# Potty training - 3 days in and no poo - is this normal?



## takethree2010

We started potty training my 2 year 4 month old on Sunday. It's now Wednesday night and she hasn't done a poo. She is managing to get wees in her potty most of the time but I think she might be scared to do a poo in her potty. What should I do? I don't like the thought of my little girl holding in her poo but I equally don't want to go backwards and put a nappy on so she does a poo. The health visitor suggested we cut a hole in her nappy but this just made the inner material of the nappy shred all over the floor. Can anyone help and let me know if this is normal? Any suggestions? Thanks girls. Any help would be so much appreciated.


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## Gingerspice

my lo held her poo in. on day 3 she was then violently sick in the car because she'd eaten brekky and it had no where to go. i took her home and put a nappy on. i told her she needed to do a poo and gave her fig syrup. she then did a poo a bit later. she wasn't sick again and ate fine all day.. i explained to her she was sick because she was holding her poo and she needed to let it out. i gave her the option og doing them in nappies if she wanted and she could ask for a nappy when she needed to poo, but she declined and said she'd use the toilet. She;s been fine since. 

is she complaining of tummy ache?


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## takethree2010

No she doesn't seem to have stomach ache and hasn't said she's got it. She's had a nappy on every night but no nappy during the day. But no poo. She's eaten loads as well. Maybe I'll put a nappy on tomorrow. But I'll feel that's going backwards. We've kept her off nursery this week to start training and she just keeps saying she wants to go to nursery. So i feel even worse! How long does it take until they ask to wee in their potty rather than asking them to try to wee all the time?


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## missy1

This is very common for them to hold in their poo. I have been researching this because I am in the same situation with my daughter, aged 2 and a half. We are a few weeks down the line from the stage you are at and my daughter is doing pees all the time in the potty but is refusing to poo. It has become an absolute nightmare because she doesn't want to do it in her pants or a nappy either now so she becomes very distressed and cries and eventually after hours, sometimes days of holding it in it will come out and she gets very upset and asks me to change her but she still refuses to use the potty to do it. I've tried everything, rewards, the promise of treats/toys, giving her books to read on the potty but nothing is working. It is very stressful and it affects our whole day. I have now resorted to putting her back in pull up pants rather than regular pants. I was reluctant to do this because like you say it was like taking a step back but at least now her clothes are protected and I can change her when she does it. 
I'm sorry I don't have any real advice for because I am in the thick of it myself. I would just say don't expect potty training to be something she is going to learn within a week. I believe it's actually quite a long process now and I wish I'd known that at the start instead of expecting miracles in a short period of time. Good luck I hope she finds it easier than my LO xx


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## Gingerspice

we started potty training last week. I sent her to nursery and let them do it. She had no poo and then thursday morning she was sick in the car. She was in a nappy all day thursday (as at first I feared it might move to diarreah) but she was fine all day. She wore nappies every night so I expected her to call me back up after doing a poo in her nappy that got put on afer bath, but she never did. Thankfully nursery took her back on friday after explaining it was one tie being sick most likely because of no pooing (she's a bit sensitive like that) and she was back in knickers on the friday. She's taken very quickly to it and takes herself off to the toilet now when needed and I don't tend to nag her. she also can hold it a long time and despite me being paranoid about going out to town/shopping etc, we've not had one single accident when out. She usually declines a wee when I ask but I impress it on her to try going before we head out. 

I would explain she needs to do a poo and perhaps give orange juice and/or fig syrup to try to encourage movement as the longer she holds it the harder it will get. Offer her a nappy if she would like to poo in that instead. if she asks then let her do it. Some children do poo in a nappy for a long time before they get their head around the idea of pooing on the toilet. I don't think its an issue of taking a tep backward at this stage as its just about getting the poo out as it can't stay in there


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## takethree2010

Hi all 

Well this is our day so far. Last night after 3 days of no poo she had her nappy on for bed and woke up at half past midnight because she'd finally done a poo. Hurray! I've never been so happy to have been woken up. However she went to nursery this morning and apparently did 3 wees in her potty but unfortunately also did a poo in her pants and a wee. I think she was quite upset by the whole ordeal. Then she came home from nursery as usual at lunch time and had her usual sleep with a nappy on for a couple of hours. Her nappy was dry when she woke up. So then I took her nappy off and put pants on. She wouldn't sit down and kept moving around. I asked if she needed to do a wee but she said no and when I suggested she should sit on it anyway she said no. Then about 20 minutes late a big gush of wee came all over the sofa. Again she was very upset but I said it was no problem and just got has changed. But after that she would sit down no problem. I'm only off one day a week so this is my first hand, first day experience of the wonders of potty training! Then when we were playing out she told me she needed to do a wee, sat on her potty and did it. I felt so proud! I'm sure we've got more days to come of accidents but I feel that today started off terribly but ended great! Thanks for all your replies. I totally agree with missy1 that I believed potty training would be quick but it's definitely not! You girls have given me soon great advice. Thanks so much! X


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## Gingerspice

Thats good you've had a poo. Hopefully things will start to ease a bit. 

I'm glad we have found it very quick. The idea of potty training was a big concern for me because of the faff of when out and always fearing accidents, and the washing and the fear it would drag on and on. Its been a complete switch for her and got it straight away and I think this is because we waited. I didn't see the need to continually have the ordeal of extra washing just because I persevered when she wasn't quite there. I know somebody who was adamant they would start training at age 2 and still at age 2 years 9 months they were still having 'accidents'. I don't see the rush to get them out of nappies or why they persevered for so long when all it was doing was giving both them and their LO a lot of stress for a long time. I do think had they waited until the 2 year 9 months when their LO seemed to 'get it' then they could have cut out the 8 months of hassle. 

If it doesn't seem to be going well and causing stress then there's no shame in holding off a bit longer and trying again in the future. 

I hope they relax a bit about it.


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