– Hi, I’m Dana. Welcome to this week’s video.

Have you ever watched the Dr. Oz show? If you have, you’ve probably seen him talk about something not most people don’t really like to talk about, and that is going number two.

So when you are potty training your child, and I’m just gonna call it like it is today people. We have to get over it, right. When you’re potty training, a common problem is that your child becomes afraid to go poop. And I don’t know why but this tends to happen more in boys than it does in girls. I don’t know why.

I can tell you both my sons went through this little phase, so I get it. And it’s hard as a parent because you don’t want them to be traumatized by this, right, and you’re worried, and you wonder what can I do to make this easier.

So let me share a few little tips with you today. The first tip is to be patient, right. Potty training is a process. This is a skill set. We are not expecting children to master this within a few days. It’s gonna take time. Usually the pee comes before the poo and they figure that one out and they’re still stuck a little bit with this number two. And that’s okay. And we’re not gonna put a lot of pressure on them, and we’re not gonna get too uptight about it. We’re just gonna go with it and be patient at first.

Now what commonly happens, and both my sons did this, is that they’ll wait until a diaper is on. My second son waited until nap time, and I would put a diaper on him for nap, and then that’s when he would do his business, and that’s okay. I let that go too. Eventually, though, I decided he was doing so well with the pee that I didn’t need to put him in the diaper anymore for his nap so I stopped doing it for nap time, and then, guess what he did, he waited until bedtime. Until his diaper went on there, and that’s what happened there. And again, I’m okay with it, right. Because I’m being patient.

But there did come a time when I had to actually take some steps. And so I started to explain to him there are no more diapers. We’re going to end all diapers both nap time and night, and you’re just gonna wear underwear to bed.

Now this meant that there was a few accidents, and you’ve got to be prepared for that. So have, you know, plastic on the sheets. Clean diapers available. And you’re not going to get upset or angry or do anything other than be supportive if your child has an accident.

But they don’t enjoy having accidents, especially this kind of an accident. So they will eventually, right, come around to this idea that it has to happen. What my first son would hold it for a couple of days, right, until he was so uncomfortable that he had to do it. And if that’s the case, and again, be as supportive as you can. If you see it there and a little bit of discomfort, then offer to take them to the bathroom. Let’s go try having a bowel movement on the potty, and it comes out, right, it’s got to.

So eventually they will have an experience where they go poop on the toilet, and they can be a little bit scared at first. They might cry even a little bit, and you’re just gonna be supportive, and encouraging and calm about it all.

It can be helpful to put some toilet tissue in the bowl. Sometimes it’s the splash up that causes alarm for the child. So just kind of minimizing. Or even the sound of it falling can be a bit uncomfortable for the child. So just putting some, you know, kind of layer, the basin with some toilet paper so it catches. Instead, that can ease them through this a little bit.

Sometimes watching a parent do it can help them realize that, hey, everyone does this, it’s no big deal, it’s no drama. Now you wanna keep fluids running frequent, right. Lots of fluids. Maybe even a little prune juice of some kind because you don’t want them to become constipated because then it’s going to hurt and that’s going to add to their fear.

So keep lot’s of water, juice, whatever you need to keep them really well hydrated and full of some nice good fiber to kind of keep things moving along. That should help as well. But it passes. You’ll get through it, right. They will get through it. They will not be wearing a diaper when they leave home, I promise.

Thanks so much for watching today. Sleep well.