My 3 yr old won't poo on the potty

Hi, I have a daughter who is a lil over 3 years old , Shes been potty trained for a while, she would poo and pee on the potty , then all of a sudden she would ask to pee no problem but when it came down to pooping she would hold it in for a long time .. almost a week... so when the time came where she had to poo so bad it would be huge , an hurt her.. so now she holds it in , and lets it out little by little in her underwear, we tell her over and over to go to the potty but she refuses... she soils herself a lot and I don't know what to do? Is it a mental thing? does she relate the Toliet to pooping being painful? or is this common? and should i be patience and keep at her .. hopefully she will grow out of it? PLEASE HELP!

[sania19]

may be she is constipating thats why she afraid of poo so as long as she can hold she is doing that , i would tell go see her doctor for the constipation may be she will give some medication for that , and again she will start with her normal poo every day. hope this help.

[mammo]

My grandson is going thru the same thing.  He relates pooing to pain due to having had large, hard BM's and he has been on Miralax which helps with that.  You truly need to talk to her pediatrician about this because her holding it in is stretching her colon, and this can cause future problems along with impacted stool.  My daughter took her son to a pediatric gastroenterologist and he said this is common and they normally outgrow it, but not always.  He has one soft BM a day now, but still will not do it in the potty, and he even tells mommy that it didn't hurt when he does go.  He's 3 1/2, and they told her not to push him with it.  Good luck with this, I know how frustrating it is.  Take care.

[mamabear402]

I am so happy I read this, today of all days I needed to read this. My dear daughter, just got ver the flu. She used to be consitpated, it runs in our family, she pees on the potty, sometimes poops, but cries, today I lost my temper, not about the pooping, but the whining. Sufice to say I am human and you all reaffirmed my humaness. She just turned three. Her pediatrician is not concerned, we did up the Miralax and it was TOO much,so I like the response, not to push her.