4 year old refusing to go poop

[sgonzales]

Our 4 year old daughter is refusing to go poop.  She has been fully potty trained for well over a year and has never had any problems since.  However, now she is actually holding her poop in and is spotting her panties several times a day.  She tells us that she is afraid that it is going to be too big.  The only thing we can think of is that it hurt one time when she went and now she is afraid.  This is day 4 and we've tried everything: suppositories twice, prune juice, begging, bribing, sitting and reading to her while she's on the potty, and even trying to ignore it.  She is complaining that her tummy hurts and we notice that she isn't eating much.  We've told her that if she would just "go" then it would stop hurting but she is telling us that she isn't going ever again.  What do we do?  We are worried about her health and we are concerned that she is developing some type of lifelong phobia.

[srlyon]

My daughter has not been pooping when she needs to go at school. She has been holding it for up to 7 hours and waits to poop when she gets home. A few weeks ago, she couldnt hold her poop at school, so she pooped her pants in preschool. I think she needs to drink more water or take some fiber. What should  I DO?? She has to be told when to use the potty. She is 4 and should be able to recognize the need to go herself. HELP!!

[krushbc]

My 7 yr old son, often holds his BM's in and ends up staining his underpants several times a day. I have asked him if he is having trouble pooping, he says no.
I believe he is just to busy playing to stop and go to the bathroom, until he is about to burst ( then it's an hour long process it seems)
We have tried asking him if he needs to go, asking him to stop and go, but he refuses .
Does anyone have any ideas as to how I may be able to get him to stop playing and go to the bathroom when he needs to, hopefully without resistance???

[george73]

Sounds like constipation. although there is also a thing called 'incopreises' I may have missplelled that. If a child can't go to the bathroom or refuses you need to get them some help. They can turn into long term problems. My 21/2 yr. old held back as a resentment thing when the second baby came along. We were young and ingnorant and it caused her to have medical problems till she was 5. She was at one point admitted to hosp. for kidney infection. So don't let it go for to many days.

[Alida490]

My 11 year old child wount go to the bath room because it hurts her when she try's to go she tryed so many time's and she cant go because it hurts her does anyone no what i should do to help my child?

[tmv]

Talk to your pediatrician. My nephew has to take murilax if he doesn't go every day and believe me, they will not hold it back.  It will not be hard and hurt either since the routine is every day.  If she continues to hold her stool, she can develop some long term effects. Best of luck to you.

[Hazel30]

OMG, Im going through the same thing with my 2 yo son.  He refuses to go and I to believe that last week he skipped a day of going and then when he did go it must have hurt and now he became afraid of the pain.  So what I did.  I gave him lots of fiber, metamucil and prune juice.  Once the stool gets soft and she goes the very next time she will see that it doesnt realy hurt.  It might be easier for you because she is 4 and you can communicate with her and get her to understand.  For me its a bit hard because my son doesnt realy fully talk yet.  But I would have her on a full day of fiber that way she will not be able to hold it in.  I also had the fear of that this might become a long term phobia but it passed in a few days.  Although he still tries to hold it in sometimes I use little dollar store cars as a motivation and a reminder for him.  Maybe that might work for you as well, reward system.  My friend has 2 girls 4 and 3 and she said that they once in a while go through the same thing.  They've been potty trained from 2.  I guess its just something that kids do.  Good Luck

[pertykitty]

i have 2 nieces doing the same thing. talk to your ped about increasing  fiber to her diet to make sure she doesnt have discomfort with constipation. i dont think it will be a lifelong problem, she just needs time i bet to realize it doesnt have to hurt. poor baby!

[socgirl]

your assessment that she had a bm at one point and it hurt, therefore she is now afraid of having a BM, is most likely correct.  Now, it sounds like she's constipated, which as you know can get worse the longer she "holds it in."  Have you tried taking her to the pediatrician yet?  sooner or later she'll have to go.  Once she has a normal BM and sees that it's not painful all of the time, her phobia will most likely work itself out.