Reddit reviews It Hurts When I Poop!: A Story for Children Who Are Scared to Use the Potty

Not wanting to poop in the potty is a common kid issue apparently. My son did the same thing. The problem is it becomes a feedback loop because they hold it and it gets hard and then it hurts so they don't want to poop etc.

Here are the things we did: 1) purchased several books on pooping. Look on Amazon we got one called It Hurts When I Poop (https://www.amazon.com/Hurts-When-Poop-Children-Scared/dp/1433801302/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=) but there are several if you look geared for kids. We made these books regular stories for a while 2) we implemented a reward chart just for pooping. Everytime he pooped he got a sticker and when he got 30 stickers he got a prize. We only had to do two charts before he was pooping regularly. 3) we started giving him fiber gummy vitamins and fiber loading his diet i.e. Every meal had fruits and veggies 4) made sure he was drinking lots of fluids as hydration helps with normal stooling 5) cut out foods that constipate like rice and bananas. Not forever just until he was going poop on a regular basis 6) if he hadn't pooped by late afternoon/evening we would sit him on the potty and give him books or whatever to keep him there til he pooped. There were tears sometimes involved because he was scared to poop. We would read the above mentioned poop books and discuss how everyone has to poop it is part of being healthy so your body can get rid of bad stuff. We actually still at 5 have to make him sit on the toilet to poop because in his words "it is boring and takes too long." And finally 7) if he really wasn't pooping and back up our doctor said we could give glycerin suppositries. Within 30 minutes a kid WILL poop with those. It is not fun for anyone but we only had to do that a time or two and he preferred pooping naturally so would go before it came to that.

Lately he has liked having a footstool so he can have a better position to poop (like the new fangles squatty potty but cheaper)

Feel free to PM me if you want to discuss more. My husband and I spent a lot of time and effort to research this issue.

This happened to my daughter when she was 2.5 and had been potty trained for a few months. Had a hard painful poo and then pretty much refused to poo "ever again". Her record was 5 days. It was horrible and stressful. We called our excellent pediatrician and I researched a tonne. Here's the plan that we made.

1. Polyethylene glycol (Miralax in the states I believe) at full adult dose until stool is soft. Lots of water. No cheese, no bananas. Back off on dose once poo is soft.
   
2. This book http://www.amazon.com/Hurts-Story-Children-Scared-Potty/dp/1433801302 . Great to get them understanding how the digestive system works any why pooing is important.
   
3. Parental behavior modification. This was the hardest one. No potty talk. No "do you have to poo" or "let's just sit for a bit". Basically, dismantle the power struggle. They are in charge of their body. They are in charge of their poo. Let them know this. The Miralax will loosen things up so that they probably won't be able to hold it for long.
   Within 2 weeks we had her doing pretty well. Going every 2 days or so. Within a month we were down to 1/4 dose of Miralax a day. Within 2 months it became a distant memory. You want to treat it aggressively IMHO because it can lead to worse problems.

My daughter had this EXACT same problem. If she didn't have a diaper on, she would hold it for days and then poops would hurt.

I bought her this book: http://www.amazon.com/It-Hurts-When-Poop-Children/dp/1433801302/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1371965287&sr=8-1&keywords=scared+poo+book

It helped her understand what was going on. It did not cure her overnight, but it puts into words they can understand.

Ultimately what ended up happening was we told her that if she had to poop, she had to ask for a diaper, put it on herself and poop in it. When she was done, she was back in panties. Pull ups for naps & nights. We made sure to keep her ultra "lubed" up with tonnes of berries, veggies, flax seed, prunes. We stayed away from anything clogging for a while like breads & cheeses. Then one day, a poop just slipped out when she was on the potty peeing. We made a HUGE deal about it. It eventually happened more and more and within a week of her breakthrough she was potty trained.

He will potty when he's ready. I know how frustrating it can be, because you just want them to not hurt their own body by holding in their poops. For some kids it's a scary transition. It is also a comfort thing sometimes. They have worn diapers for their whole lives and to let go of that change can be very emotional. Hang in there, it will happen! :)