He ceased to be willing to poop in the potty when he was just about four. Once we noticed that it was systematic, we asked about it, and it was clearly Fraught. But that's all we could tell about it-- he wouldn't talk.
He also failed to respond to positive incentives for over a year.
A month and a half before his fifth birthday I let him known that on his birthday he would not get to wear pull-ups (and poop in them and then get another) ever again. And we went through a weekend of hell till his sphincter's awesome powers succumbed.
It turned out that once when he'd popped in the toilet at pre-school it was clogged when he flushed.
That was all it took.
Stuff happens.
He is eight-and-a-half now, and I still wash the sheets and various mattress-prophylactics nearly daily. Just recently it got to where his bladder capacity is apt to overwhelm the prophylaxis. And of course the social awkwardness of avoiding sleepovers and scout campings and so on is increasing.
There have been pressures on me to get up and get him up in the middle of the night, every night. And I tried. But I am now apt to have such a hard time getting back to sleep that it's quite debilitating very rapidly.
For me, the awesome bladder capacity is enough on-fireness that I have changed the answer to Bedtime Question Number Four. #4: What is your job even while you're snoozing? Long-term answer: To feel when I need to pee, wake up, go to the bathroom, pee in the toilet, and then I can sleep in your bed if I want to. Now we add #4a: When you feel the pee, when you are rising toward the surface of sleep, what should you think? New answer: I HAVE TO GET UP! IT'S AN EMERGENCY! THE WORLD MAY BE DESTROYED IF I DON'T GET UP AND PEE IN THE TOILET!
And in fact things improved radically right away. So far.There have been dry nights and n nights of just a little juiciness, and not a single total flood since....
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He ceased to be willing to poop in the potty when he was just about four. Once we noticed that it was systematic, we asked about it, and it was clearly Fraught. But that's all we could tell about it-- he wouldn't talk.
He also failed to respond to positive incentives for over a year.
A month and a half before his fifth birthday I let him known that on his birthday he would not get to wear pull-ups (and poop in them and then get another) ever again. And we went through a weekend of hell till his sphincter's awesome powers succumbed.
It turned out that once when he'd popped in the toilet at pre-school it was clogged when he flushed.
That was all it took.
Stuff happens.
He is eight-and-a-half now, and I still wash the sheets and various mattress-prophylactics nearly daily. Just recently it got to where his bladder capacity is apt to overwhelm the prophylaxis. And of course the social awkwardness of avoiding sleepovers and scout campings and so on is increasing.
There have been pressures on me to get up and get him up in the middle of the night, every night. And I tried. But I am now apt to have such a hard time getting back to sleep that it's quite debilitating very rapidly.
For me, the awesome bladder capacity is enough on-fireness that I have changed the answer to Bedtime Question Number Four.
#4: What is your job even while you're snoozing?
Long-term answer: To feel when I need to pee, wake up, go to the bathroom, pee in the toilet, and then I can sleep in your bed if I want to.
Now we add #4a: When you feel the pee, when you are rising toward the surface of sleep, what should you think?
New answer: I HAVE TO GET UP! IT'S AN EMERGENCY! THE WORLD MAY BE DESTROYED IF I DON'T GET UP AND PEE IN THE TOILET!
And in fact things improved radically right away. So far.There have been dry nights and n nights of just a little juiciness, and not a single total flood since....