Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Potty Story

Warning: This entry contains lots of potty language.

This post seems like it's never going to have a conclusion so I guess I'll go ahead and post it. The last time I posted about Chloe and her potty I was excited because she'd had some surprising success. Here's the succession of events from that point.

-Day 1: We decided to put her on the potty regularly without expectations but hopes. I wanted to keep it fun and not scare her away. (Spoiler alert: I failed) She had a few more #1's and another #2 on the potty that day. We started thinking, "Wow! This might actually happen!"
-Day 2: I noticed she was about to go #2 so I put her on the potty. She tried to stand up so I gave her a quick hug to sneakily encourage her back down onto the seat. The #2 popped out when I did that. But she whimpered and I noticed a bit of blood when I wiped her. It was hard and big.
-From that moment on she refused to poop on the potty. Ooops. Ok. No problem. We'll back off of potty training.
-Then she refused to poop at all. Crap. (not literally)
-Chloe quickly become an expert at thrusting her hips forward and squeezing her butt cheeks tight to stop from pooping. We caught her several times in the act of stopping herself and let it go on for two days. Knowing that she's an every day pooper I had to do something. I gave her a suppository and "helped her." After two days of holding it I had to help because it had become compacted - hard and big.
-I spent the next three weeks on alert for the tell-tale signs of holding it and came running every time to force her knees to her belly and stop her from..stopping it. Her diet became a flow of fiber. Quinoa, Beans, Prunes, Steel Cut Oatmeal. She had the softest poop on the planet but still held it. With skipping one day it compacted - no longer soft.
-We did about 5 suppositories over the course of 3 weeks. She had maybe one unassisted BM that entire period. I called the doctor. "We recommend making her poop soft." Done. "Explain to her that it will hurt more if she holds it." Umm. I don't think her language is that developed. "Try treats every time she poops to create a positive correlation." Good idea! I'm about to bake up a batch of oatmeal cookies when...she pukes and gets the runs.

As of today she's still having sicky soft poops but at least she's doing them unassisted. Maybe if I keep them soft even after she's fully recovered she'll continue on her own.

I think we can safely say that potty training was a bust and she's not ready.

3 comments:

The Hillbergs said...

oh man! I'm so sorry! Poo is such a pain in the butt (literally if you hold it in). Kara had the same issue - BUT she was 3. so you are ahead of schedule. Our trick that finally worked - starbursts. She gets a starburst when she poos AND she gets to give one to Jack. She is so proud when she poos and announces that Jack gets a starburst. We spend a lot of time talking about poo. Finally, at 3.5 years - she's poo trained. went through a LOT of underpants. she would hold it in and hold it in - until she couldn't and it would seep out and get on her undies. TMI? oh well. Best of luck :)

Emily and Troy Williams said...

So sorry you are having poo troubles. K is still not consistent, and even when she is, it's not the nice soft that they recommend. I'm pretty sure she's got a hemorrhoid (the things I never thought I'd have to know...) and I don't know what else to do. She's now pooping every other day, at least, so that is better, but the consistency is still not great. And now we're thinking of starting solids (AH!) and I've heard it gets worse. {{{Hugs}}} momma!

Megan B ♥ said...

HOly smokes, that is a potty nightmare!