunes, etc.

Sometimes it just takes a bit longer to get control (or lose control) of.