Potty training is something we struggled with here. Spenny would go when you reminded him, but that was it. He RARELY pooped in the potty.
We tried everything.
Candy? Nope.
Toys? Not so much.
Stickers? Who cares!
Anger? If you're mad, so am I!
Tears? nothing.
Literally, we tried EVERYTHING we could.
Finally, we talked to our pediatrician about it and not just in passing, but really had a conversation about it at his 4 year (and 5 months, but who's counting?) well child visit. She recommended Miralax, as she had suggested in the past, but this time she suggested we give more and follow up in 2 weeks.
2 weeks came and still no real progress, so she decided on an X-Ray. Daddy got to do this, as Mama was at work (oh darn!) but Spenny handled everything like a champ. He was a good boy, got his x-ray taken of his belly and we found out he was FULL OF POOP. As in so full of poop he had no idea when he needed to go pee OR poop, and overall was very likely uncomfortable and possibly even in pain. She suggested we up his Miralax intake to 3 times a day and make him sit on the potty after each meal.
This appointment happened just a few days before Christmas and within a few days, he really started pooping a lot. (I'll spare all the gory details, but he lost a total of 4 pounds in those few days).
Throughout this, something amazing happened. He started knowing he he had to go. Usually he made it to the potty, sometimes he didn't, but we went with it and never got angry, in fact, I felt relieved that we finally knew that there WAS a reason that everything else wasn't working and that he was able to be potty trained.
We have been accident free, day and night, at home and in public, for well over a week now, maybe even longer. We took a chance and let him wear his big boy pants (Batman and Robin was the choice of the day) and he did fantastic! We are so proud of him and tell him so often (which he always follows up with, "Mommy/Daddy, I'm proud of you too."
I'm sure someday he'll hate me for writing all of this, but I first off, wanted to remember the best half-birthday present I ever got (Hooray for no more pull ups!). I also wanted to write this because I hope that maybe someone, in search of help for their child that refuses to potty train, will stumble across this, and find hope. I know that I found boards and blogs discussing this topic and it was nice to know I wasn't alone, as it's not often you hear someone else saying their 4 year old isn't trained.
And as a side note, if your pediatrician makes you feel uncomfortable, find a new one! Our first one was...ok. She was kind of a hypochondriac, which is NOT what we needed as first time parents. She was also a flake, was always late to appointments, no matter what time you were there and was CONVINCED E was a girl until she took off his diaper at his newborn check up. Eventually, Dr. R moved away and was replaced by a Dr. F.
At first, I was like OMG this lady is CRAZY. She was LOUD. She had this silly laugh. Then I talked to her. I told her I was breastfeeding still (at a 6 month check up). She praised me and said it was amazing and was super supportive. At 10.5 months when I decided to stop, she praised me again and said I did an awesome job, and gave me some samples of formula to help get us to when we could switch to whole milk. When I said I thought E needed to go to an ENT she said, when? I'll schedule you. When I said there's something wrong and I don't know what it is, she spent the afternoon checking on us between patients while she ran all kinds of tests, to confirm that yes, while it was a virus, it was also pneumonia, ear infection and influenza (That was a rough week). She never makes us feel like a burden, always is supportive of our choices (didn't even blink when we said no to the flu shot) and just...gets it. (Even Batman gets a check up when needed!)
And with that, I am headed to bed, early day tomorrow and both kids are still fighting this cold. Sorry about all the rambly poopy post :)
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