Poop and My 3 1/2 Year Old

Hey there~
Just wanted to say we were in that same situation with my daughter. I took her to the pediatrician because she was saying that her tee-tee hurt. It was really that she was holding her poop. They had me put her on Miralax and she quit having accidents at all. I did try to wean her off of it but everytime she would start getting constipated and start refusing to try to poop. The doctor also said some kids are just prone to constipation and commonly kids have trouble until school age with pooping. Anyways, you may try Miralax and see if it fixes the problem. It did for us! Good luck!!!!
A.

Most kids need to go at certain times during the day (after breakfast, after dinner...?). I'd make sure he goes and sits on the potty at those times, whether or not he says he needs to go. If his poop is hard, give him Miralax every day until this is no longer an issue. Sometimes kids hold it in because it hurts to go, and as you've noted, that is a vicious cycle. I think the key here is consistency - have him sit and try to go whenever he normally needs to go. I wouldn't tell him it's okay, because it's really not okay to poop in his underwear, but likewise I don't think being mad at him will help either. I think being matter-of-fact about it will help. Such as, "Tommy, I know you've had trouble lately with going poop in the potty. I'm going to help you get back on track. I'm going to give you some medicine in your orange juice every morning that will make the poop softer, so it won't hurt to go. Then I'm going to help remind you when it's time to go sit on the potty. That way you won't forget. Can you think of anything else I can do to help you with this?" Just simple and straightforward. Good luck!

We went through this recently (and to a small extent still are) and don't really know what happened or what to do/what we did! Frustrating! My son turned 4 last week and about two months ago started having poop accidents. We'd never had them before and I was shocked. The first I thought, well, just a mistake, didn't go in time/too focused on recess. But then it happened again the next day. And the next week. Aaargh! Then everything pretty much back to normal BUT he is holding it a lot more than he used to!

Just like your son, mine has a history of constipation and holding it certainly doesn't help. In fact, lately he's been holding it so long a little bit finally comes out and THEN he says he has to go. I'm not sure why he's decided to not go at the first signs instead of waiting until almost too late. I don't want to give him a complex about it, but I feel like I'm always either telling or asking him to try to poop. He looks physically uncomfortable when it "gets down to the wire" but still refuses to admit he needs to go. And he does get a sticker reward. We had to start them back up after 8 months. This isn't how it used to be. I'm guessing a control issue, but yeesh, the underwear!

In 3 hours, noone has answered your question. For that, I am sorry. I think it's because we have no friggin clue what's up or how to solve this. Sounds like you have a plan with the stickers, so long as he likes this reward. Does he make it to 4 times in a row? If not, perhaps say "let's earn a prize at three times in a row" to help him be successful and earn a reward.

Other than that, maybe some "poop books" to help him realize that pooping is a normal and natural thing? When potty training, my son liked the book "Everyone Poops" by Taro Gomi. Basically, in the book, the frog poops from his "bumpy green bottom" and the giraffe from his "long lean bottom" and so forth. The kiddo poops in his potty at the end of the book and they say "good job" to the kiddo.

Good luck. I hope you get more answers soon. Maybe the Christmas long weekend has a lot of people off-line.

I've been told to make them wash their own underwear... which I think I gross but it does help, I've done it a few times