Anybody have a 2yo who is _not_ withholding poop (and not in diapers)?

[Farmin' with Baby]

I'm just curious if there's something more I can be doing to encourag my 2.5yo dd to poop more often than every 5-6 days.  When she was still in diapers, she went pretty much every day.  We've been peeing in the potty, no problem, for several months now, and pooping too.  But the poops are few and far between.

I've learned on here that I can "get" her to poop using Milk of Magnesium.  I've also been spiking her drinks with small amounts of miralax--maybe not enough though, it doesn't seem to do anything.

I just want some tips on how to get pooping to be a regular part of our routine, without getting into a battle of wills with her.

Making going pee on the potty a part of our routine was key in moving her out of diapers and ended a lot of battles.  There was no more "Do you have to go? Do you have to go?" It was just, "okay, time to go, or at least time to practice going" and she pretty much went along with it.

But it's harder to just say "okay, time to go poop!"

Suggestions?

[entiti]

I would make her some flax crackers to snack on, find a yummy green smoothie recipe, go raw vegan for a couple of days....stocking up on LOTS of veggies. Stay away from dairy, meat, and bread for a couple of days. I was really surprised at the way my dd's poop looked and how often she pooped when we switched to a 'vegetable based' diet. LOTS of healthy poops!:)

Good luck

[schlafmanko]

Mine poops every 2-3 days.  I try to make sure she gets whole grains and fruit, since she doesn't eat vegetables all that regularly.  From what you've written, though, I'm wondering if it's actually causing problems for her to go so long between poops?  As long as she's not getting constipated and straining a lot, maybe she just doesn't need to go more often than that.

[CI Mama]

Things that have helped us encourage more regular poops:

Mixing a little prune juice into her smoothies, or adding it to other juice.

Taking a long time to sit on the potty. We keep a box of library books next to it and read book after book. Sometimes we are there for 20 minutes or longer, even if it appears that nothing is happening. Sometimes, it just takes awhile to make it happen.

Good luck!

[justKate]

Mine is a poop-holding nightmare.  I've imposed a 4-day rule--never let her go longer than 4 days.  The longer she holds, the more uncomfortable it is and the more "encouragement" it needs.  So here's our routine:

1. Add ground flax seed to EVERYTHING.

2. At least one whole fresh fruit a day, no matter what. Pears seem especially moving.  Dr. Sears says the "p" fruits are the best: plums, pears, pineapples, and peaches.

3. Encourage drinking water between each activity, at least.  So "finish this water and then we'll go outside."  I usually give her 1-2 oz at a time to finish.

4. She gets an oral senna laxative with breakfast on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  Combined with the above, this usually gets us a poop every M/W/F evening.

5. Offer a diaper for poops if she wants it.  I don't care how/where she goes, I just need her to go.

6. Try to control my attitude towards it.  No negativity, no "baby-big girl" stuff, no rewards/punishment.  Its just what we all do.

7.  If all of this fails, and its been 4 days since a poop, she gets a glycerin suppository.  She's been impacted before and it is awful.

DD is 33 mos. now and we've been dealing with this ever since she potty trained around 24 mos.  I can't wait for her to just start going.  I hope your poop holding resolves really soon.  Keep us posted on what works!