Disclaimer: if you're squeamish about the subject, don't continue on...
I've been in a state of shock for days now! Hanley decided one day, after months and months of doing everything I could think of, to go poop in the potty!
Hanley is now 5 days strong wearing clean undies with no accidents!
Let's rewind for a little back story...
It all started around 9+ months ago, around her 2nd birthday. She became terrified of poop, pooping, and anything to do with it. I had to take her to the doctor to get advice and medicine to help her out. She started holding her poop in for 4 days straight. She probably could've won a contest on clenching because she didn't want it to come out and she would do whatever she needed to do to keep it in. I had to start giving her Miralax daily to keep it soft so she wouldn't hold it and sometimes she would still hold it...
One day, sometime before her 2nd birthday, she had to go poop and was constipated and when she eventually went, it was painful. That moment right then scarred her for these next 9 months!
I didn't want to have to give her medicine so I researched and tried several different things... She wouldn't eat prunes, peaches, or pears regularly enough, tried limiting her dairy/cheese intake, tried increasing her water intake, incentives, bribery, you name it... Nothing was consistent enough so I eventually had to continue her on Miralax daily in her morning milk.
Numerous times I felt like we were making progress with her daily bowel movements so I would stop giving her the Miralax and days later she would be back to holding it in for days on end. If she thought it would hurt, even if it didn't, she would hold it in fear...
All of this caused my potty trained girl to actually start peeing in her diapers/pull ups again when she had been potty trained for a couple months beforehand. I was not a happy mama bear! She basically became fearful of sitting on the potty altogether.
So now, not only did we have this huge pooping issue, she wouldn't pee in the potty any longer either. (I ended up successfully re-potty training her again after about a month hiatus).
I would do research and get very discouraged because there were people in message boards with school age children still having this poop withholding issue.
It's mostly a psychological issue because of the initial pain from the constipation. The problem was if she got freaked out for any reason, she would hold her poop for up to 4-5 days (even on the daily medicine), which in turn would cause pain and start the whole vicious cycle yet again...
A few weeks ago, we were at my grammas house and I got Hanley to poop on the potty while playing on my phone. I thought the distraction was key to this success and so the next day I caught Hanley right when she had to go so I made her sit on the potty. I gave her a tablet but she ended up sitting there for an hour...I got annoyed and let her get up to play. The moment I saw her start to hide again, I made her sit right back on the potty. Again, she sat for nearly an hour before finally going on the potty (with no help from the tablet). We celebrated and I vowed to do the same thing the next day. I was determined because that made it 2 days in a row she went and she hadn't started trying to hold it yet. I thought repetition would ultimately be what won her over... She ended up pooping on the potty 4 times in a row and then day 5 came and she ran, hid, and pooped so fast I didn't even have time to react. The same thing happened the next day, and each consecutive day after that. She got hip to me, knew I would make her sit and she didn't want to so she had to get it done as quickly as humanly possible.
She knows pooping is a big deal to me (I despise her holding it in because she would cry, shake, and be miserable) so each time she would poop (in her pull up) she would run to me and say "I POOPED MOM!!!"
So fast forward to just 5 days ago, Hanley pooped in her pull up in the morning. She requested to wear undies, which hasn't happened in a long time and she's normally a once a day goer so I let her wear them.
Later in the day, she got this look on her face that I knew all too well and she ran off to hide. I yelled after her because I didn't want her to poop in her undies and I asked if she would sit on the potty and she agreed and went and we celebrated!!!
This was most exciting to us because she agreed and went almost like it was no big thing and she was excited to put her undies back on.
So then the next day (4 days ago) she still was wearing undies and we were over at her Nonno and Papas house. We were eating dinner and out of nowhere Hanley yells "I have to go poop!!!" So we ran her to the potty and away she went. Then 3 days ago, while at home she took it all upon herself to sit on her little potty and pooped.
She's gone every day for the past 5 days, all on her own accord and it has been glorious!! I'm unsure what happened, it seems like it just clicked with her, but I do know she enjoys wearing undies. We also started a "treat bag" and she enjoys picking something out of it after she goes.
I'm just so thankful it seems like this is the real deal now. I'm still continuing her Miralax daily so this success doesn't get screwed up.
Even through the hardship that was had with her pooping, I'm pretty lucky when it comes to potty training, Hanley has most definitely potty trained herself to stay dry over night (soon after officially being potty trained). And now, pretty much potty trained herself to poop on the potty!
Wooowhoooo so so so proud of her!!!
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