fear of pooping on potty?

[lmh2402]

DD has been using the potty for a lonnnggg time. she's not anywhere near trained and I'm fine with that, but she liked going pee and poop at times to be like her brother.

however, in the last month or two, sometimes she'll say she has to poop and then when I put her on the potty she'll cry and say, "no!" I'll take her off and then she'll end up pooping in her diaper. I don't get it.

she is very clearly showing signs of fear and I don't know why

is this common? and ideas for how to overcome it?

thanks

[amom526]

I think this happens pretty frequently. Some kids get very anxious about pooping in the toilet. I don't have much advice becaus my 3.5 year old won't even think of peeing or pooping in a toilet. My ped recommended telling happy stories about the poop going down the pipes to find the mommy and the daddy poops, to try to relieve some of the fears. She's still really young though, so I would probably just be really nonchalant about it and wait to see what happens.

[kaitlyns.mom]

DS is pretty close to being potty trained for pee but he also won't poop in the potty. He is terrified. I was getting mad at first but now I just figure it will happen when it happens. We tried bribery but the fear outweighed his desire for a new truck.

[mmommy]

This is really common. I've heard it's best to keep allowing DC to use a diaper for pooping if they prefer, rather than creating any anxiety about it that may cause them to start withholding and having issues with constipation, etc. I have a friend whose DD was pee trained by 20 months but continued using a dipe to poop until almost 3. She wore undies and just asked for a diaper when she needed one. Kind of annoying, but better than issues with withholding IMO.