as you know my three year old has been battling constipation for the past 3-4 months. we've had her to the doctors. we think that her problem is that she will not poop on the toilet, she gets hysterical. she also gets very upset if she poops in her underwear or pullup. she will urinate on the toilet, and is actually completely urine trained ( even at night). she will not poop for 1-2 days and then will dirty her pants 6-7 times in one day because she can't hold it in any longer. we have been really laid back about it, and calmly cleaning her up and telling her that having accidents are ok, but next time it needs to go in the potty. even if you dump the dirty contents into the toilet she gets hysterical. HELP!!

Just offering suggestions here, can't speak from experience but just offering some ideas.

Have you tried maybe a kids potty maybe say by the tv or radio or somewhere besides the bathroom with a book some toys. Just not in the bathroom, maybe a few potties around the house. So she is distracted more while going pee or poopy. With many of my boys I have had the potty by the tv and it helped relax them to go sometimes.

I have also heard from a friend that has a daughter with the same problem that a warm bath really helps get things moving. I guess any time of day a bath could be used to help losen her muscles and relax her. Than make things calm with potty in another room than sit her on the potty. Again not in the bathroom though.

Hugs mom this can't be easy I understand you want her trained and don't want to push her at the same time.

Hoping some moms can offer some advice who have experienced constipation better than I but wanted to offer some prayers for you both as well.

Hugs it will get better.

I'm sure you've thought of this, but have you asked her if she'd like to pick out a potty to use?...one that wasn't the actual toilet...

Maybe she'd even be willing to use a potty chair if she picked it out and you let her use it in her room? Then, she would be miles away from the toilet, AND she wouldn't have to go in her underwear or a pullup.

My DS#1 went through a similar stage at age 3 when his little brother was born, and there were alot of accidents at that stage. He had been completely trained before that point, but somehow, the stress of a new baby kind of pushed him back into having some accidents every few days, and he'd have many of those days where he'd be holding it, and have accidents because he was holding it.

Time and patience seemed to work, and he naturally just started to go in the toilet again, though we did let him pick out his own soft potty ring, as he was REALLY scared of sitting on the big seat and couldn't go that way because he was too scared.

To this day, even though he's 5 years old, he will NOT use the toilet seat unless he has a soft potty ring on it. He really can't get comfortable to actually "go" if he feels off balance at all, and his butt is too narrow to really provide a firm foundation on the big seat.

That probably wasn't much help, but you're not alone.

the problem seems to be the poop. she is horrified at the sight or even the thought of poop. she has no problem using the toilet, doesn't want to use either one of the 2 potties we have, one in kitchen, one in rec room. she pees on the toilet and is even almost night dry ( she wakes up and goes by herself during the night) even if she poops in her pull up i dump it in the toilet and tell her poop goes here, and she won't even flush it, she won't go anywhere near the toilet. but she also tells us she doesn't want to poop in her pants. right now right after meals we get her to sit on the toilet for as long as she will. we are still loading her up with foods to help keep her bowels moving and every second day she is getting a dose of an all natural laxative