3 y.o. holding bowel movements - help!?

Question

I'm not certain that anyone will have any new suggestions for me that I haven't heard, but I'm willing to hear anything!

My daughter, 3 yrs. 2 mos., has been holding her BMs. She did this when we first took her off of pull-ups because she WOULD NOT and still won't p**p on the potty. She pees on the potty fine and regularly. Because she started getting constipated we now allow her to wear a pullup to go poopy. I would rather her do that than be constipated. However, she just started a new school and has not had a bm for 4-5 days! She loves her new school, in fact gets upset when we pick her up to go home! But, I realize it's a new setting and she's a bit shy. She doesn't usually p**p at school anyway, but now she won't even go at home, even if we offer her a pull-up. Trying to give her fiber, juices, but it is really psychological. She says, "I can't" or "I don't want to go poopy." She watches us go, we read the books, we talk about how her body needs to p**p to feel better...help!

Answer 1

My daughter was doing this too.  I thought it might be connected to her inability to relax when she was trying.  I found a very sturdy stool with sides for the toilet so she could hold on without touching the toilet itself.  http://www.amazon.com/Elite-Child-Corpor... She could put her feet firmly on the stool and it made a difference.  She was able to have bowel movements without a problem and it was well worth it.  Hope this helps.

Answer 2

You should try suppositories for constipation they usually work within a couple of hours. Prune juice also helps my son when constipated. Don't worry though most kids go through that while potty training. If she still doesn't go after you try those things, call her pediatrician right away. Good luck.

Answer 3

Talk to your doctor and see what you can give her for a laxitive. this will not allow her to hold it. then you just have to work on the mental side of it to get her used to going poo in the toilet.

Just an idea. I hope this might be of some help to you