30 April 2007

the poop post

i know it's not a fun topic, but it needs to be discussed. i need your input.

we're talking a lot about potty training this summer. bb goes to preschool in the fall. new baby comes in the fall. would LOVE to have only one butt in diapers, you know? while bb's school is okay with him not being totally there potty-wise, i'd like it if he could be.

so, how did you do it? have you got a boy who's been through the potty training realm? i have to tell you i feel completely unprepared and at a loss for what to do. how to do it. how to approach it. i've always felt i had good instincts about how to do whatever i needed to do in the parenting world, but with this i just feel like. . . "ugh. HOW?"

if you can, tell me what worked for you and what didn't. how'd you get started? how long did it take? what were the best books you used to help him "get it." was there a moment where you felt like it "was time" to start?

on a different, yet related note. this pregnancy is so different from the previous. it's been harder. way. not only do i *still* get sick (i'm 20 weeks going on 21), but i'm achy and painy in weird places AND (lucky me) i'm severly constipated nearly all the time. whoo hoo!

i've never experienced anything like it. nothing seems to help. i've tried it all. prunes. prune juice. smoothies. smoothies with fiber and flax seed added. fiber drinks. lots of water. lots of apple juice. i'm bound bound bound up no matter what i do. it's painful. it's gross. i feel. . . gross most of the time. i have to resort to suppositories every 4 days or so in order to not explode. it's the only way to get anything out.

if this happened to you during your pregnancy and you found something to be helpful when all else failed, please PLEASE please share your wisdom. i'm dying over here.

6 comments:

Jamie said...

We haven't started potty training yet, but when I noticed that Avery would go hide behind the table to do her business, I figured I should buy a potty and start thinking about it. There is tons of info on the internet! Lots of ideas and tips out there. Or a search on Amazon would be good to find books, because you can always read reviews.

In regards to your constipation, I am so sorry. It sounds awful. I know you have tried everything you can think of, but do whatever is necessary to fix it, because... well without giving TMI, there can be some lasting damage if you don't. And it is bad.

Good luck with both potty issues! :)

Anonymous said...

Man, so sorry. Maybe try some bran muffins and bran flakes a few times a day. And make sure you're not putting any banana in your smoothies.

As for potty training, we're not there yet, but I'd say get the potty and see how BB reacts. It might lead you in the right direction for him. Someone gave Sam a book about potties and he was fascinated by it. So then we started having him come with us to the bathroom all the time, which continued to fascinate him. And then we got him a potty when he started telling us when he was going to go. IN the beginning he really liked going on it. Eventually he lost interest and stopped telling us or just saying he didn't want to use it, but were he older and had I pursued it things might have turned out differently. So maybe just start talking about it a lot and see what happens. Then you'll get a sense of what the challenges might be for him.

Allie said...

Wow. A lot going on heh? Okay. First with the constipation. I struggled with it really bad with this last pregnancy too. I eventually had to quit taking the prenatal vitamins as my OB said that it was the iron that was causing it. So, if you are taking prenatal vitamins, quit taking them until you are regular again and then take them say every second day. At this point in your pregnancy, the loss of the vitamins will be made up in your diet. You could also try a product called Colace. It is a natural, light pregnancy safe laxative. It usually takes 48 hours to kick in but then you will be off to the races. It is completely safe as well to continue to take one a day to keep you regular.

As for the potty training with your son, we are in the midst of that right now. I do have to say that having two in diapers isn't as hard as I thought it would be. We have taken the approach to not put pressure on our son as the last thing that we want him to do is hold it all in. Ask any children's hospital and their #1 emergency child issue is severe constipation at around 2/3 years old due to potty training pressure. We have started out with trying the pee thing first and will reward my son with a sticker and if he does it more than once, then he will get a little Hersey's chocolate as a treat. We are trying to make it a fun adventure. Some days, I can get him to pee in the potty (our potty as the kiddie ones holds NO interest for him) up to three times a day. And, at the moment, there is NO INTEREST in crapping in there. We are guaranteed with him having one pee a day in the potty so at least we are getting somewhere. It is hard not to pressure him but patience is certainly needed in this teaching.

Good luck and if you come across a sure fire way that works, please share it with me!!

Anonymous said...

Jack is in the midst of potty training and we are not having an easy go of it. My best advice would be "do not push it!". As soon as Jack caught on that this was something we wanted him to do on a regular basis he refused. Now when I ask him if he wants to sit on the potty and he says no, I leave it. I figure he is bright enough to figure out before preschool (right? right? Please tell me I'm right :)
As for the business in the bathroom, I feel your pain. 18 weeks along and I am feeling pretty gross too. Are you taking an iron supplement? I was low in iron and they had me on one that made me even worse than I am now. Good luck!

sari said...

It IS the iron...I found if I tried a different prenatal, that helped.

As for the potty training, I was pretty lucky. With my first, I was working, so his babysitter (who was a Godsend, by the way) did all the work.

With my second, he literally trained himself in a day. Completely. I think it really helped him having an older brother to learn from. We got a potty for him and put it in the bathroom. Whenever anyone else had to go, we would have him try also. I actually had him in diapers while he was doing this, I'd take the diaper off and he'd try (or not) and then we'd put it back on.

The funny (or sad) thing was, he got so used to it, we had to drag the stupid potty everywhere. We'd be out swimming in the pool and he'd yell "Gotta Poop!" and jump out of the pool and go poop. It's not fun cleaning that up after a while, you just have to stick to your guns and say "Big potty only!"

Good luck!

Lifelong Learner said...

Just dropping by, but I had to tell you. The best advice someone gave me when I started to potty train child #1 was "Are YOU ready to potty train?" ha! It takes consistency, remembering to take them as soon as they wake up, as soon as they eat, before they nap, before they sleep, etc. I've also found it helps to get the kind of pull ups that let them feel wet, so they don't like the feeling.

To the other comments, I have four kiddos, and every pregnancy was different. Here's a weird one: my leg would come out of socket if I walked too fast when I was pregnant with #2. Had to do with hormones softening the cartelidge, something like that. All I can say is talk to your doctor, take the fiber drinks, drink lots of water and keep taking those vitamins!

Blessings! You're not alone. Too funny: a post about poop, and you're getting responses. ha!