As a first time parent, I have been quite fortunate in a lot of ways with my daughter. A lot of times, she makes parenting like a walk in the park. I once read that when babies transition from milk to solid food, a lot of babies develop constipation. What I found really surprising was that my little girl didn’t have any constipation when I started weaning her. To be honest, that made me really happy as I didn’t really want to give her laxatives if I didn’t need to. Because of this, I didn’t even think of what I would do to help a toddler poop should the need ever arise.
Three years later, my toddler’s bowel motion has been very regular. However, a toddler will always be a toddler and there are times when a toddler will opt to continue playing rather than go to the toilet when they need to.
That was the case with my daughter a few days ago. When she eventually couldn’t hold it in anymore whilst playing with Peppa Pig, we ran to the bathroom. Then I hear words I didn’t expect to hear “mummy, poo poo not coming“. I freaked out in so many ways in my head. I had no laxatives at home nor any suppositories, so what do I do? Do I risk worsening the situation by getting my daughter dressed and walking 20 minutes to the nearest pharmacy to buy something? Will the trauma make my daughter scared of doing a poo poo next time?
Then I had a lightbulb moment. I’m not sure where I heard or read that if you get your toddler to put both legs on the toilet seat whilst sitting on the toilet, that the position will help the toddler poop.
That seemed like the easiest solution to try to me and if it didn’t work, then we would go buy something. I helped my daughter put her legs on the toilet seat and I asked her to try again and what did I hear with the sound of a smile in my daughter’s voice? “poo poo coming” with a little plop in the water. I will be the first to admit that I did not really think that that simple hack would help my daughter poop.
So here’s the scorecard: 1 to mummy, 0 to constipation
I searched on Google for a picture that could show the position I am referring to but unfortunately didn’t see any exact ones. However, here’s one that is a little bit close to what I mean.
The picture above is from Google images and I have not collaborated with any brands for this post and we do not have the squatty potty.
Instead of the step stool like in the picture, my daughter’s legs were on the toilet seat and she supported herself by holding onto the sides of the toilet seat.
So there you have it, my MUST KNOW hack to help a toddler poop.
Have you used this method before? Did it work for your toddler? What hacks do you use instead of medicine to help your toddler poop? Please leave a comment below
