my toddler wont poop please help

[aliciaedwards]

ok so i have a 4 year old and a 2 1/2 year old it took my 4 year old till he was 3 1/2 to potty train and he did it in basicly 24 hours.  befor that he would refuse to even pee on the potty then one day he just sarted peeing and never had one accedent.  but he refuses to poop on the potty at all like he will grunt a little sometimes.  but for the most part he will say oh i have to poop so i bring him to the potty and he says oh all gone now cause hes holding it.  he will go up to a week with out pooping no matter how much prune juice i give him he wont go.  then after one week he will poop in his underwear while sleeping and its the size of like a bace ball.  i think cause it is so big it hurts so that makes him wanna hold it more and it has been like this for a while. 

he has pooped in the potty a few times and when he has he was excited and proud of himself.  but then he keeps holding afterwords still.  i have tried everything i can think of, his doctor gave stuff it didnt work i give prune juice 1-2 times a day and nothing.  my 21/2 year old is now starting potty training and he has pooped on the potty and says when it is coming and will go (he only poops every 2-3 days).  i dont want him seeing his older brother holding his poop cause im afraid he might start doing it also.

i know this cant be healthy for my oldest to be holding it and idk what else i can do to get him to go.  its like part of it feels like hes holding and another part feels like he might have an issue. some times he stops his poop and some times he just doesnt have to poop even if he sits and tries which discerages him then when he actualy tries and nothing comes out.

[Ma Cactus]

My boy also holds his poop, though he is a lot younger (19 mos).   It has been a problem since about 14 mos when he stopped going on my lap in the toilet (we did EC from birth and he used to be an easy regular every monring like clock work pooper but he got too big for the position we sat in on the toilet).  Prune juice did help when we first tried it but seems to have lost its efficacy after a few weeks.  Lately, he seems to go much better if I don't react to much or too fast, and give him some privacy.  when he says he has to go, rather than running over with a potty like I used to, I try to be very non-chalant so he won't get uptight, and then leave him alone in a room.  I take his pants and underwear off very calmly (and don't rush to do it too quickly), then I just point out the potty without bringing it to him, and leave the room but keep talking to him from the next room (about non-poop topics) so he doesn't get anxious about being alone.  This has worked several times now.  Maybe try it when he has gone relatively recently so it hasn't reached the huge and painful stage yet? 

[lovepickles]

DD (who is 19 months) and I just recently figured out why she was holding them in. Basically she wasn't drinking enough water. I breastfeed her 8-10 times a day and she eats a fair amount of food but she really wasn't very interested in water. We've had issues since 16 months with poop and she began going only every 3-4 days instead of her daily movement. When they did come they were dry and she complained that it hurt. Then it dawned on me that she was dehydrated. So I began giving her small cups of water (not sippy cups) with each meal and during snacks and she would gulp them down and play with the remaining water. Pretty soon her stools loosened up and began coming more frequently. 

Try upping your son's water intake, a LOT. Present him with a cup of water every 2 hours or less. The funny thing about your body is if you are really well hydrated the poop just glides out. Sorry if that is TMI, but it is true.

Good luck. <3

[aliciaedwards]

he drinks water all the time he loves water him and his brother both he at least has a water bottle or two a day.  i started making it to were he couldnt hold it in cause it was to watery and he would go and now it is starting to get solid again and he is seeming to do fine with it now and tries to go 3-4 times a day lol.  all i had to do was make him have diarea for a day :).  thanks for all the tipes though have a good day